The weekend of the 14th and 15th October saw the last round of the BMFA CL speed competitions for 2023.
As normal the pulse jet models flew at Barton and the smaller IC models flew in the BMFA F2 circle at Buckminster, both are great facilities and we are lucky in England to have these circles in good usable shape, thanks to the Barton Club and the BMFA respectively for this.
The weather at Buckminster on Saturday turned sour fairly quickly but not before the 12 models had been running close to the record speed of 153mph.
Sunday morning at Barton dawned with a frost and clear blue skies and almost total calm. The heavy and well-trimmed sport jet models made light work of the conditions although the exceptionally high air density did not translate into high speeds, maybe the air was really dragging the models back and that the weather whilst dense was not quite what the pulse jet engines were wanting?
There is possibly a trend change starting to happen in the Sport Jet class, as there are more models showing up with combined fuselage/fuel tanks made of aluminium tube rather than a wood fuselage with inset metal plate tanks. These models are all asymmetric types. Nothing new in this style of course but could be just like flared trousers coming back !!
Asymmetric metal fuz Sport Jet
Nose view of fuz/fuel tank on Sport Jet model
Metal asymmetric sport jets in the photo centre and wood fuzed models at either end of the shot.
There we have another season finished, what are the take outs from the season? It was very difficult to win meetings with Sport Jets once the 12 models got sorted out, I think that SJ design might have to go back to the drawing board or metal fabrication shop looking at some of the models!! The 12 class has now got a stable base and we know that there are a number of new competitors coming on board with 12’s next year and to support this some F2A trainer kits are coming in from France and these will fly great with the 12 engines. There will also be a new 12 league (not a new class) this will be called 12 PRR (Personal record ratio) this will be explained in more detail in another post but basically the league points for 12 PRR will be awarded not according to where a competitor finishes against all of the other competitors but rather against their own previous personal best, this is very much geared to new competitors and they are rewarded for gradual improvement in personal performance. There will be a new league trophy for 12 PRR which will acknowledge the massive contribution to the UK CL speed scene by one mans passion, full details to follow.
12PRR does nothing to diminish the 12 models and competitors that have flown this year and that will fly next year. In many ways 12 could be a great battleground next year, if you think that you can build and compete with a speed model then you can pitch up against some of the best flyers in the World and have about as level a playing field as is reasonable to expect.
Peter Halmans winning Open speed model (ex F2A airframe) 12 class . Powered by an Irvine.
For 2024 we will also have Italian Sport Jet as a new class, details of this to come as well, but basically, it is Sport Jet flown on 17.69 metre lines and with pump petrol (gasoline).
Italian rules Sport Jet model
Finally the results !!