Grand Prix de France F2C & F2A Events

Piennes - August 7th-8th 1999

The Piennes international is a popular trip for the British flyers and it was made even more so this year due to the fact that the site was directly on the centre line for the solar eclipse just 3 days later and that the Pepinster international was the following weekend in Belgium. Several of the British Team Race teams were accompanied by their families with the intention of a weeks holiday in France between the two events and a chance (weather permitting) to see the total eclipse.

Each day of the event began wet following heavy overnight rain but the skies cleared each day by mid morning making serious sunburn a possibility. The wind was rather high at times over the weekend making racing rather interesting – particularly as the new racing circle was being used for the first time and proved :-

    1. to be on a slope – causing the pilots to constantly wander off centre in the middle
    2. to be very smooth and slippery – causing the models to slide away from the pitmen at the start

These two things combined with the newly seeded grass between inner and outer circles being rather on the long side certainly gave the teams a bit of a challenge and a number of incidents resulted.

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In total there were 27 pairs entered in the racing event which was excellent considering that there were a number of regular teams missing – Only one team from Italy was in attendance, no teams from Austria and no Metkemeijer brothers ! (although Rob Metkemeijer was flying in Speed). There were 8 British teams involved in the event plus a Britain/Holland pair as Dave Brewin had paired up with Van de Weerd.

Official practice began at 13:00 on the Saturday with the first round (of three) planned for 15:00 and the second round to follow at 17:00. The first heat was rather incident prone with the Russian ex World Champion team of Titov/Yugov running in at the first pitstop, Fry/Whorton (GBR) having setting problems and Surugue/Surugue (FRA) getting disqualified for picking up the formers lines when landing after the race. This was rather unfortunate as they had put in around a 3:20 but, as Fry/Whorton were still involved in the race, the rules gave the Jury no option as no attempt had been made to overfly by the regulatory 0.5 metres. Andy Whorton should however have kept the lines on the floor and was lucky in this case to get a refly. Several teams had "run-in problems" and there was much early criticism of the new circle but there were also a number of good times recorded with the fastest being a 3:22.0 from Smith/Brown (GBR) who are still having trouble getting consistency from the new Mazniak equipment. Other good times included a 3:22.4 from Maret/Perret (FRA) and a 3:24.2 from Ross/Turner (GBR)

The second round was to see yet more incidents but also some excellent performances – Ross/Turner put in 3:16.2 (the fastest time of the meeting), Delor/Constant (FRA) 3:18.0 and Surugue/Surugue a 3:21.8. Titov/Yugov (RUS) and Langworth/Campbell (GBR) also booked their semi-final places with 3:23.7 and 3:23.9 respectively. Heaton/Broadhead (GBR) had their second run-in of the day and were therefore sitting on two zero’s with only one chance left.

The third round was scheduled for first thing on the Sunday morning following the allotted 5 mins practice for each team and saw very little change in the overall standings. Maret/Perret improved by 0.3 seconds (not affecting their position) and Heaton/Broadhead at last managed to put a good race together with a 3:24.4 thus claiming a semi-final position. The USA father/son team of Ascher/Ascher also managed to put in a 3:29.2 to put them into the 2nd reserve position in the case of refly teams being required with Fitzgerald/Thomason (GBR) being 1st reserve due to their 3:27.0 in the first round.

The first round of semis save the favourites – Ross/Turner – disqualified when Malcolm Ross fell out of the circle on his first landing. It was a difficult decision for the jury as a major cause was the wandering off centre by all pilots making it difficult to get round the outside and Malcolm felt he had been pushed out of the circle. However, with no clear evidence either way, the jury had not alternative but to disqualify him for having a foot out before the model was in the pitman’s hand. (an important safety rule !) The only really quick time of this round was a 3:20.4 from Titov/Yugov with Langworth/Campbell being over 5 seconds behind.

The second round of semis saw things really hot up – Delor/Constant put in a superb 3:17.7 and Ross Turner 3:18.5. Titov/Yugov elected not to fly as they were down to one model and took a big risk as both Surugue/Surugue and Maret/Perret came close with 3:21.4 and 3:21.7 respectively. However the Russians were proved correct and they were to go through in 3rd slot with their 3:20.4. Jury Member – Luis Peterson made a big thing of them pulling out, accusing them of un-sporting behaviour but there is no rule that forces a team to fly at any point in the event. Indeed – it would be far worse to have a team fly who did not want to ! – this would inevitably give the other teams in the race effectively a two-up thus a big benefit that the current "reserves" rule is intended to avoid. The majority of people felt that Luis Peterson had overstepped the mark and that we should applaud Titov/Yugov for pulling out honestly and not be trying to force them to fly. As a result of the Russians pulling out Fitzgerald/Thomason had a chance to fly but could not capitalise on the opportunity as they had setting problems during the race.

