On Thu, 6 Oct 2005 11:05:05 -0400, "Your Name Here"
wrote:

Why not? Other than the League of Women Voters, Little League, and 2,000
Leagues Under the Sea, the only other leagues that come readily to mind are
organizations of fictitious super heroes. Ok. There was the League of
Nations, but it was another grandiose failure.

And who can forget the Hanseatic League?

Gotta admit the project is interesting, from the engineering and logistics point
of view. The airplanes themselves will have to be shipped from venue to venue,
as will all the specialist gear to service them, the pit stations, the jumbotron
screens, etc. When you add the aircraft assemblers and pit stop crews (who
might be the same people) and the computer and video operations folks, this is a
pretty big logistical tail. The rocket technicians, at minimum, will be on a
full-time payroll and while the computer and video gear could be rented, the
rocket-specific stuff can't. So it's an expensive operation, especially if
there are only a few events per year. But Dr. Diamandis is rich, so breaking
even isn't a big driver.

I'd guess it will be the first time that two or more rocket-powered aircraft
have been in flight at the same time at the same location. If they do implement
the "pit stop" aspect, that will undoubtedly be the first time a manned rocket
system has been designed for rapid refueling. The Xcor people have made two
flights within a few hours, but the RRL is talking minutes, not hours.

All the avionics will probably be powered by batteries (rockets don't run
generators).... which means if the RRL is planning a whole afternoon's worth or
racin', they'll need to either rapid-charge the batteries or plan on including a
rapid battery-switch capability at the pit stops. With a differential-GPS-based
navigation system used for separation, they'll probably need dual electrical
systems. They certainly could operate a separate APU, running on ordinary fuel,
but that does increase weight and complexity.

The use of a rocket mostly drives them to a canard configuration, and that might
be a problem. One reason folks didn't like the Solitaire canard sailplane is
that the canard tended to block the visibility when flying with other sailplanes
in a thermal. I'd guess the same thing applies to racing.

And then we get the whole racing aspect.

The comparison is made to NASCAR, which probably isn't too apt. After all, the
cars on the NASCAR circuit are owned by different racing teams, which I
understand are quite competitive. All the planes in the RRL are being built to
the same design, and will be operated by one "team"...the RRL itself.

Of course, NASCAR has some fairly stringent limitations which tend to even out
the performance differences between cars. Which makes it a competition against
*drivers*...who can pick the best line into the curves, who has the guts to ride
six inches behind another car and save fuel by drafting, who can bluff out and
intimidate other drivers, etc.

And of course, the RRL will have NONE of that. The pilots won't need any "race
smarts" since they're following pre-programmed courses. "Each pilot will follow
his or her own "virtual tunnel" of space with the aid of satellite-navigation
technology, safely separated from their competitors by a minimum distance" (BBC
News). Any good autopilot can do that.

In any case, the race pilots will be following a computer-generated course,
"safely separated from their competitors." NASCAR drivers will be laughing
their tails off. Plus, of course, since the tracks are pre-programmed...the
winner of the "race" is already known, right?

This is starting to sound less like NASCAR and more like pro wrestling. :-)

I'm really neutral about auto racing, but I have to admit the starts are
exciting...dozens of cars, packed in the tight group, hauling down the
straightaway waiting for the green flag. Nothing like that in the RRL:"... the
X-racers will take off from a runway both in a staggered fashion and side-by
side..." I'm betting they won't be able to launch more than two at a time,
side-by-side, but it should be fun to watch...I bet there's never before been a
formation takeoff of rocket planes. Although it really won't be "formation,"
since the engines aren't throttleable. Hard to fly formation without fine
adjustments of engine power.

Staggered takeoffs work at Reno since the planes can go aloft and join up into a
start formation. But the X-racers only have four minutes of fuel. That'll take
some careful planning to join up more than two airplanes for an in-air start so
that they'll have the same amount of fuel and be at the same altitude. TWO
airplanes, it's no problem...launch at the same time, and stay balls-out until
they complete the course. However, I expect they probably won't cram more than
two of these things across a typical runway.

What they might do is arrange separate courses for the planes, all set to
converge at the finish line so that each plane will have some fuel left. They
can then finish by racing past the checkered flag with rockets a'blazing. In
this case, planes launched FIRST may be at an advantage...since they'll probably
be lighter since they've burned off more fuel.

But then, we forget the pit stop. The race may indeed go longer than the ten
minutes or so of flight the rocket fuel gives them.

Watching the pit crews is one aspect of NASCAR that I find interesting...
watching the cars get fueled, have their tires changed, suspensions tweaked, and
sometimes even minor damage repaired in 20 seconds or less.

The RRL pit stops are expected to take about forty times longer. Kind of lacks
drama.

From what little information is given on the web page, it's obvious that the RRL
will show very little "head to head" racing like Reno. In car races, it's
pretty easy to tell who to watch. But I suspect the computer tote boards will
be the only way for RRL viewers and attendees to tell what's happening.

As a NOVELTY item, though...it sounds pretty cool. I'll probably go, if one's
held locally. Might even watch it on TV...but it sounds like an event that just
screams for TIVO.

Ron Wanttaja