Bulent Aliev wrote:

          Sport Class RenoAirRace update Thursday evening 9/16/04:

          Bad news. Nemesis NXT is out of the race this year. The damage didn't look all that bad. Yesterday after the left gear leg collapsed the lower wing tip was ground down very similar to what our noses
          look like after gear mishap. Just as Nemesis was about to come to halt the right gear gave out under the side loads and fell flat as a pancake sending the prop flying in a gazillion pieces. I spoke
          to a couple members of the crew this afternoon and they told me they just didn't trust the gear. Besides, they need a new prop, engine looked at after the prop strike even though it was a composite
          prop plus the glass/carbon fiber work on the wings and belly. Next year was their mantra and I agree that's the best decision.

          With Nemesis and a couple others out Klaus and VariEze 111 is back in the race running in the Silver heat. That means he will get some prize money so long as he finishes which I have no doubt he
          will. He now has his highly modified and extremely beefed up O200 we all call "O-2-BAD" fuel injected. His face is turning purple trying to hand prop that baby now and especially when the engine is
          cold or real warm. Could an electric starter be in Klaus's future?........................nah! Klaus was making the laps today right at the 250 mph area which is a little improvement over last year.

          Also today Darryl Greenamyer in the high powered, twin turbo'd Lancair Legacy declared a Mayday on the fifth lap and dead sticked it back on the runway. I overheard him saying his oil pressure was
          skyrocketing so he shut the engine down before it blew. I'm sure they will be burning the midnight oil tonight in preparation for tomorrow's first race for the gold.

          Who's looking really good on the race course you might ask? We'll, it's John Parker flying his Thunder Mustang (now on the list of extinct bird species). That bad boy was turning the course laps at
          359 mph and literally smoking everyone else. If the Falconair engine holds up and Greenamyer can get his problem fixed it should be quite a race for the gold.

          On the Unlimited side Rare Bear was looking good all week. Yesterday they pulled the oil filter and found metal. They broke the engine down last night and discovered the main bearings were nearly
          shot. The team seemed confident they can have her back in the air tomorrow for the first race albeit holding back a bit so they can take her to the gold. We saw this same thing happen last year and
          she stood down rather than risk blowing a VERY expensive engine.

          Weathers great, crowds beginning to build a      ndeveryoneishavingagoodtime.

          Tim LoDolce
          VEZE Truckee Tahoe

     Darn, I was going up there tomorrow just to see Nemesis NXT race.
     Bad news for my hangar neighbor who I think designed the Nemesis NXT gear.

     Klause is also my hangar neighbor and he has a prejudice against microcomputers
     in EFI systems. I think Paul Lipps actually designed Klauses system. I know
     he designed the electronic ignition.

     I have not seen inside Klause's EFI system or was privy to the schematic.
     I suspect it is some sort of analog system. In theory a 50 cent 555 analog integrated
     circuit can control an electronic injector. I have seen the electronic
     injectors however in Klause's intake manifold.

     One of the neat things about EFI with microcomputers is they are always
     easy to start. When is the last time your car did not start on the first
     revolution?

     Rebuilding an R3350 over night is quite a feat.

     Paul Lamar

John wrote:

Below is a quote from a news article about Nemesis NXT. It doesn't sound like the prop shattered, "sending the prop flying in a gazillion pieces"? Photos don't look like the prop shattered either?

"Sharp said the 72-inch prop feathered down to about 40 inches. "It curled the propeller like a rolled-up piece of paper-like someone took a screwdriver around the tip blade and wound it up," he said."

John Lewis

I am intensely interested in why the gear collapsed. Can anybody shed some light on
that?

Paul Lamar
 
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