Odiham F2C Centralised Event - May 23rd 1999

It had been a while since the FAI competitors had flown at Odiham but the site had been obtained for a couple of dates in 1999 by Chris Barker who is stationed on the base. 11 teams turned up on the day which turned out to be fine with a fairly constant light wind which gave no problems whatsoever. The surface was good and it was well worth putting up with the delays caused by the RAF insistence that we were escorted on and off site as necessary.

Racing got underway at 11:30 with Dave Rudd once again taking charge for the day.

In the first heat a couple of good times were put in, the fastest being a 3:22.9 from Ross/Turner (who are consistently posting this sort of time nowadays) followed by a 3:25.4 from Fitzgerald/Thomason. Bothof these teams put in more decent times during the day (Ross/Turner actualy improved to 3:21.4) but no other pair could really get it together. As a result, a 3:36.1 was enough to give Langworth/Campbell third place into the final. The next two pairs were Smith/Brown and Fry/Whorton both of whom were flying new Mazniak gear and having severe starting problems and both apparently having tubed up incorrectly before the event (prime to the venturi and rich run to the exhaust !!) - Experienced Teams Eh ??

In the final the only teams to have a setting were Langworth/Campbell and the cruised home with a 7:04.4 followed by Ross/Turner 5 laps adrift and Fitzgerald/Thomason a further 10 laps behind.

Prizes were presented by the event organiser, Dave Rudd, and once again included tools and hobby gear

F2C - Team Race Results

Heat 1

Heat 2

Heat 3

Heat 4

Final

1

Langworth/Campbell

3

39.2

3

58.4

3

36.1

3

37.9

7

04.4

2

Ross/Turner

3

22.9

3

25.9

3

21.4

3

27.7

7

13.4

3

Fitzgerald/Thomason

3

25.4

4

03.6

3

29.5

3

33.4

7

33.1

4

Smith/Brown

4

01.4

3

41.9

ret

97.0

3

40.6

5

Fry/Whorton

ret

51.0

3

46.2

3

49.0

ret

90.0

6

Hill/Metcalfe

3

58.1

3

48.4

dnf

dnf

7

Miles Banks

4

12.5

ret

36.0

3

55.1

4

05.8

8

Walker/Peart

4

08.7

ret

87.0

4

13.1

4

08.8

9

Barker/Tomkins

4

11.7

ret

37.0

dnf

dnf

10

Radcliffe/Yeldham

ret

93.0

4

38.0

dnf

ret

32.0

11

Tribe/Bollen

ret

75.0

ret

20.0

dnf

dnf

League Points awarded for the day were as follows :-

Ent

Plc

Fin

Imp

Tot

Langworth/Campbell

1

6

2

0

9

Ross/Turner

1

5

2

0

8

Fitzgerald/Thomason

1

4

2

0

7

Smith/Brown

1

3

0

0

4

Fry/Whorton

1

2

0

0

3

Hill/Metcalfe

1

1

0

0

2

Miles Banks

1

0

0

0

1

Walker/Peart

1

0

0

0

1

Barker/Tomkins

1

0

0

0

1

Radcliffe/Yeldham

1

0

0

0

1

Tribe/Bollen

1

0

0

0

1

After this, the 5th competition of 1999 the league situation became very close with Ross/Turner, Langworth/Campbell and Fitzgerald/Thomason being within 3 points on 24, 23 & 21 respectively.

The team qualification situation however, because it is done purely on race times, showed a clear difference, Ross/Turners 6 times already showing an average of 3:21.6 and no other team below 3:35. around the mid point of the season.

In general, race times in the first half of 1999 were poor and many experienced teams showed difficulties in acheiving sensible race settings.