Carnforth 02

Tony Goldney and I were at it hammer and tongue right the way through a hectic weekend of six races and two restarts. It was only on the third day of close racing did I manage to gain enough points to open a gap from Tony who had his Honda Fireblade engine flat out all the way. Treacherous weather conditions and thrust air turbulence made racing an "on the edge" affair. At the "Hill" hairpin the craft would go thoroughly airborne over the brow of a steep bank (several craft crashed here) and then land heavily exactly on a mound that caused havoc with planning surfaces. We had to repair our craft's floor every race Carnforth is a small town on the edge of the Lake District not far from the resort of Morecambe in the North of England. The countryside is very pretty and the race course was on farm land grazed by sheep. Whilst this keeps the grass short which is good for racing it does have other disadvantages, particularly when camping.........!! The area we used is being developed for leisure activities and had some ground works in progress but other wise was a nice spot. The weather was showery on the Saturday, sunny on Sunday but with a stiff-ish breeze that swung round during the day to give real problems on the "Hill" hairpin bend. Mondays weather was dry but with an unpredictable breeze that kept us on our toes if a plough in or flip over were to be avoided. The course from the dummy grid went straight over the brow of a twenty foot bank that dropped down to a full 180 degree hairpin. It was important to get the power on early, on the drag down to the first transition to water which was quite shallow and could cause a plough in. From there the course swept away anti-clockwise to the mid lake buoy which was passed on the right. Then a sprint down to the next buoy, again, taken with it on my left. The speed was then scrubbed off to deal with a rough transition to a short land section which required a sharp left turn to line up for. Back on the water for a short stretch then a steep transition to land and as much power as you could get away with on the finishing straight when going into the wind and pitching over some undulating ground before easing off a lot to gingerly crest the brow of the "Hill" for another lap. Distance (I am told) was three quarters of a UK mile, lap time around 55 seconds. So, four transitions, a blast across water, a walking pace hairpin and a heart in mouth launch off a windy and steep bank for an average of 40-45 mph. Practise I must admit to being a bit apprehensive at the start of the weekend as I had no hovercraft driving time during the winter and only a few minutes cockpit time blasting away in a straight line on land as preparation for the weekend. So climbing into a modified Mirage with different handling characteristics and going straight into racing conditions on a course new to me was daunting. As Ken (the other half of Team Eagle) wasn't able to make the first day, at least I had both practise sessions to make full use of. It was immediately evident that the lift engine performance problems that we had last year were still apparent and that on this course the floor of the craft was immediately suffering. We were still configured with the lift engine setup and fixed pitch blades from last year as we wanted to gauge the handling of the craft with the modified skirts before making other changes. The 2002 hub and variable lift blades were in Ken's car...... The handling of the craft was much improved with the revised skirts. The effects of the lighter hull were also noticeable. Race One We lined up on the grid in the order of last years championship placings. Robin Brickles, Luke Sedzikowski and me on the front row. I got a good start but Robin got inside and tucked in behind Luke. It seemed that the pole position being tight on the inside of the corner was not much of an advantage. Robin's lift engine stopped on the water and the craft became water logged. In the meantime Tony Goldney got past me in pursuit of Luke. On the next lap he went wide at the hairpin which allowed me back through on the inside. We were going down the lake towards the first buoy side by side when Tony caught air. Looking to my left, a few feet away was Tony's craft fully vertical and rotating with just one back corner touching the water....... amazingly he stayed in the craft and it landed OK so he was able to resume the chase after me. At this point the race was red flagged as Robins craft sank on the racing line. On the restart, it was Luke and I on the front row as Robin could not quite get his drowned craft ready in time. Luke got away in front. I spun on the approach to the first land transition which allowed Tony Goldney to get past me. Tony then got past Luke... I think Luke must have had a moment at the hairpin. He then fought his way back to Tony and then tried to overtake him on the outside of the first lake buoy. Luke thinks that a part of the floor gave way and that tripped the craft up and flipped it instantaneously. When the craft was recovered to the paddock it was minus the entire floor section and thoroughly water logged as was Luke.... Tony went on to take the flag with me second, worrying about the damage to the floor of our craft. We checked the lift engine fuel system and electrical connections to find out why the engine was dying when the craft suffered a hard landing. Nothing was found and our suspicions of the the back pressure caused by a compressed skirt was stalling the engine (or at least pushing it out of the optimum rev range) continued. Race Two What a race! Tony and I were never more than a few lengths apart the entire race. I managed to get ahead of Tony at the start, round the hairpin, and then used the grunt of the 809 to out drag him to the first water transition. We were fairly even over the water section but then I had to back right off to save the floor of the craft over the next