Robs Blog - World Championships 2006 Romania F5D UK

31 Aug 2006 22:54 - Video

Here it is.

28 Aug 2006 21:53 - British Nationals Result.

It looks like all that practice at the World Champs has paid off with some good times and performance at this years Nationals. The biggest threat came from new boy Justin O’Dell who is probably one of this countries top Pylon guys. I only stayed ahead due to a faster set up and having had loads of practice in the last few weeks. The UK league is going to be a lot harder to win next year.

Results

1st Rob Ashley-Roche

2nd Justin O’Dell

3rd Darron Rodrigues

4th Mark Vandervelden

5th Darren Goldfinch

Full report will follow in a week once the World Champ reports are finished.

28 Aug 2006 21:52 - Home at last.

2 weeks ago tomorrow I headed towards High Wickham to meet up with the rest of the team and start our trip to Romania. Tonight I have returned home tired, broke and a lot wiser.

The good news is I have not lost any enthusiasm towards F5D and I am already planning how to improve the UK league next year so the poor showing by this team can be improved to be the threat at the next World Champs. I made a lot of mistakes this time round it wont happen again.

I was great to get home tonight 2 weeks is too long to be away from your family especially when your daughter is only 3. Assuming I make the team next time the first change is they will be coming with me!

Full world champ report will be posted this week.

Good night.

24 Aug 2006 18:01 - Its over and what a day.

Christian Roessler who said he would fly safe in the first 2 rounds then try hard in the last two set a new world record in round 1 then bettered in round 2. (I have this on Video will be on this site next week). He then in the third round flew a 56 yes 56 with one cut to record a new world record of 61. Unfortunately this used his best gear up and could only do a 58 in the 4th but with 2 cuts so the 61 stands as a world record. I have the 58 on video too! I am hearing rumour that it was a new motor he used this week or something spelt like that but I am sure the exact gear everyone used to fly will come out soon!

Stefan Fraundorfer from Austria flew a fantastic day and put in a 63 to move from 5th to 2nd!!!!!

Markus Wanner came 3rd

Antti Saikkonen 4th

Marcel Kremer was on for a 63 in his last round but had technical troubles on the last lap to drop him to 5th.

I will be getting the full results later today however we are meeting team USA, Germany, Canada, Belgian and Finland in town so may not be able to post them till later. Unfortunately some of the younger members of the F5D crowd are talking about going clubbing and I feel it my duty as a older more responsible man to go along and make sure they don’t get into trouble.

Wish me luck.

Rob

23 Aug 2006 20:34 - Day 3

I have some secrets to share. The top guys are all becoming more open with their gear as with only 1 day left there is no way anyone else can run out and buy the gear to beat them with.

1st place Christian Roessler is flying a very light weight Bataleth. It has to be light to carry the 7 GP4300’s it is powered by a home made Hacker B50. Its home made because he ordered all the bits from Jens at Hacker and made it himself. Even Jens apparently did not think it would go so well! He has a CC 125 Controller and it and its probably drawing 200 amp but he does not know for sure. The controller was supplied at the WC as he had troubles with the previous controllers cutting before he wanted them to. Christian only needs too good clear rounds to be the new World Champ and then will spend the next 2 rounds setting a new World Record (Sup 60????) I will Video these runs as long as I am not in them.

2nd Place Markus Wanner is now running a V Tailed P6 of his own design. Powered also by 7 GP4300 cells believed to be a B40.

3rd Place Annti Saikonen is now suffering with cell problems as he does not have enough good packs left after flying 20 rounds of F5D. He is flying a Bateleth and a B40 5L on 7 Ibcells

4th place is Marcel Kremer with a D06 and Hacker power on 18 GP cells.

5th is Stefan Fraundorfer who is the new Official World record holder with a 64.5. This guy is also on 18 cells powered by a Mega motor!

As previously mentioned Team Germany only have to turn up tomorrow to win the Team Prize, Team USA may well get the 2nd place but I suspect Austria have something to say about that. Unless France go home tonight team UK look dead cert to finish last out of the complete teams which is depressing as despite us being the only new team to compete in this F5D WC we had higher expectations.

The individual win will go to Christian but 2nd, 3rd & 4th is open with 5th place and current fastest man Stefan also with a chance of a podium I am really looking forward to tomorrow.

