Chappie wrote:
Not a good result for Precious Metal, but they had a stock motor yes?
Chappie
Well, there's stock and there's stock. They did sieze a main bearing in the race motor just before Reno, but according to one of the pit crew there was no damage to the case. They had a "Ferry Motor" that was pretty much already in pieces and they set about immediately rebuilding the race motor with ferry motor parts. In the photo below, the red parts are race motor and the yellow are ferry, but it was much better than a stock Griffin:
There was blue painter's tape on the prop that said "Move Prop and Die"
The more I hear about Thom Richard, the more impressed I am. Apparently the sealed cockpit gets to 110F, even at altitude; he has a 10-hour trip to get to Reno from Kissimmee which he does in 5 2-hour legs. He wears a cooling suit but it only operates for about 1 hour at a time.
Last year, when the gear door blew off, it apparently made a pretty clean break and was easily repaired. I asked if they could have continued the race, but after the door departed, the 480 mph airflow across the opening pressurized the wing to the point where the skins were "oilcanning"
I hear next year they plan to install one of these:
(Apparently someone has a ton of R-4360 parts and time - the 2-piece row cases all bolt together indefinitely and look perfect. Then it's just a nose case on one end and the accessory case on the back. There was no crank, and the jugs were just sitting on the studs.)
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
to this in 3 months: 
Help us get her all the way back 