So the final got underway at around 17:00 – Titov/Yugov got the jump on Ross/Turner at the start due to Brian having to take an extra flick thus giving the Russians a ½ lap advantage. Delor/Constant had overheating problems very early on and it was soon clear that the race was between the other 2 teams. A good 1st stop by the Russians gave them a 2 lap advantage but a good stop by the British pair pulled it back to 1 lap at the 70 lap mark. Another good stop gave the Russians a 3 lap lead after 100 laps but again the British pair pulled it back to 1.5 laps at the 140 mark. It was clear that, as there was no speed differential between them, it all depended on the last stop and there were groans from the crowd as Victor Yugov made a quick adjustment before restarting and allowed Ross/Turner to leave the ground with just over a 1 lap advantage – one they were not going to lose and they finished in 6:47.1 just 2.5 seconds in front of Titov/Yugov. It was an excellent final and a superb way to bring what was an excellent competition to a close.

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Place

NAME Surname

Nation

Heat 1

Heat 2

Heat 3

Semi 1

Semi 2

Final

1

ROSS M. / TURNER B.

GBR

3

:

24.2

3

:

16.2

3

:

23.2

DISQ

3

:

18.5

6

:

47.1

2

TITOV V. / YOUGOV V.

RUS

34 laps

3

:

23.7

3

:

29.6

3

:

20.4

0

:

00.0

6

:

49.6

3

DELOR B. / CONSTANT P.

FRA

DISQ

3

:

18.0

92 laps

70 laps

3

:

17.7

7

:

48.1

4

SURUGUE P. / SURUGUE G.

FRA

DISQ

3

:

21.8

3

:

25.3

3

:

29.0

3

:

21.4

5

MARET J. / PERRET J.P.

FRA

3

:

22.4

0

:

00.0

3

:

22.1

66 laps

3

:

21.7

6

LANGWORTH B. / CAMPBELL D

GBR

3

:

29.1

3

:

23.9

3

:

27.3

3

:

25.9

3

:

25.1

7

HEATON D. / BROADHEAD J.

GBR

73 laps

68 laps

3

:

24.4

3

:

26.5

3

:

26.6

8

SMITH S./ BROWN C.

GBR

3

:

22.0

4

:

37.2

81 laps

3

:

26.9

34 laps

9

BORER H . / SACCAVINO C.

SUI

3

:

24.8

0

:

00.0

3

:

37.1

3

:

34.5

3

:

34.5

10

FITZGERALD M. / THOMASON M.

GBR

3

:

27.0

33 laps

3

:

58.8

3

:

44.9

11

ASCHER A. / ASCHER L.

USA

3

:

50.5

3

:

32.8

3

:

29.2

12

MARTINI G. / MENOZZI M.

ITA

3

:

29.5

35 laps

DISQ

13

OUGEN T./ SURUGUE R.

FRA

3

:

31.6

3

:

59.4

3

:

43.3

14

GILBERT C. / GILBERT R.

FRA

3

:

32.1

DISQ

31 laps

15

FRY D. / WHORTON A.

GBR

3

:

39.0

11 laps

3

:

32.8

16

DESSAUCY L. / DESSAUCY J.

BEL

3

:

33.6

3

:

34.9

91 laps

17

GIGER P. / STUDER H.

SUI

3

:

54.3

3

:

41.4

3 laps

18

LINDEMANN R. / KIEL U.

GER

DISQ

3

:

44.1

3

:

47.9

19

VENDEL M. / GEMERT P.

NED

3

:

45.1

3

:

52.7

3

:

49.1

20

LEUP0LD E. / ENGFER K.

GER

3

:

45.1

69 laps

3

:

56.8

21

KOLLAR S./ KOLLAR V.

FRA

59 laps

3

:

47.1

4

:

21.3

22

BUCCI L. / PERRET C.

FRA

68.0

3

:

50.9

67 laps

23

DELRUE M. / LIBER R.

BEL

52 laps

36 laps

3

:

55.3

24

WALKER D. / PEART S.

GBR

3

:

58.4

3

:

58.0

68 laps

25

PICARD F. / VINCENOT N.

FRA

11 laps

4

:

02.5

65 laps

26

MILES R. / YELDHAM G.

GBR

4

:

13.7

4

:

39.2

5 laps

27

BREWIN D. / VAN de WEERD J.

GBR/NED

0 lap

57 laps

0

:

0.0

 

F2A (SPEED)

This event seems to be regarded by many as something of a side-show, which is a pity, since I find it fascinating. The entry this year was a reasonably healthy eleven in number, but it was regretful that so many of them do not seem to understand the demon they are wrestling with. Many could not even get a proper flight, let alone a decent time, and as far as I could judge, errors in propeller load, tank inset, needle settings and compression adjustment were commonplace. That said, my own results just previous to this meeting had not been particularly sparkling, being a clear 20 kph slower than the UK team fliers. In fact, prior to the Piennes event, I feared I would end up rather far down the results list at the end of the day.

Events at Piennes are bliss compared with home contests - organisation is laid on, the circle surface is very smooth and the weather usually warm and calm. I travelled with Steve Smith and Colin Brown with fellow speed flier Dave Brewin completing the party. Crossing via the channel with an overnight stop at Mister Bed in Rheims, the site was reached about 10 a.m. on Saturday morning. Saturday night we lodged at the Hotel Aster in nearby Briey, very comfortable and quite picturesque.

