Tomorrow I'll be in The Valley of Speed for the 49th Reno Championship Air Races!
The camera is another Samsung pocket-sized point and shoot camera. There's nothing wrong with my "old" Samsung TL225, but the new WB750 shooter is two generations newer, has much more sophisticated systems and a much longer zoom lens...oh, and it's shoots HD Movies in Full 1080 at 30fps. TL225 5X zoom, WB750 18X zoom, 24-432mm in 35mm-speak.
As I scratch this out, I've got Reno's ABC-TV affiliate, KOLO8 open in another tab.
The weather is gonna be great all week out at Stead Field, with light winds and highs in the low 90s Thursday and Friday, and just a little cooler- high 80s Saturday and Sunday.
The speed trials began Monday, and I was following along on my favorite Air Racing Board. RARA has the info on the Official Site too.
Today reminded me of the Good Old Days at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The first tally of speeds came across the transom around noon.
Strega did a lap at 493.299 MPH Tuesday, the fastest so far this week. Rare Bear turned a 493 also but was disqualified (DQd) for flying too high around Pylon 8. The Bear recouped it's losses at the end of the day with a good lap at 490.002.
No serious drama yet...Heck, it's only Wednesday morning at midnight! They don't start turning those big beautiful Hamilton Standard props in anger until Thursday.
These engines are older than yours truly, yet the race tuners are getting twice the design horsepower out of 'em than when they were new! With the exception of multi-time Reno Unlimited Gold winners, Rare Bear and Strega, I'd expect the speeds to rise carefully until Saturday's final Gold Heat 3A that sets the field for Sunday's Breitling Gold race.
If you burn a piston you just don't go down to the local NAPA Store, some of these parts are rarer than hen's teeth already.
If you can't make it to Reno/Stead Field this year, or you can't get here until the weekend, here's where you can catch the action streamed LIVE over the internet:
Loaded TV is where the LIVE stream will be.
Live AirShow TV has plenty of video too.
KOLO8 Reno streams their 11 o'clock news AM and PM
More Reno Air Races links:
The Official Reno Air Racing Association RARA website has searchable qualifying and race results, as well as everything you need to know about attending the Air Races.
Air Racin' Forums at Wayne Sager's All Aviation Flightline Online
Reno Gazette Journal. Be careful with RGJ, they recently moved to a pay to play regime. You only get a few looks before you have to subscribe, so make sure you have the time to make the most of each visit. Once a day will let you see everything without running afoul of the new sheriff's rules. Excellent Photo Galleries.
KKOH Radio AM 780 should have live updates at :05 after the top of each hour
And of course you can follow me on Twitter where I'll tweet anything interesting from Stead and beyond about this week's Air Races at @CorduroyPlanet provided I find a decent WiFi cloud somewhere near Stead...
Unlimited Class racing begins Thursday, qualifying continues Wednesday
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