First Reno for F1 RedHead
ANN's Firsthand Coverage of the Reno Air Races
There are a lot of people who want to race at Reno. Mostly
pilots. Pilots -- we're a competitive bunch. 'My war story can
trump your war story!' seems to permeate hangar talk all over. At
Reno, though, it's different: the stories are true; they're
verifiable -- or no one believes you. That attraction is part of
the mystique of racing, and there's no racing like Reno racing.
For years, former F-14 driver Steve Dari had the dream of going
fast, low and in traffic, in a little airplane -- and had the
word out to friends to find him an 'affordable racer.' One finally
showed up, and a buddy picked it up on the way to Sun 'n Fun this
year. As it turned out, the project did have all the parts; and
that's about all one could say for it.
The Cassutt IIIM that
Steve got, "didn't have everything, well, anything, ready to race,"
he told me. The budget racer had some budget touches, too: "Inside
the cockpit, for instance, were these stick-on letters. On one
side, they said 'Casutt,' and on the other, 'Cassut.' Neither side
was right, but both were spelled differently."
The guy who had the machine wasn't a good speller (or he didn't
have enough letters to do the whole job); but the construction was
workmanlike, even if the plane had been neglected for years. "It
last flew in '95," Steve's wife, 'Chief Redhead' Meg, told me.
Fortunately, the previous owner had been kind to the engine, oiling
it and turning it over, from time to time. "It fired right up,"
Michael Gretton, Steve's crew chief, told me. It ran well, too,
turning the 52" (64" pitch) prop a healthy, though not stunning,
3200 rpm in the race.
After some mighty all-summer thrashing, the determined team:
Gretton, Andy Silver, Eric Hereth, Kevin Cooksly, as well as
the Daris, were ready to bring the little racer to Nevada. Steve
flew it there. Steve's 3 1/2 hour trip to Reno had four gas stops.
Do the math: it sips seven gallons an hour from the ten-gallon
tank.
A racer gets your attention, and keeps it.
The Cassutt is designed to do one thing: go fast on very little
power, and turn around pylons quickly. It does that. The tradeoff
is that the machine demands a lot of skill, and a lot of attention.
Steve, who has hundreds of Pitts hours in addition to his Tomcat
time, said, "I'd rather fly a Pitts any day." What's it like to
fly? Well, he says, it's quick: "It's like a squirrel on
methadrine, that you set on fire." A laid-back cross-country
machine, it's not.
"Compared to the Tomcat? Huh?" he asked, trying to understand my
question. "Well, on roll, for instance, the F-14 is a
little quicker; this little plane is so light, though..." He leaned
back: "Yes, the Tomcat's a little faster... this year. I don't know
about next year." High hopes -- there's some development left to
do!
Where am I?
A racer is, necessarily,
sparsely-instrumented; and a ship as small as a Formula 1 is
generally minimally-configured. It's not uncommon to see
suction-cup mounted 'car' compasses on the windscreen, as primary
navigational devices. Thus, the problem of positional awareness
comes down to heavy-duty pilotage.
However, one look at the interior of a Formula 1 racer will
convince you that it's not the ideal place to spread out your
charts. The tiny gas tank also keeps you focused -- there's not a
lot of reserve; and the airplane, with its minimalist wings and
generally bad attitude, doesn't glide like a Nimbus, either.
With so little room in the cockpit in the first place, and no
charging system, and no need for a "real" stack at any rate, Steve
opted for the iPAQ-sized Anywhere Map and
AnywhereWX to get him to Reno. "This thing is
great," he said, and chuckled, "I'd be lost without it."
All the way in, Steve had terrain, weather, and all GPS
information at his fingertips, in the tiny, essential gadget.
About all he needed was engine instruments. That's good, because,
other than a compass, altimeter, airspeed indicator and slip ball,
that's all little RedHead had. When he got to Reno,
he just carried the Anywhere Map off the plane, and stowed it in
his flight bag. "Didn't have to unscrew a thing," his crew told
me.
Steve was set to fly home on Monday, RedHead having
finished its -- and Steve's -- first-ever Reno Air Races. He beat
three others in his Bronze race, finishing fourth (and last
finisher -- you gotta finish!) -- and he had a great time.