In the run up to the Piennes event neither I nor Dave Brewin had been in good form. However, in a check-over before the first round, I found I had been running my Profi very under-compressed, and putting this right resulted in a substantial improvement on recent results - 276 kph - though still second by 1 kph to Norbert Schmitz. Dave's problem was more fundamental, as he had not yet persuaded his big shaft Irvine 15 to last the distance, let alone record a speed. It had been decided that inadequate tank inset was at the root of the problem, so the tank had been relocated as far inboard as possible and line rake increased to hang the nose out a bit to assist the set-up. His first attempt revealed that the basic problem was solved, but the needle now needed closing a lot. Nonetheless, Dave managed to record 255 kph, with a flight during which the engine kept richening up as "G" increased in proportion with speed, slowing down, then leaning out and speeding up again due to consequent reduction of "G", only to richen up as "G" rose again with the increasing speed, and repeat the cycle all over again.

A spot of test flying late on Saturday got the needle setting a bit nearer, but then it became apparent that the propeller a bit too strong for the engine, and it was planned to rework it the following morning in time for the second round at 1 o'clock.

Saturday night was given over to the banquet, very enjoyable with toothsome fodder and loads of wine. The only downside was that word failed to reach us that the second round of Speed had been brought forward to 9 a.m. the following day. This prevented Dave from doctoring his prop, so he had to use a depitching shim instead. The result of this was an improvement to 271 kph official. I had decided to cram on the compression on my Profi, but this slowed me down to 273 kph, so for my third round flight, I restored clearance to the same as for the first round, but fitted a different pipe with a 4.5 mm tailpipe in lieu of the 4.6 used for Rounds 1 and 2. The weather during the third round was quite windy, but the various tweaks and a good wellying in whipping up resulted in an official 276.9 kph - just 0.2 kph better than Norbert Schmitz's first round flight. Norbert's second and third round attempts both ended when his Profi inexplicably richened up in mid-run, ruining any chance of a good time. Dave Brewin's third round flight, now with the prop reworked and the depitching shim removed, took a pit stop to screw the needle in some more (including sprinting to the pit area to fetch the requisite screwdriver), but although the official run looked fast, smooth and low, the result was only 269 kph, 2 k's less than his second round time.

Place

NAME Surname

Nation

Flight 1

Flight 2

Flight 3

Result

(km/h)

(km/h)

(km/h)

(km/h)

1

Mc GLADDERY Richard

GBR

275.8

273.3

276.9

276.9

2

SCHMITZ Norbert

GER

276.7

0.0

0.0

276.7

3

BREWIN David

GBR

255.5

271.0

269.0

271.0

4

GRUNDEL Peter

GER

0.0

263.3

221.8

263.3

5

METKEMEIJER Rob

NED

0.0

0.0

239.0

239.0

6

HODEK Jan

GER

0.0

0.0

238.4

238.4

7

DELABARDE Serge

FRA

231.5

237.7

0.0

237.7

8

MERLIN Raymond

BEL

0.0

234.5

217.3

234.5

N.P.

MERLIN Marc

BEL

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

N.P.

KORDISCH Bernd

GER

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

N.P.

BELLELE Jean-François

FRA

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

The overall result thus found me unexpectedly first by the twitch of a timekeeper's thumb from Norbert Schmitz in second place, Dave a solid third and Peter Grundel the nearest serious threat. The rest of the field never quite got to grips with their problems, though Rob Metkemeijer (fifth), a recent recruit to speed ranks, can be expected to make more of an impression when he gets into it properly. It seems to me what could help is a sort of "Fault Finder" for speed fliers - it might help get some of the less successful fliers to sort their kit out a bit better, and reduce the erosion of interest resulting from persistent disappointing results and destruction of expensive equipment. Maybe I can knock something up for the next issue if space permits.Dick McGIadderY

Summary

Overall it was a very good result for the UK taking first place in F2C with 5 of the 8 GBR teams in the top 10 places and also taking 1st and 3rd places in F2A - Dick Mcgladdery taking the 1st Place just ahead of Germany's Norbert Schmitz with Dave Brewin in 3rd position.

A few thoughts need to be given to the new circle at Piennes – In the final the jury had to constantly ask the fliers to move back to the centre which suggest we need the centre circle to be levelled. Also, as many teams struggled with the slippery surfaces we need the pitting areas to be painted with some epoxy based grip compound (easily available and low cost compared with what has been spent so far). May fliers said that they would prefer to race in the old circle and put speed in the new one – this will have to be seriously considered by the organisers for the 2000 champs. However, the French modellers must be congratulated for the work they have put in to the site and all support must be given as they prepare for next year. Once the work is completed the Piennes site will be the best we have by a long way in Western Europe and something many of us are envious of.

Our thanks must also go to the Team Race Jury of Luis Peterson, Guido Michaels and Dave Rudd who ran this event extremely well under some rather difficult conditions (and sat in what was effectively a sauna throughout the event)

Don’t Forget the GRAND PRIX of LUXEMBOURG at the same site – September 18/19th