T28 Contest Results

13 posts

T28 Race Report from Weedwackers Field for November 2021

Front Page T28 Contest Results
We were asked by the Weedwackers to run a demo race at their Veterans Day fly in at their field in Santee. Flying at the Weedwackers club on a nice smooth paved runway was a treat for those of us used to our Mission Bay dirt patch. We had seven veteran T28 pilots show up to represent SEFSD with batteries charged. We only had a limited time window to fly which limited up to flying 3 preliminary rounds and no finals. The hope is to get some interest going within their club which might lead to bit of fun with a cross town rivalry.
We had two flight groups in each round. Randy had a little bad luck in the first heat of the  first round–he found a pole near the far pylon which turned his T28 1 piece wing in to a  two piece wing putting him out of action—but as it turned out Quan who arrived late was able to fill the open slot in the flight order for the rest of the rounds without interruption .
The rest of the rounds had less drama with only one minor equipment failure when Otto’s motor quit running at the start of the third round. With no finals racing we decided to save the awards for the December race—so we will reconvene for the year end T28 race on December 11th at 10am. Bring charged batteries and be ready to battle for bragging rights and some electric flight goodies in the raffle!
It looks like the long awaited shipment of the 800mm FMS T28 might be close to arriving in country—The Horizon web site now allows you to actually order the planes. A fresh crop of planes would be great!
Steve Neu

T28 Racing Report for October 2021

T28 Contest Results
While we had a light turnout for this months T28 racing it did not mean we did not have some wingtip to wingtip drama over the race course!
The preliminary rounds were 5 laps and for the most part went without much drama aside from a few pilots cutting a pylon or two—or maybe 3? The results of the preliminary rounds was as follows with cuts factored in:
1) Brad B
2) Steve N
3) Steve M
4) Alex S
5) Otto D
6) Bob S (Tie)
6) Frank G (Tie)
The finals were as often is the case where the most excitement occurs—and this time was no different. 
The Bronze Cup was first up with Bob and Frank going head to head—Bob took an easy lead and never looked back for the entire 10 laps. It was clear that Frank needed some better batteries( later he won a new pack in the raffle). 
The Silver Cup was more crowded with  SteveM, Alex and Otto doing battle. Otto and Alex went head to head with each trying to gain the advantage—Otto crossed the finish first but did not get the medal because of a cut pylon turn.
The Gold Cup race was between Brad and SteveN. The entire race was wing tip to wing tip for 10 laps with at least one instant of a “bump and go” with no resulting damage. In the end SteveN crossed the finish slightly in front of Brad. There was some sad news that the course judges provided after the landings—SteveN had made 3 cut pylons and Brad had 6. In the end a good time was had by everyone! We had a raffle with various items for the helpers and pilots—most everyone was able to take home a prize.
The Weedwackers in Santee have invited us to run our next T28 race at their field on November 13th—the details and time are still to be worked out and we will send out a email to everyone as we know more of the details. For now we are planning on having our next race there. 
Stay safe and enjoy nice flying weather!
Steve Neu

T28 Race Report for September 2021

T28 Contest Results

See the racing pics.

See crash video here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-9CFgHBTMs

We had another fun knock down drag out series of T28 races on Saturday 9/11. Prior to the start of racing at 10am we had a very nice flyby with Larry Kosta flying his Piper Cub towing an American flag as remembrance of 9/11.

We had a good turnout with most of the regulars in attendance. We followed the regular format with the preliminary rounds being 5 laps followed by the finals with 10 laps. It worth noting that the overall quality of flying for the T28 races is improving with this set of preliminary races having very few cuts and accidents.

The Bronze and Silver class results came in as follows:

1st) Daric Knight
2nd) Mark Davis
3rd) Ty Thompson

1st) Steve Manganelli
2nd) Bob Stinson
3rd) Alfred Ramirez

Things got a bit more aggressive with the Gold Cup heat races with more cuts and yours truly trying to shorten the course by flying through the west end pylon! The winner it turns out was the one who stayed out of trouble —no cuts or pylon clipping!

1st) Quan Nguyen( zero cuts)
2nd) Alex Sutton (second most cuts)
3rd) Brad Bender( had the most cuts)
4th) Steve Neu( got pole position)

For those getting a new T28 ready to race and are looking for the APC prop adapters see me and I will give you one–I had a batch machined. They are is no cost for these. Also for those new to our racing series I encourage you to look at the SEFSD web site and read the various articles from the last year and a half—there you will find some useful tips for racing and setting up your plane.

