Windsor, Ontario… I’ve visited lots of parts of the world as a tourist, as an airline pilot, as an airshow pilot and as an air race pilot but I can safely say that I have never been made more welcome than we were in Windsor, Ontario. The bartenders (we very occasionally partake in light refreshment), the guys at Windsor airport, Sean and Dennis at Oldcastle Speed and Custom (who helped us with our exhaust update) and just about everyone we met were all unbelievably friendly… what a great place…
The week went something like this: I picked the aeroplane up from De Kalb airport where Len had left it after the ferry flight across the States. I spent the weekend with the Lutes at Casa De Aero… Rick let me fly his RV4 and I thoroughly enjoyed my 20 minutes of gentle aerobatics overhead the airfield, a great antidote to the fast and furious racing which would follow.
I arrived in Windsor and Wade worked his magic in getting our new exhaust system fitted in time. We’ve now got a “six into two” system which both Ivanoff and Arch have had for a while in an attempt to squeeze more power from the engine. Bad news for Peter Besenyei in the middle of the week as his had an engine failure on the way to a photo flight at Niagra Falls. He lost oil pressure and after an attempt to make it towards the nearest airfield, his engine seized and he was forced to land in a newly sown field. All worked beautifully until the last 20 mph when the wheels dug into the soft earth and the aeroplane turned over. Out of all of this bad luck was a healthy dose of good luck as Peter was able to crawl out with just a few bumps and scratches. Bad luck also followed for Yoshi as his wing suffered some damage after a pylon strike. Normally there is nothing more than some abrasion but on this occasion some delamination was suspected and as a precaution his aircraft was grounded. I reminded our team on the Saturday that it was the 13th and there were now 13 pilots remaining in the race, we’d had two grounded aeroplanes and did things always happen in threes? I’m not normally superstitious but it did make me wonder…
Kirby Chambliss turned up with a new engine which failed the technical test. Rumours of illegal pistons followed but he was allowed to fly in the training sessions with this engine to avoid going into the race with no track time. The pistons were all changed on Friday night (an all nighter for Jason, his technician). His blistering times on the Thursday and Friday would surely slow him down but alas no… there was clearly something else creating power as he collected the one point on qualifying day. For us it was frustrating but at least the point didn’t go to Arch or Ivanoff.
As for race day… it seemed to go quite well! I am pleased to say that my times got better as the day progressed; I flew a little too aggressively in the Top 12 session but managed to calm down enough to win both the Super 8 stage and the Final Four. The other three guys all collected a 2 second penalty but Hannes was the only one with a faster net time. I’m pleased to say that Mr Chambliss could not replicate the fast times from the day before. As for Nicolas Ivanoff, he collected four seconds of penalties in the Top 12 round which put him 9th. The press were suggesting it is now a two horse race… how wonderfully naïve! As we have seen before, lots can happen in this series and I reckon it is still wide open. Mathematically, any one of the fifteen pilots can still win the Championship.
Roll on Budapest…