I know we have some airplane nuts here. Reno air races.

They did a radio interview with this guy a couple of days later on our local station. His attitude was " No big deal. stuff happens."

 

Anything more serious than hitting a bug with onf those things would be a 'big deal' to me!

 

Oh man, I knew I shouldn't have opened this thread! My wife gave "us" (really me, but she was a great sport for 5 days out in the sun watching planes ) a trip to Reno as a wedding gift. Best gift I ever got. We still talk about that trip and talk of going back. I think I'm gonna have to lobby real hard to go next year....

 

I will see you at the 50th Reno National championship Air Races in September, 2013!!!!

 

We had our best year ever with Precious Metal. Thanks Dad "Old Guy" here on the board for the passion for racing. I think this picture shows that.

 

That's a neat picture. Tell us more about your racing efforts with Precious Metal....Please

 

I think this slideshow shows what I did to her in 2011.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToclXQXqBdU

 

Thought I heard that Rare Bear and Precious Metal had problems...

I still have some engine carnage pieces from Precious Metal in the mid 80's. I think
Whittington's were making a run at the piston powered speed record and had an oil line
fail. As I remember oil pressure held pitch in the props and as it went down so did the pitch until it kicked all the rods out.

 

Yep we lost a gear door due to the failure of the forward up-lock spring. Still qualified at 463 mph the fastest she has ever gone at Reno. 4th Friday and Saturday. Only pushed it to 2800 rpm @ 80 in/hg. We still have some left!

 

463 mph quali run!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_MTUBoMHqc

 

That's a sound that just cannot be beat Pure music.

 

Awesome stuf guys! Thanks for the pics Rich, I always get a stiff neck at air shows!

 

If you look back at the archives of Flight magazine ,you'll see all the "new" technology was brought to aircraft in the 30's! Direct fuel injection, turbocharging, intercooling ...

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7gWX7i6148

That's me on the wing tuning the carb. Gets a bit warm behind that stack.

 

simply superb, i really must go to reno, thank you for posting !

kev

 

Some new video out. Purely awesome!

http://vimeo.com/52158310

 

Welcome wild bill, I know you from some of the air racing forums. Amazing job you and Thom have done with PM, and your openness about your race program is commendable. The discussions on those boards are amazing for anybody who's into anything mechanical. Thanks for chiming in. Amazing stuff guys.

 

I was feeling for the poor starter motor at 1:34 just before that ... how long can you guys crank it over?

 

It's a burly starter. The big thing is that when you are starting with the hot gas is you can't really stop a start sequence. The blower will fill up with fuel and then if you try a restart it will cough or have a stack fire. Then you have bigger issues!

 

Yeah they look cool, but they are not fun if things go bad.

 

Ya know, I think I remember my Dad saying something similar about the B-24. Note I said similar
Do they still race jets? I don't know why, but I've never made it to Reno!
My admiration for keeping these beasts flying!

 

It was good to see old #71 at Reno. This SEA FURY was known as SOUTHERN CROSS
for many seasons. Our last year to race her was 2005 we qualified just over 419mph.
I have been in and around all forms of racing most of my life,but unlimited air racing
is by far the most rewarding and expensive.

 

Good thing ours was built up out of a MGM movie prop. Funny thing is that most of the Mustangs (Strega, Voodoo, and Dago) were rotting on a static pole in a third world country in South America. Rare Bear was a wreck/hulk. Wrecks built into racers is not the same as cutting up a priceless warbird. Nobody is that stupid. Muttley go to mustangsmustangs.com some time and look up the history of all the racers. Most were built up from pieces and parts.

 

Precious Metal has raced Reno 7 times now

Only raced under that name

Three owners Don Whittington, Ron Bucarelli, And Mustang51 LLC (current)

Maydays... Depends on the year. Two or three in the gold on a bad year.

 

Merlin Precious Metal and Griffon Precious Metal not the same airframe. First PM ended up in the Gulf of Mexico. Later recovered but never restored.

 

Airplane Nut w. Red Tail?

Question at car show...Is that a Taxi?...
If they don't get it, they don't get it.

(Uncle Jimmy whas a Red Tail)

 

I've heard some stories about the first Precious Metal owned by the Whittingtons. How much of them were true, I don't know... but they sure made breaktime more enjoyable.

 

was building a house for micky rupp at naked lady airport when the wittingtons were on their vacation, the mechanic that was taking care of their planes used to fly up to see mick in different planes. corsair, p-51, b-25, trainer....rode with mick many times in his 51 ''old crow'' he racd at reno in late 80's. was a real wild ride.....

 

Thanks for posting the pics, brought back a lot of old memories. I was stationed at Beale AFB, 1986-92 and was on the C-130 demo jumps at the air races, with 4th Force Recon stationed there at Stead AFB. Big Red is hangared about 1.5 miles from my house. Again, thanks really enjoyed the thread.