Scotty G wrote:
I'm not trying to pick a fight with you. I just have a different opinion. I'm curious if Reno has done something to pi$$ you off.
No, I'm just amused by the approach taken. And by the fact that not only any new-technology aircraft, but almost any of the great racers or speed ships from the 1930s would now be disqualified. Want to build an exact replica Me 209V1, which held the speed record before Greenameyer, and try for a rematch with the Bearcats? Sorry, plane's too small. He 100 prototypes? Nope. Supermarine floatplanes? The S.6b would barely squeak in by 90 lbs, all the others are too light even with floats. Caudrons, Gee Bees, Curtiss R3C? No race for you. Jackie Cochran's Seversky? Nope, a combat-ready P-35 barely makes it, I'm sure the racer wouldn't. And none of these planes would be permitted to race in any other class either. Granted, most of these planes wouldn't stand much of a chance in the unlimited Gold race, but some should beat the stock warbirds for the Bronze.
We'll agree to disagree about why Reno really did what it did; I've heard otherwise, but not first hand. What I would love to see, since unlimited class is now off-limits to homebuilts, is a truly open race class with no displacement ceiling and no homologation requirement. It would take a while to build up this class, and there might have to be an interim rule that no engine designed before, say, 1965 could be used to prevent P-51 owners from defecting to the new class and impairing its early growth, but I would look forward to the day when the winning speeds exceeded those of the unlimited class. We'd get to see some great technology and eventually the new class would be called the unlimited class and the unlimited class would become the warbird class.
August