Our next race is set for October 9th at 10am. I understand that a new shipment of FMS 800mm T28s should be arriving soon—so for those who have been looking, the drought should be ending soon!

Last thing—if you don’t have a pilot number yet please email me with your request—FYI most of the numbers below 20 have been taken already! The number you pick should be < 99.

Steve Neu

T28 racing Report for August 2021

T28 Contest Results
We had good turnout of 11 pilots show up for T28 race day. Prior to the start of racing Otto Dieffenbach and I hosted a short talk on useful “tips and tricks” for pilots looking to improve their racing results. We can do this again if there is interest—let me know.
Racing started a little after 10 with the usual 3 preliminary rounds. We had some exciting  and close races—once the dust settled the scores were totaled and the flight order was set for the 10 lap cup race round. The results were as follows:
Bronze class:
1) Ty 
2) David
3) Larry
Silver class:
1) Steve M
2) Alfred
3) Bob 
Gold class:
1) Steve N
2) Brad
3) Alex
4) Otto
5) Randy
The gold class race was rather crowded as there was a 4-way tie in the preliminary results for second place—so the race dictator (me) decided that a 5-plane heat would be a fun. The race was pretty rough with 4 of the pilots recording at least one cut and one clipping the pylon resulting in a busted prop and an early off field landing—no real damage done.
Mark your calendars for the next race on Sept 11 at 10am. Email me if you need a race number sneu@mac.com. 
Steve Neu
Click the pic for the whole album of T28 Racing pics:

T28 Race Results for June 2021

T28 Contest Results
By Steve Neu
 
The June edition of the SFSD T28 racing went off on June 12th as scheduled without problems. Twelve pilots were signed up to fly which made for 4-plane heats in the preliminary rounds and the finals. Four planes in a heat makes for some close racing! 
 
The results of the preliminary rounds resulted in the following matchups for the finals:
 
Bronze:
Daric
Mark
George
*Jim
 
Silver:
*Quan
Frank
Larry
Bob
 
Gold:
*SteveN
Alex
 Brad
SteveM
 
(*) denotes winner
 
The silver race had an exciting start where 3 of the 4 planes jumped the start—and none went back to correct the mistake—effectively handing the first place finish to Quan who did not jump the start. The gold race was close with no clear winner until the final few laps. Steve Manganelli who flew a tight course had to endure the wait while Carl our west end cut judge came down give the bad news to SteveM that he was cutting the corners a little too close. With that news his ownership of the “better luck next time” medal was within his grasp.
 
Jim ran into some propeller problems which resulted in his breaking a prop per flight—a new record. Jim has now carried out the T28 air “Worthiness Directive” (AD) along with a change to a more durable APC prop to avoid future problems. Steve Manganelli managed to again capture the coveted “better luck next time” award du to his relentless quest to shorten the course to the minimum possible resulting in three unnecessary cuts. Quan ran a close second with 2 cuts. 
 
The medals were handed out to the group winners and we had a raffle of various electric flight goodies for the pilots and helpers that made the racing possible. Our next race is on the calendar for July 10th—come fly or watch—it is a lot of fun!
 
If there is interest in a “how to setup and fly a T28 for racing” clinic I would be willing so schedule something for a Saturday or Sunday at the field. This would be a informal thing with sharing of tips and tricks to make your plane go fast AND be easy to fly. If interested let me know by email “sneu@mac.com” and we will arrange something.
See the photos here.

T28 Race Report for May 2021

T28 Contest Results
Our SEFSD monthly T28 races went off without problems starting at the usual 10am. We ended up with a good turnout of 12 pilots. We had some new faces in the mix along with the usual suspects. With 12 pilots the preliminary rounds had 4 heats each making for some very close racing. After the counting up the scores for the preliminary rounds the order for the finals was set:
 
Bronze cup had Brad first with Frank in second place. The Silver cup had a 3 way battle  between Alex, Bob and Quan with Alex taking first with Bob second and Quan third due to a cut. The Gold cup race got a bit crowded with 4 planes. Yours truly managed to turn an easy win into a second place as a result of some confusion as to what lap I was on resulting in a needless cut while trying to make up for the mistake. As it tuned out SteveM and Otto also had some issues with making to the pylons—Steve tallied 11 cuts and Otto 14—all in 10 lap race! Randy managed to stay above the madness going on below and flew into first place. 
 
We had a pilots and helpers raffle afterwards with batteries, chargers and other accessories in the collection. A good time was had— be sure to mark your calendar for the next T28 race scheduled for June 12th at 10am.
 
