Sportsman Air Racing Rules and Goals (updated)

[Schmleff]

Spoartsman Air racing was started as an entry level air racing class.

Goals
To promote the perfection and economy of lower cost aircraft.
Give pilots and their planes a venue to gather and share ideas.
Give pilots and their planes an official timed race format to determine improvements.
To generate public interest if flying by involving the community the events.

Rules
The aircraft must be powered by a Corvair or VW engine.

UPDATE:
Beginning in 2113, we will be breaking the Sportsman class into subcategories. The goal is to provide a level playing field for all involved.

Sportsman T1: Designates that the engine is based on a "Type 1(3)" case
Sportsman T4: Designates that the engine is based on a "Type 4" case
Sportsman T1FI: T1 engine with forced induction
Sportsman T4FI: T4 engine with forced induction
Sportsman Corvair: Any Naturally aspirated Corvair engine
Sportsman Corvair FI: Any Corvair engine with forced induction

General Notes
The rules are pretty simple. For now there is only one official class to promote growth. As we get more people involved we will break the classes down further. Two organizations have incorporated the Sportsman class, SARL and the Airventure Cup. Each organization may alter the basic classed to suite the entrants. For example, the Airventure cup featured a KR Sportsman class along with the regular Sportsman class.

I like to promote races that are relatively short. This is for the purpose of getting the community involved. For example, I am hosting an SARL race at our local airport September 24th, 2011. I have been working with the airport and city to get the community involved. We are welcoming the racers to come on the preceding Friday night. We are going to show aviation related movies in the airport's main hanger to both pilots and locals. Concessions will be available. On race day, the community is again welcome to come out and see the planes and talk to the racers. The race is short enough that the fast planes should be arriving back to the finish line not long after the last planes have taken off. The public should get to see a nice "show". After the race, a local EAA chapter is going to host a Young Eagles event.

I personally own Sportsman Air Racing, LLC. We will never host a race of our own, however we do help organize "performance evaluations" at local fly ins. The primary focus of SAR is to promote the inclusion of the class in other air races.

We are always open to suggestions. Feel free to comment.

[kujo]

Jeff,
I know it's early in the game, but can you tell me what kind of limits there will be on the Corvair engine(ie. max displacement, ect...)

Thanks Sir......

[Schmleff]

There are none at this point. In the future, there will have to be sub classes to keep an even playing field. Last year Mark Langford few in the AVC race with a 3100cc corvair.

[2north]

Hi Jeff,

Just became a member this week. Have a Sonerai II (original mid-wing) that is undergoing a planned engine upgrade - from 1700cc to 1915cc. After reading a few posts this may change to something larger; maybe something that will produce closer to 100 hp. My goal no matter which engine I end up with is to "go as fast as possible" on the horsepower available.

This was my goal even before I saw you and your aircraft at Oshkosh on Tuesday. We talked very briefly. Susequently, I started checking internet forums and am on sonerai.net and proboards.com. Now I have found an outlet for my endeavors in getting as much out of my Sonerai as possible. Took your advice ordered "Speed with Economy."

I am glad to see that there are more than just AVR to participate in during the year.

From the northwoods,
Ralph

[Supervee]

Ralph, Welcome aboard. Jeff is a good friend. Today he is , weather permitting, flying down to enter the Indy SARL race. I am sure once he has time, he will respond to your post here.
There are tons of little things a person can do to a Sonerai 1 or a 2 airframe, but there is no replacement for displacement!!!....Jeff's engine is the great compromise, he is making great power, but yet he can run it 400 miles wide open without overheating. He has done his homework....Ed Fisher......