Robert "Hoot" Gibson ripping off a blistering 479mph qual speed in the Hawker Sea Fury, September Fury (Fastest qual speed for a Sea Fury ever) during the 2013 National Championship Air Races held in Reno NV.
As a mechanical engineer I would be proud to work on a team servicing this aircraft. The engin has been well refurbished as hardly no smoke is visible when the engin is idling smoothly. Well done guys.
@@flynn6614 232 raced with an 18 cylinder Wright R-3350, it was a modified hybrid of several 3350 models similar to the engine "Rare Bear" ran for many years. "Dreadnought" has the 28-cylinder Pratt&Whitney R-4360.
Outstanding job on the video. Great camera work, framing, and knowing how to use (and NOT use) the zoom button. Love the sounds. Thanks for not dubbing over with music and crap.
I've seen a LOT of vidoes following awesome aircraft at high speed, and this is one of the best! People... it really takes some skill to follow an aeroplane at HIGH speed and not have the footage look jumpy. Massive props to the man with the video camera!!
232 September Fury was my favorite Unlimited Reno Air Racer. Saw it race many times at Reno and and an Unlimited Gold win on Sunday for 2006! She was sold and is being restored closer to original than her September Fury days. I will miss 232 in that role, but I'm glad it will keep on flying. I think it may be the Sanders team doing the restore.👍 Nice vid w/no crappy music drowning out the real music.
Sea Fury is/was an awesome aircraft. As a Brit I can just about about live with the replacement of the Mighty Bristol Centaurus (love the name) with a presumably mightier Curtis-Wright R3350, Whatever, superb video and no music brilliant, let the plane perform it's own overture.
The R-3350 with traditional valve system probably is better suited for power enhancing modifications. Especially in an environment where virtually nobody has experience with sleeve valves.
What a sound!! I noticed a four blade prop instead of the five bladed prop like the Sea Fury's have with the Bristol Centurus. Sounds like a Wright 3350 spinning really fast.
Perfectly true. It’s a Wright. The clue is the little scoop on top of the engine cowl. The Centaurus would sound different from this because of its sleeve valve design but also because the five blade prop is quieter. As good as this sounds - and it’s better than any Merlin - the Centaurus sounds better.
Fantastic job on every aspect of this video. Special attention to the take off. This guy knows how to take off a tail dragger (rare nowadays). What a beautiful flying bird to see! Congratulations!
@@billbonnington7916 Not really, i'm just saying that although Hawkers did make some fantastic aeroplanes, including the fastest piston engined aircraft in the world, none of them had the aura of the Spitfire. You have to remember the Spitfire went throughout the war into the 1950's with constant improvements..... People also forget that Hawkers used to be Sopwith, also a fantastic aircraft manufacturer.......
HOW CAN ANYONE NOT LIKE THIS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Beautiful aircraft. There are quite a few of these still around which is unfortunately not the case with her siblings, the typhoon and tempest so watching one of these is about as close as you can get to seeing a typhoon fly (for now)
Wonder what sort of power they are getting out of that thing . I would love to know. The plane descends from the tempest which was giving well over 2000hp.
When the plane was owned and raced by Mike Brown, it had a R-3350-93W which was the later variant that was fuel injected and at race power it was producing over 4,000HP.
Has anyone ever tried a late mark griffon engined Spitfire at Reno? Given that those late type spits had the mustang beat on level flight acceleration, turning and top speed (though only slightly) a well tuned model aught to be competetive in pylon racing.
+Maltsters Arms I don't think so, BUT there's a P-51D series with a griffon engine and contra rotating props similar to the Seafire Mk.47 and some Spiteful models.
I think that one's called Precious Metal. The one I find interesting, is the P&W 4360 engine Sea Fury, Furais. They had a mishap a couple of years ago, and I don't know if they've been back, but that's a nice aeroplane.
Can anyone tell me exactly how the engines on the Reno Racers have been modified compared to the original WW2 engines? I know that they've put special fuel in them and they suspend the normal operating limitations - but what other modifications have they made, exactly? Many thanks.
Do you know if that's the sleeve valve Centaurus or a Wright or Wasp in that animal? Sounds like they're tipping some Nitro Methane to it whatever it is.
Thank you. Sea Fury and a (corrected) Pratt & Whitney R-4360 Wasp Major wins unlimited gold this year. Awesome beautiful machines all. They growl. My bulldog growls back.