In case you are interested in getting involved in our monthly T28 races you can follow this link to rules and helpful tips and information on how to setup the FMS T28 for racing: https://www.sefsd.org/club-contests/t28-racing/t28-rules-information/
 
One thing I keep seeing from many of the newer pilots is that they set up their planes for aerobatics or sport flying with way too much control throw for racing ——this leads to it being nearly impossible to fly the plane smoothly around the course. The T28 the elevator control throw should be about 1/8th inch up and down and ailerons about 3/16 inches up and 3/16 down—or less. When you get the elevator throw right you will be pulling nearly stick travel in the turns. Try and do some practice flights before racing to get things tuned up.
 
If there is interest we can schedule a T28 tuning clinic—let me know if this would be of interest.
 
Go fast and turn left!
 
Steve Neu
Pics

T28 Racing Report for April 2021

T28 Contest Results
By Steve Neu
We had another hard fought T28 racing on April 10th with most of the usual suspects showing up at 10am. The first two preliminary rounds went off without much drama but round three shattered the calm! Heat 3 of the third round found Alex Quan and Alex  flying. Shortly after the start of the race Alex and Quan built up a lead over Randy who was playing it safe letting the other two trade places numerous times—until things got too close! As both planes passed the downwind pylon Quan’s plane decided to take a bite of Alex’s T28—leaving 2 of the 3 propeller blades embedded in Alex’s model—Quan’s plane spun to the ground undamaged but Alex managed to keep his wounded plane in the air and even made it back to the end of the runway. Trailing the leaders Randy took the win by staying away from the air battle ahead of him.

 
A new prop for Quan’s plane and removing the embedded blades from Alex’s plane plus some tape and both were ready to continue racing in the finals. George and Quan went head to head in the Bronze cup race with George—Quan redeemed himself with the win.
 
Next up was the Silver cup races with SteveM, Otto and Randy going at it—the race was clean without any accidents or problems. Otto flew a very tight race taking first place, Randy got second and SteveM third. 
 
The Gold cup race had Brad, SteveN and Alex in it. The race was close but SteveN got the win with Alex getting second and Brad third.
 
The medals were awarded to the pilots along with a pilot and helpers raffle for batteries, chargers and other electric flight accessories. A good time was had by everyone!  If you want to get involved with racing or helping please come on down for our next race which is scheduled for May 8th at 10am. For info on our racing class follow this link: https://www.sefsd.org/club-contests/t28-racing/t28-rules-information/

T28 Racing Report for March 2021

T28 Contest Results

We had 9 pilots with planes come out for the March edition of the SEFSD T28 races. The three rounds of preliminary races went off without much drama or destruction. The results of the preliminary races provided the lineup for the finals races as follows:
Bronze:
Frank Gagliardi
Steve Manganelli
Tim Attaway
Silver:
Quan Nguyen
Brad Bender
Larry Kosta
Gold:
George Sullivan 
Alex Sutton
Steve Neu
The Bronze race provided a collision with the west pylon with Frank getting an unwelcome “pole position” followed a few laps later with Tim doing a what looked to be a landing at full racing speed on the runway going downwind——with little damage to the plane. Frank’s plane on the other hand had to go to the body shop for some repair work. After the cuts were tallied Steve Manganelli got the win in spite of having 2 cuts! I guess it helped that his two competitors managed to not finish the race.
Next up was the Silver group and while there was little drama the results again showed that NOT cutting is often the path to the winners circle! Quan managed two cuts and Brad got one also—but Larry Kosta had no cuts so while he was the tortoise speed wise he got the win!
The Gold race ended up in similar fashion to the Silver where the two front runners took themselves out of contention with Alex and Steve Neu both recording one cut each giving George the win. 
The medals were passed out to the winners in the three classes with the “better luck next time” award going to Tim for recording the most cuts for the day. Club sponsored prizes were given out to the helpers and pilots.
The next T28 race will be April 10th at 10am—be there!

