Tach Race 2015 Final Wrap-Up

Yo Eric! Please drop me a note and let me know which classes you've entered !!!

PM sent Thanks Kim

When is the official race day?

Oh and if my engine fails to be impressive, you maybe should drop Paul G's mane from the description. I wouldn't want yo sully his good reputation.
Rusty

RknRusty wrote:When is the official race day?

Oh and if my engine fails to be impressive, you maybe should drop Paul G's mane from the description. I wouldn't want yo sully his good reputation.
Rusty

It is gonna happen over a couple days.  We've still got Eric's engines out there, after his apparently mailing them in a reasonable time.  The one class I can run which he hasn't entered is Mouse, which will run today.  

I was gonna put it to the Forum as to how long to wait for his entries so that they may be all run together as a bunch, or go ahead and run them all, running his when they appear.  I want to announce the results in a single post though.

We HAVE postponed the Race before, when Nitroplane's engines got lost on their way from England.

Yeah, gonna rework that photo of your engine right now...one of those things that seemed cool when I did it, but not that much later on.

This is what I got guys, so let me know!

Early-to-Rise Kim

Much rain on Kim today, humidity high, pressure low

Depart USPS Sort Facility

Jan-25-15, 06:08 AM, HAZELWOOD, MO 63042
Kim this is were it says there at were ever that is there sorting things out Sorry to hold things up , mailed them Tuesday 1-3 days Hopefully tomorrow Thanks for all understanding . Getback

getback wrote:Depart USPS Sort Facility

Jan-25-15, 06:08 AM, HAZELWOOD, MO 63042
 Kim this is were it says there at were ever that is there sorting things out  Sorry to hold things up , mailed them Tuesday 1-3 days  Hopefully tomorrow Thanks for all understanding . Getback

Yeah...seems like another engine got hung up in Hazelwood before. I'll be camping at the post office when they put it up on Monday

[quote="crankbndr"]Much rain on Kim today, humidity high, pressure low

Well, the engines may be under low pressure, but I'm sure feeling it! It IS warm and dry in the shop, and the Mouses (mice?) are running !

I know you guys are waiting to hear how your engines do in the Tach Race.  So, rather than holding all of the numbers for release in one bunch, I decided to post those for the Mouse Class as I had all of them here, and was able to run the race today.

I'm sure the Combat and Racing guys will smile when I say that it took a while for me to adjust to the 'explosive' starts of these engines with that tiny APC prop bolted up front.  The things go straight to whatever RPM the needle will let them, as if they were already running, and somebody clicked 'un-mute'.

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If Rod 'Oldenginerod' Boreham from 'Down Under' was worried about his engines performing on THIS lap, he can rest at ease, at least for his Mouse Engine.  Rod's Mouser fired up very easily, and announced right off the bat that it was going to turn some numbers.  It did, topping out at 24,100 for a 1st place in Mouse!  It's a 'sneaky' engine in that I THOUGHT I had it peaked at 23.5k, but when I touched the needle valve again to back it to rich, it burst higher.  

It legitimately stabilized, and I had plenty of time to grab the tach and shoot it again.  It DID cost him a Tee Dee head though, as when I refueled it for it's running photo, the element had given up.

Congrats Rod!  You'll receive Matt's EXMODEL ENGINES' Black Widow Mouse Prize Engine (and I got a Tee Dee head I'm gonna chuck in)



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Paul and Dianne Gibeault's 'Mouse Dianne' was right alongside at 23,500, taking 2nd Place.  This engine was also easy starting and a stable runner, and I truly appreciate that spring starter!!!  Paul and Dianne will receive a $25 gift certificate from Bernie at Cox International!



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Matt's EXMODEL ENGINES' Black Widow Mouse ran 23,350, taking 3rd Place and continuing the close 'packing' of speeds in Mouse.  The engine looked new, so I let it run for several rich-lean cycling tankfuls to give it a bit of a break-in just in case.  Another easy starter, it's a Prize Engine from EXMODEL ENGINES, and next week, will be starting the long journey to Rod in Australia.



