GregP
Major
Saturday at the Planes of Fame, they rolled out the Hawker Sea Fury that is Race 232, the former September Fury. It started life as a Sea Fury FB.11 and used to be owned by Mike Brown but now is owned by Rod Lewis. They buttoned it up about 4:00 pm, rolled it out and started it up. Steve Hinton was in the cockpit, but Jin Dale (JD) was there, too. This is a dedicated racer and it would take a lot of time and money to convert it back to stock form.
It ran for about 1 minute, shut downm, and was wrenched on for about 10 minutes and run up again.
Sounded great! Should be good for the Unlimited Gold race, and should qualify in the top 4 or so barring mechanical failure. They'll be careful this year after what happed last year. In 2011, it had a new baby R-3350 and it only had about 15 hours on it when Reno came up. They ate a piston in the first heat race and is just getting back into operational shape, so they'll probably not try to go faster than about 460 mph at Reno unless they can get 50 hours on it before the race ... doubtful.
We went to the NHRA Museum at the Pomona Fairplex Monday and it was closed! So, we decided to go to the Museum and finish the Bell YP-59A wheel covers I've been working on for a couple of weeks now. When we got there, Steve Hinton, Jim Dale, Hoot Gibson, and the Fighter Rebuilders crew were wrenching on Race 232. After about 15 minutes of wrenching, they buttoned it up, towed it out, and fueled it up. Steve Hinton got in, fired it up, idled for 3 – 4 minutes, and took it out for its first flight since Reno last year. Looked great and seemd to fly just fine. We left before they got back, but it good to see the Sea Fury flying again! If things go well, I'd expect to see it at Reno in 3 weeks.
It is for sale and could easily qualify at 480 mph, making it about number 3 or so, behind Strega and Rare Bear in no particular order. Of course, they'll probably qualify at about 460 mph since the R-3350 is virtually freshly overhauled and they won't want a repeat of last year when they blew it up in the first heat race.
Furias is the other top 4 qualifier and will be FAST, but nobody knows just how fast yet except the Furias owner / pilot / crew. The R-4360 is impressive, but was never particularly fast or powerful compared with R-3350 power and speed levels.
Want a top Reno racer? Pick up Race 232 at the races and go flying! The engine is freshly overhauled and the plane is in very good shape.
Oh yeah, in case you haven't heard, Rare Bear has a functioning engine again and is flying again after experiencing bent exhaust valves just a short while back, Didn't think they'd get it ready for Reno, but they did! Great job (probably Ray Anderson, but not really SURE of that ... maybe Dave Cornell did it ... don't know). I don't have any numbers, but at LEAST the Bear is committing aviation again these days instead of gathering dust in the hangar. Don't know who will fly it, but am hoping it will be John Penney since he is most familiar with the Bear of all the active race pilots.
After all, Tiger Destefani, Stevo Hinton and Strega need SOMEONE to race with! Who better than Rare Bear now that Voodoo is for sale and not going to race?
It ran for about 1 minute, shut downm, and was wrenched on for about 10 minutes and run up again.
Sounded great! Should be good for the Unlimited Gold race, and should qualify in the top 4 or so barring mechanical failure. They'll be careful this year after what happed last year. In 2011, it had a new baby R-3350 and it only had about 15 hours on it when Reno came up. They ate a piston in the first heat race and is just getting back into operational shape, so they'll probably not try to go faster than about 460 mph at Reno unless they can get 50 hours on it before the race ... doubtful.
We went to the NHRA Museum at the Pomona Fairplex Monday and it was closed! So, we decided to go to the Museum and finish the Bell YP-59A wheel covers I've been working on for a couple of weeks now. When we got there, Steve Hinton, Jim Dale, Hoot Gibson, and the Fighter Rebuilders crew were wrenching on Race 232. After about 15 minutes of wrenching, they buttoned it up, towed it out, and fueled it up. Steve Hinton got in, fired it up, idled for 3 – 4 minutes, and took it out for its first flight since Reno last year. Looked great and seemd to fly just fine. We left before they got back, but it good to see the Sea Fury flying again! If things go well, I'd expect to see it at Reno in 3 weeks.
It is for sale and could easily qualify at 480 mph, making it about number 3 or so, behind Strega and Rare Bear in no particular order. Of course, they'll probably qualify at about 460 mph since the R-3350 is virtually freshly overhauled and they won't want a repeat of last year when they blew it up in the first heat race.
Furias is the other top 4 qualifier and will be FAST, but nobody knows just how fast yet except the Furias owner / pilot / crew. The R-4360 is impressive, but was never particularly fast or powerful compared with R-3350 power and speed levels.
Want a top Reno racer? Pick up Race 232 at the races and go flying! The engine is freshly overhauled and the plane is in very good shape.
Oh yeah, in case you haven't heard, Rare Bear has a functioning engine again and is flying again after experiencing bent exhaust valves just a short while back, Didn't think they'd get it ready for Reno, but they did! Great job (probably Ray Anderson, but not really SURE of that ... maybe Dave Cornell did it ... don't know). I don't have any numbers, but at LEAST the Bear is committing aviation again these days instead of gathering dust in the hangar. Don't know who will fly it, but am hoping it will be John Penney since he is most familiar with the Bear of all the active race pilots.
After all, Tiger Destefani, Stevo Hinton and Strega need SOMEONE to race with! Who better than Rare Bear now that Voodoo is for sale and not going to race?
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