Rocket Racing League First Exhibition Race August 1st and August 2nd, 2008

On Tue, 1 Jul 2008 07:33:47 -0700 (PDT), Harry K
wrote:

One of the big problems is teh pit stop plus short flying time. Even
if they get it down to 15 minutes, they have each plane on the ground
for as long, or longer, than they ar flying. I can see the announcers
hyping the pit stops..."looks like Jim Campbell is going to set a new
course record folks, he is almost ready to leave the pits in under....
13.56!!"

With two planes going head to head in the exhibition it will be 15
minutes flying and 15 minutes for the crowd to make their own pit
stops for muchies and p calls. If that is the way it goes, I will bet
the at least half the crowd will find something better to do after the
first pit.

Actually, I got email the other day that says the RRL will be able to better the
15 minutes I'd previously guessed. If what I hear is right, I figure five
minutes might be doable. However, since the planes can't taxi under their own
power, that time has to include towing them back to the takeoff point.

Traffic control might be an issue. The planes are practically identical in
design. If they take off at about the same time, they are likely to run out of
fuel at about the same time, too. How about four planes maneuvering for
simultaneous deadstick landings?

The only solution is to stagger the takeoffs by several minutes, to ensure there
are planes that keep flying when others pit and the conflicts for runway space
don't happen. But then you've lost the head-to-head racing aspect...a Rocket
Racer with half its fuel burned will out-accelerate a plane that still has most
of its takeoff load. You get lots of fast passes, but not the breathtaking
duels of unlimited racing.

I think the question you have to ask yourself is, "Will people find the *style*
of racing interesting if they were prop-powered planes, instead?" The short
flights, the relatively high flying, the long powerless glides, the "virtual"
course that a spectator has to watch a video monitor to see, etc. If the answer
is "no," then rocket racing will be successful until the novelty of seeing
rocket planes glide around wears off.

Ron Wanttaja