T28 Race Report for February 2021

T28 Contest Results
With the C19 situation heading in the right direction we decided that with some reasonable precautions it was time to restart our T28 racing. The first race of 2021 was held earlier this month on the 13th. We had 9 pilots sign up and fly. The format is the same as last year but this season there will be medals for the winners and a small raffle for the fliers and people that help run the contest. We also welcomed a new T28 racer to the series Daric Knight. 
During the first flight of the preliminary round Frank Gagliardi’s T28 decided to head north for a refreshing swim in the bay—it washed up on Fiesta Island and was brought back to the filed by a passerby—the T28 was largely undamaged. Frank said it would live to fly another day!
The rest of the preliminary races went off without much drama—believe it or not there were no cut turns recorded during the preliminary rounds which left in doubt who would get the “better luck next time” medal for the  most cuts. After the results were tallied the finals races were set everyone put their best batteries in their planes and got ready. 
The Bronze cup race matchup resulted in Brad Bender  taking first, Randy Wynant second and Daric Knight in third.
The silver cup only had two slots filled—Quan had smooth sailing to a first place finish after Steve Manganelli decided to see if he could reduce the course length by 3 feet by going through the #1 pylon rather than around it—other than dashing his chances of a win in the silver class there was no damage to the plane—it will return to do battle nest month. 
The gold cup races were between Otto Dieffenbach, Alex Sutton and Steve Neu. The planes and pilots were quite well matched with the planes generally staying within a few feet of each other for the first half of the race—in the second half Otto and Steve moved a little ahead with Steve crossing  the finish line first, Otto second and Alex third—the celebrations for the Steve and Otto were short lived however—when the cuts were counted Alex took first—Steve second and Otto third—proving once again that avoiding trouble often gives the best results. Congrats to Alex. 
After the races the medals were handed out with Otto being the recipient of the “better luck next time” for his 3 cuts in the gold cup race. The raffle included  batteries, chargers and various electric related accessories. A good time was had by everyone—if you want to have a taste of low pressure fun racing  please come down for the next race which should be on March 13th at 10am. The rules and information on the series and how to setup your plane can be found here: https://www.sefsd.org/club-contests/t28-racing/t28-rules-information/
Steve Neu

T28 Racing Results – Dec 2020

General Interest T28 Contest Results
We held our last T28 race for 2020 on November 28th. We had a good showing with 9 hard core pilots who all came ready to do battle in the sky. The first round kicked off at a little after 10am. The first heat went off smoothly with Brad taking first followed by Frank and George. With heat two things started to get cut throat with Mark, Otto and Steve Manganelli all trying to capture the lead—some just tried too hard  and managing to set new records for the number of cuts in a single race heat. After the fur ball fight Mark got the win simply because he flew cleanly avoiding making any cuts. Steve M and Otto ended up with 4 and 8 cuts respectively. The third heat of round one was clean with Alex first SteveN second and Quan third. Rounds 2 and 3 of the preliminary rounds all saw some great flying with very close finishes. The scores were totaled from the preliminary rounds to determine the matches for the finals. 
The bronze cup final had George taking an easy first place due to the abundant cuts of SteveM and Otto who managed to get rewarded with 4 and 11 cuts —a new record! George managed to avoid their fate and got the first place finish.
The silver cup featured Quan, Frank and Brad. Frank jumped the start putting him a lap down and handing first to Brad and second place to Quan. 
The gold cup had Mark, Alex and SteveN battling it out—for much of the race the lead went back and forth between Alex  and SteveN—on the last lap Alex’s plane went down resulting in a DNF. That left Mark and  SteveN in the race with Mark getting the first place in the end. We were all done flying in less than an hour—a lot of action packed into a short period.
We hope to restart the T28 racing series in January but we will be looking at the virus situation and making adjustments to the schedule as needed. I would like to ask members what they like and don’t like about the current format and what improvements they would like to see. Please feel free to send me your thoughts to: sneu@mac.com
I would like to thank all the members who have helped me with equipment setup, turn judging and “master of ceremonies” duty which without we could not have our T28 races.
Have a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays and stay safe in the New Year!
Steve Neu

T28 Race Results – October 24th 2020

T28 Contest Results
By Steve Neu
We had a second T28 race date on the schedule in October—some people missed hearing about it resulting in a light turn out. We might have had light attendance but the racing was anything but light! The preliminary races were very tight with pilots doing everything possible to gain advantage—including making lots of cuts. The cuts made for some amusing moments for the pilots who thought they had won a race only to see Carl the upwind cut judge walking towards the center to deliver the bad news—taking pilots from “hero to zero” —or in this case from  first to third place! No one got upset and everyone was having a good time. 
After some hard fought races the preliminary round numbers were totaled and the Silver and Gold races were set. It was interesting to note that Randy did not win a single preliminary race—he was second each time——but his consistency  put him into the Gold  race. The finals races were well matched and tight the whole way with in many cases only 10 feet between planes at the finish. The Gold race was notable for the number of cuts by the the Otto and Alex—they had a fierce battle for the lead—with Otto crossing the line first followed by Alex and then Randy—their celebrations did not last long when the two leaders were awarded with 3 cuts each—a new record for the T28 racing series. Maybe we should rename it the “Gold Cut”?  Randy  who keep out of trouble while the battle raged up front got the win. 
Results:
Silver:
1) Steve N
2) Jeff K
3) Steve M
Gold:
1) Randy W
2) Otto
3) Alex
Our next race date for T28 racing is this coming November 28th. Get your planes trimmed and ready to “go fast and turn left”.

