2009 Reno Blog

You better go faster mister!!! (notice the finger!)

Thu, 1 Oct 2009 04:30:38 -0700

Check out new video from cockpit of Relentless

2009 is over and Relentless is in the Barn

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 18:49:37 -0700

As many of you already know, I was unable to remove Nemesis from the throne and this was the biggest lead I was able to muster against Jon Sharp on Sunday. We hit every point in our plan when the hammer fell but Relentless simply didn’t have the ponies to win. While I am writing this with much disappointment and dozens of ideas how we could have been faster, I must focus on the incredible journey I have enjoyed over the past ten years. The first time I came to compete in my little RV3 that couldn’t, I had to taxi out every day as the alternate and watch 9 airplanes take off only to taxi back. Yesterday was a dream come true for me, to build my own aircraft and put my flying skills up against the one of the best air racers to ever compete in this sport.
Jon Sharp and his amazing team are simply relentless in their pursuit of being the best they can be and it showed this week. Team Nemesis broke records every day they raced. They have shown clearly that the Sport Class is a 400 mph arena and the Nemesis NXT aircraft has potential far beyond anyone’s imagination.
I would like to point out that while I did not beat Sharp this year, my speeds would have broken records on their own and clearly my resolve brought out the best that Sharp was capable of.
Thank you all that cheered me on and support my efforts. My life is truly blessed, to live in the United States and enjoy the freedom to pursue and reach my dreams.

I cannot wait to see what is NXT!!!

Second Sucks!!!

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 07:09:38 -0700

Saturday’s race turned out to be quite an experience. Only three of the 7 super sport planes that entered made it into the formation for the race. The 71 venture and 44 legacy both aborted takeoff, and race 352 the mustang choose to bow out because the crosswind limits were quite high. So, it was just Sharp in Nemesis 3x, me in Relentless and race 75 the Thunder Mustang. While I was certainly ready for Sharp to make a mistake or experience some problems and pounce on the lead, my main objective was to figure out my plane and test the setup we ended up with. To my surprise when the flag dropped, Relentless actually pulled on Sharp and in the first turn I had about half a plane lead, but because I didn’t have the 100 feet lead we need to make a safe pass, I choose to float the turn to make sure Sharp could fly his line safely. Once in the valley of speed Sharp slowly pulled away. Once I cleared the Mustang I could check the gages. To my disappointment I realized that the temps where far exceeding the sweet spot and the RPM had dropped. I quickly found the sweet setting for the plane but once you over heat the entire engine it took 3 laps to get back the power. The good news is: I now know Relentless can make the power and my crew has made the necessary adjustments to help me get to peak power quickly. Can I run with Sharps ever increasing record breaking races? We will find out today, but one thing is for sure, we are going to see some intense, fast racing.

I am Relentless

First Race 393mph!!!

Sat, 19 Sep 2009 05:49:08 -0700

Can you say Relentless!!! The photo is just after the release, the white plane on top is the pace plane, Nemesis is perfectly abeam and Race 75 looks great in this frame but in about 5 more seconds is never to be seen again. As we all pushed up our power I realized that I had not pushed the throttle all the way in and once I could check the boost and see I was simply adding enough to keep pace with the mustang I let the dogs off the chain and walked away from 75 with ease. Nemesis obviously has everything in perfect harmony and ran another perfect race breaking the class RACE record with an average speed of 399mph. I finished second at 393mph, my personal best. The help from my relentless crew and many people like Klaus Savier from Lightspeed Engineering and Don Rivera at Airflow Performance are really paying off.
Todays race will be exactly what I have been dreaming of since I ran my first race in my RV3 ten years ago, a head to head battle with the most winningest pilot Reno has ever had. If I can squeeze a tad more out of Relentless and fly a perfect line for 7 minutes my goal is clear, to remove my “nemesis”.

Thursday Race 1

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 07:02:10 -0700

Finally the BS has subsided and the only thing left was to see who had what is takes! Well Sharp was ready and put on an amazing display of racing. Most view our sport in terms of the horsepower up front and the pilot in the drivers seat. While those items must be in good perfect form, there are many other items that separate the winners from the rest. Maintenance, testing, and support of the entire team. Sharp simply has the complete package and if any of us are going to beat him we must learn to develop our entire programs more like his. Congrats Jon, but know that we are comin’!
The race for Relentless in my view was a great success in terms of testing our team preparation and the abilities of the plane. Right from the start I knew that this was going to be a race. Sharp has obviously learned his lessons about the start and was up to full title within 3 seconds of the release. As we had made a small adjustment to the timing and the ADI was not set just right I had to roll in the power slower than I like and fly in a manner off Race 75 Thunder Mustang to give me the ability to find the limit while flying a safe formation for the first turn with George. Once in the valley of speed the plane seemed to fall into a nice grove, although not making all the power I know it can, but by then I had given up a few hundred feet to race 75 and had to settle with trying to nip away at his turns in an effort to find a line and power mix that would pay off the next race.
I think I found it!!!! Friday should be a HOOT!!