Oakington Centralised Event – June 16th 2002

This event was held on a rather overcast day with a moderate wind most of the day - conditions did improve as the day went on with blue sky gradually appearing.

8 teams ventured out to fly in F2C but the planned F2C Nationale event was cancelled as only one team was present.

Racing started at 12:30 and Ross/Turner set the scene for the day with a superb 3:10.4 (a new British record) Their time was helped by Barker/Tompkins retiring on 36 laps and Hill/Metcalfe overheating (and thus needing extra stops) The Ross/Turner model was circulating at around 17.4 for 10 so there is still more to come from them if things all fall into place at the same time.

Where the first race was at least a partial success the second race was a disaster. The models of Langworth/Broadhead and Fry/Whorton were pretty evenly matched in speed but were flying against Sharp/North who were significantly slower. All was ok until after the second pitstop - Fry/Whorton were first away and then Langworth/Broadhead took off and immediately accelerated under the slower model of Sharp/North. As Bernie Langworth tried to extract himself from the situation (instead of cutting and accepting the situation) the two pilots crashed across the middle and knocked Dave Fry clean over and outside the circle. Dave was left on his back but still managed to cut the motor and stall the model in - just resulting in a bent U/C Leg, broken prop and some other minor damage. Sharp/North were not so lucky as their model hit the deck - breaking the wing and other significant damage. Langworth/Broadhead (who clearly caused the whole incident) managed to finish the race with a 3:28.8 and were allowed to keep the time (strange !) and the other two teams were given reflies.

The following race went cleanly with Smith/Brown recording a 3:29.8 and Miles/Yeldham a 3:40.9 - Barker/Tompkins coming home in 4:01.8 following an extra stop.

The next race was a two up as Fry/Whorton elected not to fly against Sharp/North again feeling that the combination of themselves S/N and Hill/Metcalf would more than likely lead to the same problems again and preferring not to damage the kit any further - particularly with only three days to go before leaving for the Piennes international. Various discussions took place concerning the fact that the CD tends to be lenient on novice pilots and this can lead to dangerous situations arising and the pilot never learning - I expect more discussion will follow on this one ! (I must say that, in my opinion, the problem in the previous race was the fault of Bernie's model "undertaking" and they should have been Dq'd for that - I'm not sure there is any solution to speed differentials but took my option to not fly in a similar situation again)

The resulting two-up race enabled Hill/Metcalf to have an almost solo run and they managed to put in a 3:23.0 - the setting was a bit hard but coped with the easy run and showed what there gear is capable of.

In the next race Ross/Turner put in a clean 3:15.9 as backup to their first time

The following race saw Fry/Whorton retrying with the model that had been "dumped" earlier but not being able to get the motor to run and retiring at 25 laps. Miles/Yeldham put in a 3:51.6 and Barker/Tompkins a 3:53.5

After an extended break while teams tried to sort equipment out racing began again with Langworth/Broadhead recording a 3:31.7, Smith/Brown a 3:33.4 and Fry/Whorton a 4:04.4 (with several adjustments and extra stops)

Another break followed as above and the next race then resulted in Hill/Melcalf doing a 344.3, Miles/Yeldham a 4:22.9 and Barker/Tompkins a 4:42.2

The next race saw Ross/Turner put in another good time of 3:16.2 with Fry/Whorton recording 3:43.4 (with poor stops) and Hill/Metcalf a 3:47.2.

In the final heats Langworth/Broadhead put in a 3:30.9 and Fry/Whorton improved to 3:34.7.

The teams did not particularly wish to fly a final because of pressure on equipment for both Piennes and Sebnitz so places were recorded on heat times

The final results were therefore as follows :-

F2C - Team Race Results

Heat 1

Heat 2

Heat 3

Heat 4

Final

1

Ross/Turner

3

10.4

3

15.9

3

16.2

3

20.1

2

Hill/Metcalfe

4

34.3

3

23.0

3

44.3

3

47.2

3

Langworth/Broadhead

3

28.8

3

25.5

3

31.7

3

30.9

4

Smith/Brown

3

29.8

ret

67.0

3

33.4

3

36.6

5

Fry/Whorton

ret

76.0

4

04.4

3

43.4

3

34.7

6

Miles/Yeldham

3

40.9

3

51.6

4

22.9

ret

05.0

7

Barker/Tompkins

ret

36.0

4

01.8

4

42.2

3

50.6

8

Sharp/North

ret

38.0

dnf

dnf

dnf

League Points were awarded as follows :-

Ent

Plc

Fin

Imp

Tot

Ross/Turner

1

4

0

0

5

Hill/Metcalfe

1

3

0

2

6

Langworth/Broadhead

1

2

0

0

3

Smith/Brown

1

1

0

0

2

Fry/Whorton

1

0

0

0

1

Miles/Yeldham

1

0

0

0

1

Barker/Tompkins

1

0

0

0

1

Sharp/North

1

0

0

0

1

Thanks again to Dave Rudd for acting CD on the day.