Robert "Hoot" Gibson ripping off a blistering 479mph qual speed in the Hawker Sea Fury, September Fury (Fastest qual speed for a Sea Fury ever) during the 2013 National Championship Air Races held in Reno NV.
Wilbur Finnigan The only original production model mustang with a V1650 that was faster was the P51-F at 491 Mph. But that was at a specific altitude in level flight. It was also an experimental model that only a handful were made which probably never saw service.
GGigabitem the comment I made that it, the Sea Fury, was not as fast as the Merlin Mustangs was at RENO AIR Races......Merlin Mustangs are still the fastest, even faster than the Precious Metal Griffon contra rotating prop model and the Big engined Bear cats. the F model Mustang was an expermental and never saw service the H model Mustang was available at the end of the war and on the way to Japan when the war ended 555 were delivered, the H did fly occupational missions over Japan...
This engine was the R-3350, you can always tell when a Sea Fury is powered by an American engine as they turn the opposite direction and spin the 4 blade propeller.
Dig that lumpy idle , Mr Hawker would have a conniption if he heard how hot that idle was, then the approach sound - breathtaking. This would terrorise any Nth Koreans out of their pants - a truly outstanding effort in restoration/ development! - LUV IT
The Centaurus was the original engine, but since they're getting rare most of the Sea Fury's state side have been converted to the more plentiful american engines.
soaringtractor You do realize that this one blew the non-British engine to smithereens, and has been sitting for sale in Reno since then. This is your chance to buy one and rescue it, since no one seems to want it.
An air frame and radial engine design that is now more than 75 years old, residing in a heavily modified 75 year old airplane, is still among the the fastest propeller driven planes of all time. All of the planes racing now are ex-fighter planes, built by governments who absorbed the huge cost of design, development and production in order to prosecute the war in Europe in 1945. It has remained that way. Only governments and companies having access to government cash can afford to design and build aircraft now.
No British engine here, it's all American!! The Bristol Centaurus is a beautiful engine, but the parts are rare and very expensive (if you can find them). The Wright 3350 which this plane has been tweaked to about 4000+ horsepower.
***** Likewise, the sleeve-valved Centaurus makes a very different sound. The Wright engines were gawd-awful fire-starters when they were first used in B-29s, but became ultra-reliable beasts by the time we had them in our A-1 SPADs in Vietnam. See my other comment above.
Beautiful Machine! But honestly, it sounds like a Dragster at iddle! Bristol Centaurus sounds better! But I get the point, this engine is better as a tuned engine! ;-)
No matter WHICH way they turn,....the Sea Furies didn't even hit the radar until AFTER the Bristol-Centaurus trash was replaced by 2800's, 3350's or 4360's. And THAT's all I have tuh say bout that. ;-)
The most glorious sound I have ever heard. If you have not already, please consider allowing War Thunder’s game developers to use it as a basis for their in-game sounds.
This has to be the ULTIMATE piston engine aircraft.Big plane(Heavy) round the small tight circuit does let the 'littlons' have the edge but in a straight line 'Breath my fumes' I am bias but I know it is true. This SEA FURY is sex with wings attached! Sorry to be common.
kevin brooks While you can't hop up any air-cooled radial the way you can a water-cooled inline, the Wright 3350 is already twice the displacement of a Merlin 1650. The "duplex" Cyclone was capable of 3500 horsepower by the mid-1950s and could run reliably for 10 hours or more knocking out 2500 or so in the late 1960s. I was told by one of Rare Bear's mechanics at Reno in '96 that under the best circumstances, the engine could make over 4000 shp for the duration of a race. The Bear's 3350 was driving a =very= broad-bladed prop off a '60 vintage Lockheed Elektra airliner / Navy patrol bomber in those days. More on how they get so much power out of these ancient engines at machinedesign.com/recreation/unlimited-air-racers-ultimate-hot-rods.
kevin brooks Well, yes, of course. I think the later (post-war) cylinder heads on the 3350s would support that without getting too hot. But milling them down or stroking, etc., is usually risky with any air-cooled engine, and the 3350 was pretty intolerant at its outset.
The biggest problem with the R3350 on the early B29's was the tight engine cowling...not allowing enough airflow to cool...plus they were running them at max power to get the loaded plane off the ground. Later commercial versions were very reliable and a good engine...they were rushed to production for the war effort in the B29 without having sufficient time to work the bugs out...
The Disabled Gamer Calm down, nothing done to the plane is permanent, these are bolt on items that can easily be taken off. If it wasn't for air racing many of the warbirds you see flying today wouldn't be here.