two land transitions where he closed right up and challenged for the lead. I could just scrabble to keep ahead and then use the power advantage to pull out another lead on the exit of the hairpin. We did this routine for every lap of the race! At the end of the race we both had a good laugh......... great stuff. The state of the craft after the days racing was horrendous. The front section of the floor had large splits and the rear corners had taken a bashing too. We had no option but to repair large areas of the floor. The evening weather had turned cold...... too cold to glass in repairs properly but we had no option but to do the best we could. By 10 p.m. using car headlamps for light and a small blow torch for heat we finished the job. We? that is me, Ken (who arrived during the evening) and my Father, whilst my Mother made us a meal.... Race Three Good news. Ken had brought the nine bladed lift hub and variable pitch blades with him and they produced instant gains in lift performance. Gone was the problem of the dying lift engine which was just as well as the wind had increased and changed direction to blowing across the water and straight down the finishing straight making the "Hill" diabolical. Robin was back on the pace. He pushed through at the start and was off into the distance. I was next with Tony (as usual) right up behind waiting to punish any mistake. Yep... at the hairpin! I came over the brow of the hill a touch too fast and into a gust of wind which picked me up in a 360 degree pirouette during which I took out the catch fencing guarding a very large boulder! I was lucky to get away with that episode and continue racing. At the start of the day Paul Taylor (of HCGB Video fame) rigged up an on board camera which (apparently) recorded all the nonsense. Roll on next Christmas's Hoverclub Video!! I am still trying to live down the cheers when last years videoed antics were shown at the HCGB annual meeting. Mike King was also suffering floor damage to his brand new craft. We were next to each other in the paddock doing floor repairs. Race Four Amazingly I was on pole position for this start. Robin blasted away round the outside of the hairpin to take the lead from the lights. For a change (!) Tony Goldney was right behind me and pushing all the way until the race was stopped when Steve Crank rolled his craft at the hairpin. At the restart Robin got away in front with Daniel Newton in pursuit having got his new 809 engined craft "on song". With some quick and determined driving he got past Robin by half distance. We were all going quickly. Sean O'Callahan was really going for it until he flipped it on the finishing straight. The weather conditions during this race were very changeable and it was easy to get caught out. Race Five I started this race with my visor up. I took my hand off the handlebars to shut it, veered slightly and Tony was straight through !! So it was my turn to chase him. I eventually got by later but Tony, myself, Luke and Mike King were fairly close together and there was thrust air everywhere. Very difficult to overtake or stay close in formation without being blown wide or upended. Race Six Daniel Newton took the lead with Robin next. Whilst trying to overtake Robin on the lake, I arrived at the sharp turn to the land transition too fast and had the option of tangling with Robin or going wide and putting the craft right up on its side to slow it. I took the latter option and Yep, it got hairy with the craft going way up. By the time I had sorted all that out I was at the second land transition and getting the benefit Robins thrust air.... I was blown left off the course onto a mound of earth and the inevitable catch fencing post. The good news was that the on board camera had been removed. The bad news was I was only yards from Dad filming it all. Drat. I kept the power on and drove back onto the course and cruised to the finish with enough points to secure an overall win for the weekend. Conclusion A weekend of mainly ups, hard work and a few scares. The craft will need a new (reinforced) bottom section complete. That will be dealt with next weekend. The handling of the craft is much much better with the revised skirt design. The new lift fan hub and adjustable blades has also brought real gains. So overall we have made progress during the winter. The weekend long dust up with Tony Goldney was great fun !!! Our craft spent most of its time in the paddock propped up whilst getting floor repairs!	n This is a shot of the top of the duct with the video camera on a white foam base, the funny cone shaped thing is the aerial and transmitter equipment. The black box with a wire aerial to the right of the video transmitter is a test rig transponder for the Electronic Lap Timing system that is currently being developed by Keith Oakley. The tumble down the "hill" meant that the craft often landed heavily on a mound that caused havoc with the floor of the crafts. Here Daniel Newton 12 is about to land on the mound which is the light coloured bit below/behind his craft. The photo above show's some of the damage after each race. We had to repair the floor every race. This is just a sample of the damage caused. We were not alone. Mike King had the same heartbreaking problems with his brand new hull. Luke lost his entire floor in one race. The replacement floor was in need of repair after the very next race!! Tony Goldney 5 was in pursuit all weekend... we had some very enjoyable racing together. Rumour has it that Steve Crank 13 has sold his craft to Daniel Turnbull. Daniels craft looked very stable and in control when racing although occasionally (as here) would ground out. Robin Brickles was as always Mr On the Pace although he did not quite get things all his own way during the weekend with some challenges from Daniel Newton. Tony and I were pretty much like this all weekend... Tony Goldney No.5 Sean O'Callaghan No.10