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Doug 'crankbndr' Veazy's Mouse Racer came in 4th at 22,350, and again making life easy with it's spring starter cranking it right up.



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Darryl 'P-40 Warhawk' White's carefully packaged Mouser came in at 21,700 for a 5th Place run.



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'RknRusty' Rusty Knowlton sent an engine than ran to it's peak of 21,170 within a turn of it's original setting...taking 6th Place in Mouse.



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Wayne Sievers' 'Thermal Hopper/Widow Mouse' turned it's APC prop at 20,400 for a 7th placing. A combination of a Thermal Hopper and Black Widow, it's another of Wayne's fantastic modified engines.



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Augustin 'coxaddict' Matutino's very high-compression Mouse Engine had some trouble with breaking into 'compression bumping'...the prop started slapping back and forth once it got up to temp after about a 30 second run.  I was able to 'trick' it and get a tach reading by letting it cool, then taching it immediately after start-up, but it never quite broke into the 20k range for me.  It took 8th in Mouse at 19,500.



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Finally, another BIG THANK YOU to 'Kruzn' Dave from Hobbico for supplying Tach Race 2015 with the new, reformulated Cox Super Fuel !!!

Wow thats fantastic, great job Kim. Way to go Rod! Man that fuel and prop change really spun em up!

Congrats Rod! and 24k? WOW that's getting close to the limit of the ball/socket! This is gonna get interesting
(Bandit)

Hats off to Rod and all the mousers. Those are
some fantastic numbers. Would loved to have
been there just to hear them sing.
Congrats all. Have your ears stoppped ringing Kim?
Bob

dckrsn wrote: Have your ears stoppped ringing Kim?
Bob

I'll tell ya...this really brings into focus the lazy, easy-living way things are in the Skunk Works. I KNEW engines turned up like this, but having them do it in my shop was a new sensory experience. I had ear protection of course, and with the voiced concern of several good friends here, I tached all the engines from BEHIND the prop, buying myself a nice LED light to give the tach something to see.

These ARE some wild little critters.

That's why I sent you the ear plugs a couple years ago Kim.
I'm sure muffs were in order.
Bob

[quote="dckrsn"]That's why I sent you the ear plugs a couple years ago Kim.
I'm sure muffs were in order.
Bob[/quote

And they were TRULY appreciated! They've been used in the shop and at our Gun Days, and are STILL getting recycled in the wash !

As my friend Special Ed would say "Yaaaaa" congratulations to Rod!!!

Well everyone, I'm speechless
No, actually I've never been short of a word or two.  Hey thanks everyone.    Wow, I didn't think- Australia day today (a bit like Independence Day for our US friends).  Uncannily appropriate!!

I don't know what I did.  I took the engine I used last year (which came second last) and fitted one of Bernie's TD cylinders to it but damaged the new piston, so found another used one with good fits.  I damaged the prop driver (obviously in a rush) so ended up using another old crankcase I had.  The crank span pretty free so I reckoned it would be right.  Used the old TD head from last year and went & bought the right size drill bit which Paul Gibeault recommended for the venturi in his Mouse building tips.  Wasted my money because the venturi was already that size.  Used an old star shaped mylar reed I had.  First test (on 25%) pulled about 17,400 on my Tach, but the reed & clip came out and tangled up in the crank.  Fitted a new oval mylar reed and new clip and gave it another test at 18,000 rpm.  Ran one tank only through it, let it cool, cleaned it and threw it in a box headed straight for Missouri.  What did I do right?  It really must have liked the extra nitro & small prop.

The flabbergasted Rod.

GENTLEMEN!

What a fabulous effort by Kim & his Crew! Thank you for hosting this. Congratulations all around especially to Aussie Rod, our new winner.
What did you do right you ask?

