I will miss the Valley Of Speed. Soo Sad. Go Bardahl!!. Steve is on the bottle. When we started dry camping at Stead for the races, there was probably a dozen or more campers. We had a crank-up Coleman freezyourass camper that first year in 1976. By 1997, that lot area had quadrupled with campers. The Valley of Speed is where we stayed mostly, Before ANY houses were over there. Big brush fire partys all over, till wee hours.
The racing association is scouting several sites to continue the races. I don't know if that will include the unlimited class. Madras Oregon is one and I heard (unconfirmed) Pueblo Colorado is another
Man, Steve Hinton really whipped his horse - Seeing 470mph got rare nowadays. 2nd ranked, Dreadnought (Seafury) qualified at 441mph which is impressive too, but spoils the winner of this year (if everything goes well with ''Bardahl Special'')
This was Bob Love's old plane. I went for 2 rides in it in November 1982. It was based out of Hangar 14 at Livermore Airport in NorCal. Bob was a P-51 ace in WWII and an F-86 jet ace in the Korean War. Russ Francis of the SF 49'ers owned it after Bob passed away.
Y'all saying "Steve" which to me implies Steve Hinton (Sr), the warbird legend, CEO of Planes of Fame, and former Air Racing Champion (Red Baron, Super Corsair). It was my understanding that Steve had retired from air racing--he flies the pace jet. Steven (Jr) is the son, former Voodoo pilot. So for those of us 6k miles away from Reno, who is flying Bardahl??
A week after the final Reno Air Races it occurs to me that this video is the last fastest few laps to have been run at Stead. Since this qual run all speeds were significantly slower.
Now, close your eyes and imagine that you're in 1942 Germany, hearing that would either inspire you, or terrify you, depending on the side you were on...
If she stays together it is a given with Steve Hinton at the controls. He flys a very fast/tight line around the course. Would have been nice if Brent would have let someone else pilot Miss A, she might have had a chance. I like Brent, but watching his performance last year around the pylons just wasn't impressive.
I missed this by minutes, left too early I guess…his mechs must have got the engine back together, last I saw, one of the camshaft assemblies was on the bench…While we asked for Steve’s autograph…
After seeing video posted from the back side of the course, it looks like Hinton is probably the favorite now....imagine that! I read he q,fied at 470, but RARA hasn't posted times yet. They do show STOL Drag Final Standings already though?
@@Tglass @Tglass i think dreadnought would have been the only one to possibly come close. not sure if Miss A will be pushed that hard, hope i'm wrong. i feel like this race will just be another one like the last couple years with a good distance between first and second.
The qfying numbers I saw showed Steve-O about 15 faster than Dreadnought. Even if neither was pushing at that point it appears the Mustang would have probably had the Buick in the rear view the whole week. And that Merlin sounds like it too. I don't think they'd have gotten Hinton to do it without something stout. But the races still have to be flown.
Those props on these high revving racing Merlins sound a lot like the recordings of the Napier Sabre of the Hawker Typhoon and Tempest, especially when approaching the microphone (though the exhaust note is very different).
I was on the Dago Red team in 1983 when we set that record at an altitude around 10,000 feet, but Steve Hinton Jr I believe in 2021 set a speed record in voodoo at 50 feet of 550mph.
470.. gawd the really fast guys have been missed for a few years. Don't get me wrong, 470 is fast...but that ain't like years back, before everyone left racing because of the lack of purse money.
Higher revving engine than normal with the original propeller reduction ratio means the prop is spinning a whole lot faster than usual and probably with the tips being supersonic.
The max airspeed of WW2 era P51D at 35,000' was in rated at app. 420mph; at altitude of 1000' (+-) it was rated at 370mph(+-) . I am not sure if was at emergency power setting or maximum continuous power setting. The speed of modified race planes is achieved by reducing drag : shorter wings, canopy and airframe mods to reduce drag , engine mods and only focus on lower level performance. I still enjoy watching these low level speed vids
As exciting as the air races are, I'm not comfortable with the notion that these guys are modifying and beating the hell out of 75 year old irreplaceable warbirds just to go racing in them. So many have already been lost to crashes, many of those crashes being while racing. To subject these ANCIENT airframes to far more stress than they would have seen in combat when they were newly made seems to be almost criminal by itself. And then consider that they're almost all modified in some ways to make them faster around the course. Altering aerodynamic surfaces, making structural alterations, lightening structural parts to the very edge of safety or even a bit beyond... even putting in radically different engines and propellers. It all seems so reckless to me. But hey, the truth, whether we want to admit it or not, is that if races had ZERO chances of an accident, the crowds watching them would be much smaller. Truth.
There are P-51 airframes out there that have been totaled at least twice. Some of these "warbirds" wouldn't even exist if not for air racing. There wasn't really a practical use for a single seat, gas guzzling fighter aircraft after the war, and it was the guys that wanted to race them who saved a lot of them from being scrapped. There are plenty of P-51 Mustangs sitting in museums that will never fly again.
And I see pure beauty and art in making this piston fighters faster than they ever were. I see beauty in their modifications and clever engineering to make them faster. I see beauty in flying them at the speeds they were designed or even faster. Because in the war the british would run P-51's at 81" and dive at this speeds or even more. Is a true 2nd live for this airplane to be in the action and honor the engineers that made this beauty of airplanes and engines because if they can watch us Im sure they are looking at reno... And where I see all this you just see what, an airplane that could be sitting in a museum with tons of dust? Screw it I say it ;)
A fraction of the G's that Galloping Ghost produced would knock you out for a week... Anyways Steven Hinton is 36 years old and is a top racer what are you talking about.