Tony Goldney and I were at it hammer and tongue right the way through a hectic weekend of six races and two restarts. It was only on the third day of close racing did I manage to gain enough points to open a gap from Tony who had his Honda Fireblade engine flat out all the way. Treacherous weather conditions and thrust air turbulence made racing an "on the edge" affair.

At the "Hill" hairpin the craft would go thoroughly airborne over the brow of a steep bank (several craft crashed here) and then land heavily exactly on a mound that caused havoc with planning surfaces. We had to repair our craft's floor every race

Carnforth is a small town on the edge of the Lake District not far from the resort of Morecambe in the North of England. The countryside is very pretty and the race course was on farm land grazed by sheep. Whilst this keeps the grass short which is good for racing it does have other disadvantages, particularly when camping.........!! The area we used is being developed for leisure activities and had some ground works in progress but other wise was a nice spot.

The weather was showery on the Saturday, sunny on Sunday but with a stiff-ish breeze that swung round during the day to give real problems on the "Hill" hairpin bend. Mondays weather was dry but with an unpredictable breeze that kept us on our toes if a plough in or flip over were to be avoided.

The course from the dummy grid went straight over the brow of a twenty foot bank that dropped down to a full 180 degree hairpin. It was important to get the power on early, on the drag down to the first transition to water which was quite shallow and could cause a plough in. From there the course swept away anti-clockwise to the mid lake buoy which was passed on the right. Then a sprint down to the next buoy, again, taken with it on my left. The speed was then scrubbed off to deal with a rough transition to a short land section which required a sharp left turn to line up for. Back on the water for a short stretch then a steep transition to land and as much power as you could get away with on the finishing straight when going into the wind and pitching over some undulating ground before easing off a lot to gingerly crest the brow of the "Hill" for another lap. Distance (I am told) was three quarters of a UK mile, lap time around 55 seconds. So, four transitions, a blast across water, a walking pace hairpin and a heart in mouth launch off a windy and steep bank for an average of 40-45 mph.

Practise

I must admit to being a bit apprehensive at the start of the weekend as I had no hovercraft driving time during the winter and only a few minutes cockpit time blasting away in a straight line on land as preparation for the weekend. So climbing into a modified Mirage with different handling characteristics and going straight into racing conditions on a course new to me was daunting. As Ken (the other half of Team Eagle) wasn't able to make the first day, at least I had both practise sessions to make full use of.

It was immediately evident that the lift engine performance problems that we had last year were still apparent and that on this course the floor of the craft was immediately suffering. We were still configured with the lift engine setup and fixed pitch blades from last year as we wanted to gauge the handling of the craft with the modified skirts before making other changes. The 2002 hub and variable lift blades were in Ken's car......

The handling of the craft was much improved with the revised skirts. The effects of the lighter hull were also noticeable.

Race One

We lined up on the grid in the order of last years championship placings. Robin Brickles, Luke Sedzikowski and me on the front row. I got a good start but Robin got inside and tucked in behind Luke. It seemed that the pole position being tight on the inside of the corner was not much of an advantage.

Robin's lift engine stopped on the water and the craft became water logged. In the meantime Tony Goldney got past me in pursuit of Luke. On the next lap he went wide at the hairpin which allowed me back through on the inside. We were going down the lake towards the first buoy side by side when Tony caught air. Looking to my left, a few feet away was Tony's craft fully vertical and rotating with just one back corner touching the water....... amazingly he stayed in the craft and it landed OK so he was able to resume the chase after me.

At this point the race was red flagged as Robins craft sank on the racing line.

On the restart, it was Luke and I on the front row as Robin could not quite get his drowned craft ready in time. Luke got away in front. I spun on the approach to the first land transition which allowed Tony Goldney to get past me. Tony then got past Luke... I think Luke must have had a moment at the hairpin. He then fought his way back to Tony and then tried to overtake him on the outside of the first lake buoy. Luke thinks that a part of the floor gave way and that tripped the craft up and flipped it instantaneously. When the craft was recovered to the paddock it was minus the entire floor section and thoroughly water logged as was Luke....

Tony went on to take the flag with me second, worrying about the damage to the floor of our craft. We checked the lift engine fuel system and electrical connections to find out why the engine was dying when the craft suffered a hard landing. Nothing was found and our suspicions of the the back pressure caused by a compressed skirt was stalling the engine (or at least pushing it out of the optimum rev range) continued.

Race Two

What a race! Tony and I were never more than a few lengths apart the entire race.

I managed to get ahead of Tony at the start, round the hairpin, and then used the grunt of the 809 to out drag him to the first water transition. We were fairly even over the water section but then I had to back right off to save the floor of the craft over the next two land transitions where he closed right up and challenged for the lead. I could just scrabble to keep ahead and then use the power advantage to pull out another lead on the exit of the hairpin. We did this routine for every lap of the race!

