BTW speaking of p-ports did you notice the rate of climb for the Power
Sport
 p-port powered airplanes?

 Paul Lamar

 Hi Paul,
 Beware: that's "INITIAL" rate of clime. Easy to do shooting down a runway
 at 90 knots. When you hit the bump at the end you simply measure the rate
 for the first 3 feet of altitude. Ski jumper style :)

 BTW; I read my ECHO chain saw manual last night and the idle is 3,000 and
 WOT is 12,000 RPM. The flywheel is about 4 inches dia and the pickup is
 on the OUTSIDE of the flywheel. Outboard motor pickups are on the INSIDE
 making them less accessable and more inclined to heat buildup. Chainsaw
 parts may be an option.    Dave M


 Yes I suppose that is possible if you want to cheat :)
 Still I don't think that was the way it was done. 2750 FPM
 is only 46 feet per second and the gross weight of 1800 pounds
 is only 82800 pound feet per second. Dividing that by 550 is only 150 HP.
 Quite possible with a constant speed propeller that is about  85%
efficient.
 That is 300 to 500 FPM better than most side port rotary and O-360
Lycoming
 powered airplanes.

 An RV3 (RV4?) powered by a early Power Sport P-port engine, fixed pitch
prop
 and a bit of NOS holds the unofficial worlds record time to climb to 3000
 feet
 from a dead stop on the runway in under one minute as I recall. Perhaps
 Steve
 Beckham can expand on this.

 Yes that is worth looking into as the parts are a lot cheaper
 than an outboard motor. However you don't get the alternator
 for free. Thanks for the tip.

 Paul Lamar

 Paul, regarding the discussion of Powersport performance numbers, you
 asked for information regarding our 1997 Sun'n Fun numbers with the RV-3.
 Jack Cox, former editor of Sport Aviation, provided the enclosed report
 he wrote for the August 1997 Sport Aviation issue. Â It covers both the
 time-to-climb qualifying and the cross country race with the Mazda
 conversion prototype we took out of my RV-4and put in Alan's RV-3 for
 these races.

 Page 8 starts coverage of the Shell 3D Speed Dash (time-to-climb races).
 Jack notes in his report we had top qualifying time for the Unlimited
 Class using a fixed pitch wood prop and a fairly modest shot of nitrous.
 As Jack notes in the report, qualifying times were not posted for
 Unlimiteds.
 Qualifying was to 2,000 ft.and the race to 3,280 (1,000 meters).

 This shows the RV-3 posted top qualifying time for the Unlimited Class.
 Jack's report lists the slower "Medallion" class op qualifier had a time
 of 48.25 seconds to 2,000. Â The next day in the finals, Bruce won in
Pushy
 with a 49.53 to 3,280, so folks said that could have put our time as best
 Unlimited qualifier to 2,000 ft. in the 30's. Â Just don't know.

 Jack notes the heartbreak of not being able to compete in the Unlimited
 finals. Â That happened because the day following time-to-climb
qualifying
 Alan took the class win in the Sun 100 cross country race normally
aspirated
 but at end toasted a bearing in the prototype reduction gear. Â See page
7.
 As I remember, Alan was following somebody who wandered off course for a
 while and this lowered our average speed to 228. Frustrating not to be
 able to run in the time-to-climb finals. Â Based on qualifying it sure
 looked like we had them covered that year. Â After Sun'n Fun, the engine
 came back out of the RV-3 and after improvements to the design of the
 the reduction gear and put the package back in the RV-4 where it was
 when Everett was killed doing aerobatics a short time later in October.

 Steve Beckham

 Thanks Steve. The pdf at 5 meg was too big so I captured
 the best parts.

 Paul Lamar


I still think time to climb competitions hold interesting promise for
spectators.  I'd structure it as "The Vertical Quarter Mile" - racing
to 1320ft AGL.  People could see the airplanes for the entire run, and
it would be safer than pylon racing.  It would be exciting because you
know people would break engines..  Rotary powered airplanes would win.

Matt-

It is primarily a HP to weight ratio contest. Top speed is a drag
reduction contest :)

Paul Lamar

Matt, you are correct about keeping the finish line at a low level for
time-to-climb.  As Jack notes in his report, after a point, they just
disappear otherwise.  2000 ft. would be plenty and 1500 better yet for
spectators.  As a postscript to the Sun'n Fun report, I have the engine
mount and nitrous nozzles we built as part of the package for Alan's RV-3.
Have both installed in the new RV-3 under construction out in the shop with
an engine/reduction gear which is basically a clone of the one we ran back
in '97 @ Sun'n Fun.

Steve Beckham