Check out this Bear Cat

Ahhh...the Rare Bear. Does anyone remember when that thing used to be gold and white? Hands down that thing is my favorite Reno racer!
 
OhioStatePilot said:
I'm with you there, Waco... I'd love to see a homebuilt take the gold and the strange thing, is that I'd think it could be done easier than converting an old warbird. Considering all of the weight/drag/excess structure concerns, I would think a purpose-built design would easily hold a winning edge!
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I am not sure how easy it would be. I think it would be significantly more expensive to develop. I also am not sure that I would be going all composite on an airplane that would need to go 450+ to be competetive.

Question: Have there been any composite airplanes that have been built to go that fast? I am not talking about fairings, etc, but structure.

The Thunder Mustang really interested me, and for a while there were some guys in Lawrence, KS that were going to be the people to develop it (after the prototype crashed killing the pilot and prospective buyer). I was talking to those guys and they were telling me what a great machine it was, how great the kit was (and I actually was actually thinking seriously about it - I was rich that year) and how they had gotten "most" of the bugs worked out. They were also telling me of one that they worked on after it had "delaminated" and the canopy flew off at high speed.

Needless to say, the term "delaminated at high speed" kind of bothered me.
 
Yeah, I'd find that phrase pretty disturbing as well.

Now, the plane that piqued my interest was the Nemesis NXT, but I don't believe it's up to the task of 450... Who knows if it could be, but I believe that carbon composite structures are going to be the solution. For example, look at the MX-2 unlimited aerobatic airplane that has a +/-12 G range as a fully carbon fiber design.

It can be done, I think the biggest question is "how?"
 
OhioStatePilot said:
Yeah, I'd find that phrase pretty disturbing as well.

Now, the plane that piqued my interest was the Nemesis NXT, but I don't believe it's up to the task of 450... Who knows if it could be, but I believe that carbon composite structures are going to be the solution. For example, look at the MX-2 unlimited aerobatic airplane that has a +/-12 G range as a fully carbon fiber design.

It can be done, I think the biggest question is "how?"
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I would probably get Zivco involved in the project, at the very least for the wing. Maybe Walter Extra (because I don't believe an Extra wing has ever failed). If you could have a wing built that would be similiar to the old clipped-wing Mustang racers of the 70's (thinking Race 69 - Jennie, or Dago Red or Strega) you could perhaps scale it down and make a 3/4 or 7/8 airplane like the Thunder Mustang (which I think was 3/4 scale, but the wing was 7/8). The Falconer V-12 really interested me and put out large horsepower (650-700). I am not sure they ever got the Falconer motors to run reliably. They were working on a supercharged version that would put out 1,100 hp or so, but I am not sure they ever installed one. The problem is, with the 7/8 Mustang wing, 3/4 Mustang body, I still think it would lag the Nemisis and the highly modified Lancairs (because they are the ones winning the sport division at Reno). If you could modify the fuselage to look more like Jennie/Dago Red/Strega, and could get the motor running even close to 1,000 hp, AND have the clipped wings of the previously mentioned racers then I think you would have a winner. I am not even sure that you would have to go beyond the stock 650-700hp Falconer V-12 because even at that the power loadings were significantly better than a real Mustang (I think a real Mustang was 7.5 lbs per hp and the Thunder Mustang was 4 lbs per hp). Basically, if you reproduced one of the Mustangs I mention at 3/4 to 7/8 scale, in composite, you would win I think. I think you would have to have an airplane of size simply to bolt a larger diameter prop, but I am not sure about that at all - Nemisis does really well, as do the Lancairs.
 
Actually a Thunder Mustang did quite well in the Sport Class naturally aspirated for a while, Blue Thunder, then they went with supercharging and were working the bugs out of it. Unfortunately the airplane was destroyed after a landing mishap, no one was hurt. They're building another one now, it's definitely a favorite of mine!

Part of the problem with the unlimiteds is that they now must be a minimum of 4500lbs. This is supposedly due to concerns that with smaller, lighter airplanes becoming capable of unlimited class speeds, there is some danger to mixing them together with larger heavier airplanes. Indeed a few years ago a couple Lancairs were trying to break into the unlimited field. With this new rule I believe even the Pond Racer was too light to race in unlimited.

Some people, I think, believe that the weight limit rule has basically turned the unlimiteds into an airshow, of sorts. The racing is still intense, of course, and there's still nothing faster and better sounding out there, but indeed there haven't been a lot of new entries lately. Plus, parts availability for 60 to 70 year old airframes and engines isn't getting any better. A lot of focus lately has been on the sport class, where there's lots of room for development and there seems to be a lot going on... and they're becoming ever faster.
 
I can see that putting a kink in the works, but 4500 lbs is still a lot better than Rare Bear's 8500. I do agree with you that the sport class is where the excitement is growing, but even purely on principle I'd like to see a one-off homebuilt (or even a heavily modified kit) make great strides in unlimited.

That said, I'd love to see more of a national race circuit for pylon racing. Don't get me wrong, the Red Bull series is entertaining, but wingtip to wingtip around the pylons is a different beast entirely. Sadly, I don't really foresee it becoming any more mainstream.
 
Looks sweet! Is it back flying again now? I know for a while it wasn't ... I know this because my neighbor put in a bid for it then :) Unfortunately they did not agree.
 
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