champion of champions day 1

A very quick note on day 1 of the race.  Some challennging conditions in a cold northerly wind that never really came on the slope.

FTD with paul Garnett 34.XX as he made the most of the best lift off the day.  Even this couldn't get Paul ahead of Simon Thornton- Who leads the race.

most other pilots had a mixed bag of times from the low 40's to mid 50's. 

It was good to see 4 willows racing and in the hands of Adam and John Philips they delivered some excellent times and dealt with the conditions really well- resulting in a number of 40's- I'll tell you about my horror run in round 8 later:-)

  2 willows in the top 7- a great day for team willow and the battle between Adam and John tomorrow on Levisham should be a cracking one!

Finding the Champion of Champions Race

  For those of you who have not been to the Hole of Horcum before (where have you been?) here’s is a link to directions and a site map

http://www.nymrsc.org.uk/how%20to.htm

Meeting for the race will be at 8:30- for a 9:00 start (locals permitting) at the main car park. If you can’t see the car park when you are at the HoH, please re-consider flying fast glidersJ

The time for the ‘last round in progress’  will be announced at the start of the day (expect around 5pm).  There is a great deal of accommodation available near-by in Pickering and the surrounding area, including a camp site.

  For those coming from the south, the BP garage in Pickering is probably your last and best bet for slope-side snacks.

Getting ready for the champion of champions

  I though I'd best get some practise in for the champion of champions.  With the sun out and a spring breeze blowing up Beer head Cliff I really remembered why I do this sport, a stunning day.  After passing a foamie flyer failing to fly a few years in land, it did take a leap of faith to hurl my Willow towards the sea.  If there is any model I trust the Willow has to be it.  Are 2 Willows a small coppice?

  Its too far off to start looking at the weather forecast but the sun cream is now packed!

5 more days to get your entries in

The SlopeRacer champion of Chammpions race is on March 31st and time is running out for confirming your entry.

 A willow up for grabs and the chance to tustle with cool hand Redsell on hhis home patch (or out side the pub on Saturday night)

More French Willow weilding here

Willow impresses in France

Asking a pilot like Pierre Rondal to give your model a look over isn't something that you do lightly- he's worryingly honest!

  No need to worry, here's the first video in a stunning location, provinig the light air capabilities of the Willow.  Pierre's now waiting for the wind to blow and load her up with lead to really see how a Willow should be used (do they still play cricket in France?)

click here Here to watch

Willow makes even my thumbs winners!

  It’s the best/worst and greatest attraction of f3f in the UK- glorious unpredictability.  You know that on any day there’s a chance of winning a round or 2 from the best pilots.  The ice cream slope is one that stands out in my mind as a slope that generates a large amount of variation.   I really wanted to fly my latest Willow but a servo problem and early morning snow meant that I’d have a quick 5 mins with the Willow before round 1.

  The Welsh league attracts some of the best pilots in the UK and it seemed like the Alliaj was the model that seemed to be coming out of the back of most cars- with a smattering of radicals and Freestyler 3s and 4s.  Getting the new Willow out gave me the chance to show off it’s improved quality.

  The Maiden went well enough to stop me taking out my other Willow so with 20mph of icey winds blowing in our faces (from a range of directions) we were off.  Those Alliaj’s always have the look of steady reliable models that were delivering times faster than they look whilst Martin was disguising his Freestyler’s limited ability to climb straight and level with his pumping climb out.  For the first few rounds each flight lead to set up tweaks and changes (I really should have the hang of the Willow by now.

  The Willow really does react to lift so well.  A thermal passing through the course and she accelerates better than any other model I’ve had.   Round 6 and the lift was there for me, the Willow’s stability made it feel easy and I set a 44- my first round win in longer than I can remember.

  I could tell you the rounds where I waited for walkers and then launched into sink so I entered the course in thermal mode but it was clear who had the classiest thumbs in the field and after 12 rounds the cream rose to the top.  It was great to see Stefan again for a day that really reminded me of the fun side of F3F and thanks to my Willow I managed to keep holding on to a Champion of Champions place as well!

Willow wins a round thanks to some great customer service

I'll get some pictures of the race soon but...

I have been really keen to race the latest Willows but I found a faulty servo on Friday.  Thanks to Hyperflight and tony at Sloperacer had ther new servos on my door step on Saturday.

  So get to the race early right?  did I mention it was in Wales so there would be snow!  Round 1 was flight 2 for the new model and rounf 6 was my first round win with a Willow!  An average pilot winning with a Willow you know why I didn't wait for thhe pictures!