T28 Race Results – Oct 2020

T28 Contest Results
The October 12 2020 foamy T28 races  went off smoothly  with 12 pilots signing up to fly. We followed the same format as the previous race with 3 preliminary heats which set the grouping for the final races. 
The preliminary rounds saw some wing tip to wing tip flying along with some creative shorting of the course to try and catch up to the lead planes—more often than not the offenders were awarded with a cut penalty knocking them down a place for their efforts. Most of the cuts occurred in the first round with fliers getting a little more conservative in the second and third rounds to avoid costly mistakes. A couple unlucky pilots had some problems that kept them from getting to the finals—better luck next time guys!
After the preliminary rounds the numbers were totaled up and fliers were grouped for the finals into 3 groups.  The final series of races had some of the tightest contests with the Gold cup race having three very closely matched planes and pilots trading places for the lead for nearly the whole 10 laps. On the last turn of the last lap Alex decided to risk it all with an early turn trying to gain the lead—-it didn’t work as he was rewarded with a cut taking him to a third place. Even so he was smiling after such a close race.
Some suggestions to help some of the racing new comers—getting your plane setup for racing is usually quite different than for the settings for fun flying. A plane that is setup correctly will be easy to guide around the course allowing you to concentrate on racing than just maintaining control. For some hints and tips follow this link to a previous article on setting up your T28 for racing: https://www.sefsd.org/builds-reviews/fms-t28-expert-setup-for-pylon-racing/
The current schedule has a second race date on the October calendar for this Saturday the 24. We will follow the same format as last time with a pilots meeting at 10 and the first race at 10:10. Charge up your batteries!
Bronze Cup
1)Steve#14
2)Tim#23
3)Vince #88
4)David#7
Silver Cup
1)Brad#6
2)Quan#51
3)Jeff#77
Gold Cup
1)Steve#77
2)Otto#33
3)Alex#27
 

T28 Race Results and an Amazing T28 Racing Video – Sep 2020

General Interest T28 Contest Results
Sept 12th T28 Races.
We had a good turnout with 13 pilots entering the September 12th T28 races. The first races of the preliminary round got going a little after 10am. We had preliminary rounds with the cumulative results determining the groupings for the Bronze, Silver and Gold cup races. There were a few causalities from CFIT(Controlled Fight Into Terrain) for various reasons—the good news was that in nearly all cases the planes were easily repaired and some were able to fly in later rounds. 

After a number of close and hard fought laps around the pylons the matchups for the finals were as follows:

Bronze:
Brad
Quan

Silver:
SteveN
Alex

Gold:
Otto
Frank
SteveM

Quan took first place in the Bronze Cup.

The Silver Cup between Alex And SteveN was likely the closest and most hard fought 10 laps of the day with both planes “cutting the grass” and trading places numerous times. In the end it came down to the last turn before the finish line with yours truly getting ahead of Alex by < 3 feet. 

The Gold Cup was anticlimactic  after the the Silver Cup drama—Both Otto and Frank put themselves down a lap by jumping the start or cutting a turn—which gifted the Gold Cup win to SteveM who coasted to an easy win by staying out of trouble.

We learned a few things and next time we will revise the audio file so as to make the countdown to the start clearer and easier for pilots to follow so as to avoid some of the late/early crossing of the starting line—also some of the sounds will be toned down a little.

In watching some of the flying during the races it was clear that several pilots had their planes setup for what I would call “sport flying” with way too much control travel for racing 6 feet above the ground—the last thing you need is to snap roll the plane while pulling a hard pylon turn. Go back and read some of the setup advice in the newsletters earlier this year. 

We have two races on the schedule for next month with the first on October 12th @ 10am and the second two week later on the 24th at 10am. get in some practice and get your planes trimmed for speed!

Steve Neu

Now for the video from Hobie Sutton Studios (Frank & Alex Sutton).  Just click