Reno Air Races

[I. M. Esperto]

http://www.airrace.org/index.php

Reserve early.

This is a spectacular event.

[maxalt]

Darn! Missed it again. Any idea on next years dates? I'm gonna make it there one day.

I can't be in the least bit interested in those F1 poseurs in their boring processions around the worlds racetracks. Not when there are real racers like the RENO guys out there blowing the pants off them. Why isn't there a world following for the Air Racers? Must we have an Air Racers Bernie Ecclestone to sell it?

[I. M. Esperto]

Actually, the place is really mobed for the races.

[I. M. Esperto]

Some bits of the event here:

http://www.avweb.com/articles/reno2002/

[wes_wall]

Most unfortunate. This is from todays AVflash: quote

RENO AIR RACES, 2002: The great air races cancelled last year returned .again to the skies near Reno, Nev., September 12-15. The pilots faced stiff winds of 26 knots with higher gusts and yielded Dago Red, a modified P-51 piloted by Skip Holm, as winner of the Unlimited Class Gold. Second was taken by September Fury, flown by Mike Brown. And third was Voodoo, with Matt Jackson at the controls. Crowd favorite
Strega, flown by Bill "Tiger" Destafani, declared a Mayday on Lap One, and executed an early, but otherwise safe, landing.

Four-year veteran Tommy Rose met a less forgiving fate. Rose was killed Friday afternoon on the fifth lap while flying his Questair Venture in a Sports Class race for custom and kit-built aircraft. His death marked the first fatality in Sport Class racing since its debut at Reno in 1998. unquote

[javelin]

Just got back from the windy city !

Brilliant races marred by Tommy's unfortunate death.

The Unlimited boys handled the conditions on Sunday very well, it was really blowing hard - all sorts of debris crossing the apron.

Here's something to consider though - of the 8 finalists for the Gold race, 5 were powered by Rolls Royce Merlins (well they say Rolls Royce on the outside ;) ) and the other 3 were Hawker Sea Fury's, all the racers in the Jet category were Czech and in my humble opinion, the best display was by a Hawker Hunter.

Superb time - go soon, they may not be able to keep it going indefinitely, someone may find out that they are having too much fun :D

[BayAreaLondoner]

I was there on Saturday with Left Wing Down and another friend. Excellent time. Great machines and great flying.
I'll scan in some pictures and post at some point.
It certainly did get windy. An airplane (nothing to do with the Races) part-owned by a friend of mine allegedly jumped its chocks, hit another plane and incurred minor wing damage towards the middle of the afternoon on Sunday.
Tips for next year:
Do buy the pit pass
Do get there early and drive in your own car to the car parking near the field (the bus costs $8 each way from Reno!)
Do buy or rent a really long lens for your camera (>200mm), otherwise just don't bother taking pictures of anything flying.
Don't bother with the grandstand seating; you get a great view from the pits or the normal stands (although the grandstand is right by the finish post).

[Census boy]

Never been able to get to Reno when the air races have been on. A few years ago managed to get to the Phoenix 500 races at Williams AFB. Don't know what happened to this event it seemed very sucessful at the time? Nice to see Mustangs. Sea Furies, Bearcats etc being flown as they were designed to be-flat out rather than at half throttle at airshows.