1. You decided to enter even though you didn't plan on winning. "You can't win watching the fun from the side lines"
2. You KEPT GOING even though you damaged parts & even blew up the engine when the reed retainer came adrift.
3. You weren't afraid to keep MIXING & MATCHING PARTS as was certainly necessary.
4. You didn't buy into the: "you have to use a special head to go fast". Yea Olde Cox TeeDee head (from Bernie) is hard to beat for consistency, isn't it!
** The top three engines used a Cox head to good effect**
5. Finally from my Australian Speed flier & engine mentor, Peter Tilley. " When it comes to going fast... It's ALL in the prop & half in the engine".
That means the "right prop" matched for the purpose, makes for a REAL game changer. Can you imagine what 3 of these in the AMA Nats Mouse Final sounded like whizzing by in the same circle for 100 laps! It was absolutely exquisite!!

I will say that I would never have guessed the RPM's would turn out to be as high as they were. I've never seen more than 23,300 on 65% nitro at sea level on my VERY best mouse engine... My current motors won't even do near this anymore. My wife Dianne's motor (at home) only turns 21,500 at best... So the extra 2,000 RPM must have come from somewhere... I must conclude that the weather must have been excellent, the fuel excellent, and the prop excellent. There are unknowns, like the accuracy of the Tach, but to be out by 2,000 RPM is quite a stretch... So I cannot explain the HIGH RPM numbers. Bottom line though, it doesn't matter as long as the variables are consistent which of course they were. I can HARDLY wait for UNLIMITED!!

Cheers,

Paul (a.k.a. Mr. Mouse)

(Say Rod, I'm planning to drop by Sydney & Perth next year... would love to shake your hand & buy you a cold one. Maybe we could even talk shop over a 'Barbie'.)

Congratulations ROD !!! Man that is some outstanding numbers ! Good job Guys this is a real competitive adventure Looking forward to the next rounds . Kim you the MAN

Congratulations to everyone.
I thought mine, having seen it turn over 21k at home had a chance. After not being run or even opened up for two years, I never expected I'd go 21.17k. And have five engines faster than mine. Way faster. That was the one I built on camera following Paul's guidelines. I wouldn't have mentioned that if it had been under 21. BTW, I tried to take that silly looking red head off but it was stuck.Lol.
Thanks Kim, that was fun.
Rusty

Paulgibeault wrote: There are unknowns, like the accuracy of the Tach, but to be out by 2,000 RPM is quite a stretch... So I cannot explain the HIGH RPM numbers. Bottom line though, it doesn't matter as long as the variables are consistent which of course they were. I can HARDLY wait for UNLIMITED!!

Cheers,

Paul (a.k.a. Mr. Mouse)

(Say Rod, I'm planning to drop by Sydney & Perth next year... would love to shake your hand & buy you a cold one. Maybe we could even talk shop over a 'Barbie'.)

Hey Paul,

To be sure, I thought pretty hard about a rerun to confirm what I was seeing on the GloBee, but compared to numbers I was already getting (Rod's was the fifth engine to run), his peak RPM was not totally out of the neighborhood. By rights, and everything I'd ever heard about engines, the humidity should have had a significant negative impact on the rpm's, but there they were, and so, I recorded them.

I knew I was in rare air with this race, and seeing the crazy numbers early on, I thought about ghost readings from the tach or even prop slippage, but the numbers were very steady, and the engine's sound (screaming) seemed in line also. I wanted to avoid any re-runs if possible, especially if the engine had cranked up and needled easily (the case for most of the Mouses)... for fear of damaging an engine that had already made an apparently legitimate run.

I'll be including the APC prop in Rod's return package, as a trophy/memento, in case he would like to recreate the run at home.

Thanks Guys

I had mentioned that the prop would have a big effect earlier in the planning stages and was dismissed...

I will say I was expecting only a 1-1.5K jump in RPM though. The nitro helped a little I am sure.

Congrats to all you guys. And good job Rod!