Almost Ready for Reno

The excitement is building for the National Air Races in Reno, Nevada. Well, okay, so my excitement anyway - and that of the Sawbones team. This year has been a bit different than our experience last year. No disasters to fight, no panic. Last year the team was putting the finishing touches on an entire engine rebuild and remount, all in about 4 weeks, including transportation back and forth to Idaho. The Sea Fury had suffered a landing gear failure and had to be put back together into race condition in a very short period of time. This year was all about drag and finish.

Our experience with the 3M low surface energy film experiment, which was given credit for making the plane slightly faster while the tail wheel dragged behind in a couple of the heats,  convinced Robin, the teams owner, that if the entire wing were smoother, it might help this year. So he took the prize money from last year and invested in a wing surface overhaul. The wings were stripped, filled and fared (with 3M Marsden compound), sanded, and painted with a show-car-like finish. You can read the brand of the light bulbs on the ceiling of the hangar in the reflection on that paint. In addition, a 3M film was applied to all leading edges to protect them from sand, dirt, and other objects the huge prop might throw at them that could erode that smooth surface. The film will also make it much easier to clean the plane of oil and dirt between races. All will hopefully give another knot or two of speed.

One of the fun things about getting ready this year was a team-building event we had at Vine Park Brewery. Vine Park provides brewing equipment for guests to use to brew their own beer using Vine Park recipes. A few weeks ago, eighteen of us arrived on a Wednesday night and brewed six different batches of beer, which we bottled this past Wednesday. Part of the fun was creating the Sawbones labels for these beers, which we will haul to Reno with us, and serve at the after-race party in October. They actually taste quite good.

We leave Wednesday, September 16 for five days of racing fun. I can't wait.