Speed Event Buder Park Fenton, Mo. Random Photos

Kim Sun May 20, 2012 9:25 am

Decided to take my bike up to St. Louis yesterday, and check out a Speed Event that was listed on my calendar. I know just about nothing about this area of our hobby, and just took some video, pulling these stills from that footage.

The location is just west of St.Louis, in Fenton, Missouri and is called "Buder Park". They have two beautiful full-circle paved sites for control line...one enclosed with a chain-link fence. There's also an R/C field, and and while I was looking at the the racers, a model rocket was launched from somewhere over there...Fun Place !

I got there late in the afternoon after a slow start from home and a fatiguing ride through some interesting St. Louis traffic. They were wrapping it up, but I still managed to get a little footage.

The pilot is given three laps for his model to get up to speed, with the judges counting them off. He then places his hand in the yoke for a timed, ten-lap run.

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**RknRusty** Sun May 20, 2012 9:49 am

Now I see how a speed pan is used. I never was quite sure about that.

Kim Sun May 20, 2012 10:01 am

RknRusty wrote:Now I see how a speed pan is used. I never was quite sure about that.

Yeah...these are different animals alright...something else I noticed was that the fuel tank center is well below the spraybar...but guess that since these racers are gonna stay level for their flight, there won't be a that much of a change in mixture once it's set....

Ivanhoe Sun May 20, 2012 10:04 am

That Tyro bipe is fabulous, and with a Drone diesel! It's always seemed odd to me that most of the earliest control line models were speed designs, then speed sort of dropped to a minority interest.

ahrma_581 Sun May 20, 2012 1:15 pm

Ivanhoe wrote:That Tyro bipe is fabulous, and with a Drone diesel! It's always seemed odd to me that most of the earliest control line models were speed designs, then speed sort of dropped to a minority interest.

Altho' in a way that is kind of a logical progression. At first, it was enough just to get things going around level in a circle consistently. Then you see how fast it can go. Next you move on to wing-overs, loops, inverted, etc. as the designs are refined.

Except for that orange, rear exhaust unit, most of those look like vintage designs.

Ivanhoe Sun May 20, 2012 1:51 pm

ahrma_581 wrote:
Ivanhoe wrote:That Tyro bipe is fabulous, and with a Drone diesel! It's always seemed odd to me that most of the earliest control line models were speed designs, then speed sort of dropped to a minority interest.

Altho' in a way that is kind of a logical progression. At first, it was enough just to get things going around level in a circle consistently. Then you see how fast it can go. Next you move on to wing-overs, loops, inverted, etc. as the designs are refined.

Except for that orange, rear exhaust unit, most of those look like vintage designs.

Yes, I suppose you are right there, I've seen a number of early C/L kits which were virtually streamlined engines, but then, as you say, people got tired of just going round in circles!

andrew Sun May 20, 2012 6:20 pm

RknRusty wrote:Now I see how a speed pan is used. I never was quite sure about that.

The speed pan, besides providing structural support for the plane, had two other important functions. It gave a completely true base for mounting the engine --- this would keep the case from distorting any whatsoever. Secondly, cooling on these engines was kept to an ablsolute minimum to reduce drag. The speed pans, almost always magnesium, served as an effective heat sink to pull heat out of the crankcase.

These speed planes are wicked fast and the engine work needed to be competitive is superb.

Kim, you're a brave man to ride a bike in St. Louis ---- how was the ride across the bridge?

Kim Sun May 20, 2012 8:47 pm

andrew wrote:

Kim, you're a brave man to ride a bike in St. Louis ---- how was the ride across the bridge?

The bridge was nothing...I-270 was pretty much suicide!

Thanks to my free-wheeling 60's view of the world (I don't need no stink'n maps!), I DIDN'T hoof it to Fenton by hitting 141 south of THE ZONE OF DEATH and by-pass 270...then, I didn't realize that I could have taken 40 up into town for a visit with Katie (her wild-eyed and somewhat pale mom, Pattie, was riding with me!) and GOT BACK ON 270 for a loop around to I-55 !!!

Speed limits and turn signals be cast-to-the-devil, you just point the big bike at the nearest slot and stomp it!

Though, in the midst of all the potential carnage, it WAS entertaining to watch the young Crouch-Rocket Crazies, blasting their bikes through lanes of traffic like dolphins riding wild surf...

I must love these silly toy airplanes quite a bit...

As far as the "brave" part...I reckon it's just the Aerogloss Chickens---come home to roost !!!!!!

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