At the end of the race we both had a good laugh......... great stuff.

The state of the craft after the days racing was horrendous. The front section of the floor had large splits and the rear corners had taken a bashing too. We had no option but to repair large areas of the floor. The evening weather had turned cold...... too cold to glass in repairs properly but we had no option but to do the best we could. By 10 p.m. using car headlamps for light and a small blow torch for heat we finished the job. We? that is me, Ken (who arrived during the evening) and my Father, whilst my Mother made us a meal....

Race Three

Good news. Ken had brought the nine bladed lift hub and variable pitch blades with him and they produced instant gains in lift performance. Gone was the problem of the dying lift engine which was just as well as the wind had increased and changed direction to blowing across the water and straight down the finishing straight making the "Hill" diabolical.

Robin was back on the pace. He pushed through at the start and was off into the distance. I was next with Tony (as usual) right up behind waiting to punish any mistake. Yep... at the hairpin! I came over the brow of the hill a touch too fast and into a gust of wind which picked me up in a 360 degree pirouette during which I took out the catch fencing guarding a very large boulder! I was lucky to get away with that episode and continue racing.

At the start of the day Paul Taylor (of HCGB Video fame) rigged up an on board camera which (apparently) recorded all the nonsense. Roll on next Christmas's Hoverclub Video!! I am still trying to live down the cheers when last years videoed antics were shown at the HCGB annual meeting.

Mike King was also suffering floor damage to his brand new craft. We were next to each other in the paddock doing floor repairs.

Race Four

Amazingly I was on pole position for this start. Robin blasted away round the outside of the hairpin to take the lead from the lights. For a change (!) Tony Goldney was right behind me and pushing all the way until the race was stopped when Steve Crank rolled his craft at the hairpin.

At the restart Robin got away in front with Daniel Newton in pursuit having got his new 809 engined craft "on song". With some quick and determined driving he got past Robin by half distance. We were all going quickly. Sean O'Callahan was really going for it until he flipped it on the finishing straight.

The weather conditions during this race were very changeable and it was easy to get caught out.

Race Five

I started this race with my visor up. I took my hand off the handlebars to shut it, veered slightly and Tony was straight through !! So it was my turn to chase him. I eventually got by later but Tony, myself, Luke and Mike King were fairly close together and there was thrust air everywhere. Very difficult to overtake or stay close in formation without being blown wide or upended.

Race Six

Daniel Newton took the lead with Robin next. Whilst trying to overtake Robin on the lake, I arrived at the sharp turn to the land transition too fast and had the option of tangling with Robin or going wide and putting the craft right up on its side to slow it. I took the latter option and Yep, it got hairy with the craft going way up. By the time I had sorted all that out I was at the second land transition and getting the benefit Robins thrust air.... I was blown left off the course onto a mound of earth and the inevitable catch fencing post. The good news was that the on board camera had been removed. The bad news was I was only yards from Dad filming it all. Drat. I kept the power on and drove back onto the course and cruised to the finish with enough points to secure an overall win for the weekend.

Conclusion

A weekend of mainly ups, hard work and a few scares. The craft will need a new (reinforced) bottom section complete. That will be dealt with next weekend. The handling of the craft is much much better with the revised skirt design. The new lift fan hub and adjustable blades has also brought real gains. So overall we have made progress during the winter.

The weekend long dust up with Tony Goldney was great fun !!!

Our craft spent most of its time in the paddock propped up whilst getting floor repairs!

This is a shot of the top of the duct with the video camera on a white foam base, the funny cone shaped thing is the aerial and transmitter equipment. The black box with a wire aerial to the right of the video transmitter is a test rig transponder for the Electronic Lap Timing system that is currently being developed by Keith Oakley.

The tumble down the "hill" meant that the craft often landed heavily on a mound that caused havoc with the floor of the crafts. Here Daniel Newton 12 is about to land on the mound which is the light coloured bit below/behind his craft.

The photo above show's some of the damage after each race.

We had to repair the floor every race. This is just a sample of the damage caused. We were not alone. Mike King had the same heartbreaking problems with his brand new hull. Luke lost his entire floor in one race. The replacement floor was in need of repair after the very next race!!

Tony Goldney 5 was in pursuit all weekend... we had some very enjoyable racing together.

Rumour has it that Steve Crank 13 has sold his craft to Daniel Turnbull.

Daniels craft looked very stable and in control when racing although occasionally (as here) would ground out.

Robin Brickles was as always Mr On the Pace although he did not quite get things all his own way during the weekend with some challenges from Daniel Newton.

Tony and I were pretty much like this all weekend...

Tony Goldney No.5

Sean O'Callaghan No.10