See you tomorrow night.

Rob

22 Aug 2006 20:45 - Day 2 of World Champs.

Team UK have been have not been doing as well as their team manager had hoped. A very poor start from all three of us did not give the start we had hoped for Both Mark and myself are getting to grips with the challenges of flying in our first world champs but unfortunately John’s luck is still deserting him. We have had servos failing, batteries gassing, damaged models then of top of that trying to find our way round a course that is set up with pylon 2 & 3 upwind. In the UK as we fly with F3D who have to take off into wind so pylon one is always upwind so we have never flown with a 180 degree course, you would think with models travelling at the speeds we fly at this would not make a difference but with a real strong wing blowing down the course you get blown onto pylon 3 and cut real easy. It also means that judging pylon 1 is more critical as you get there much faster and if you get it wrong it’s a long painful trip back up the course into wind.
Team Germany already look like they have the team prize well sorted however my forecast that they would not have it their own way looks like it could well come true, but its not a American that is spoiling the Germany 1 2 3 it’s that guy that won the Pitasti cup Antti Saikkonen. He is sat in 2nd place and looking very strong for a podium it’s a good advert for F5D to see a none Germany on a students budget compete on an even ground as the German team that are reported to be very heavily backed by some big names.
Team USA who I tipped for a possible upset are every bit as good as I thought they should be but unfortunately do not have the power to get to the front. Due to their efforts to match the straight line speed of the German team they have flown so tight that the odd cut has crept in and they are slipping down the score board.

So were are we all?

1.Roessler GER
2.Saikkonen FIN
3.Wanner GER
4.Kremer GER
5.Kane USA
6.Mayr AUT
7.Flynn USA
8.Fraudororfer AUT
9.Andrassy CAN
10.Rippa FIN

UK

13 Ashley-Roche
18 Vandervelden
21 Stewart

Day 3 tomorrow and another 4 rounds to race

20 Aug 2006 21:50 - Opening ceremony.

This evening the 2006 Electric World Championships were open in style by Sandy Pimenoff President of FAI-CIAM. We first had a rousing speech from Sandy and the other Directors of the event then we all stood with our flags whilst the FAI & Romanian anthems were played. After this start the local Romanian aero club have laid on a display by 3 full sized aircraft who beet up and down the runway and performed aerobatics a few feet in front of us. Following this then came 3 skydivers dropping in with Romanian and FAI flags. Impressive or what? Then is was back to the bar and talk of who is going to fly what set up tomorrow and kick who’s but. I am on in heat 2 against the winner of the Pitesti Cup so a good start. Best get an early night.

20 Aug 2006 17:24 - Day of rest??????

After the last post yesterday, Alex who is the only Brit living in Pitesti threw a barbecue for us all back at his Bed and Breakfast called the Union Jack Villa. Unfortunately for me and the other team managers we all had to leave at 9.00pm to attend the official team managers meeting in a town centre hotel. The hotel was just like one of those hotels in a Russian James Bond movie with long dark corridors and strange smells. When we found our meeting room we sat round this massive table in about 40 degrees of heat for over an hour with no drinks or refreshments of any kind. I don’t think anyone wanted to ask questions as we all wanted out as fast as possible so fortunately just before 11.00pm we escaped. Model processing started this morning at 8.00am with Team GB being first in and all went well with our models all passing so we have a full fleet to use. Unfortunately for Team Belgian Franco test flew his newly modified Jibe (Modified to 7 cells) and stuffed it with a faulty Receiver pack. Team GB test flew our fleet and stepped up to our race gear and everything went well but we noticed that it was not only us that had been using older slower gear in the Pitesti cup as all teams flying appears to be going faster! The atmosphere is very good amongst the F5D teams and we are all helping each other out to get racing and swapping idea’s and even equipment. The biggest shock I saw was a Team USA guy lending a Team Germany a better speed controller as one of the German team was struggling to make 10 laps with the High Amp set up. Racing starts tomorrow - cant wait.

19 Aug 2006 17:24 - The Pitesti Cup is now over and the final 3 round ran very smoothly.

The Pitesti Cup is now over and the final 3 round ran very smoothly. We are using the equipment from the FAI World Championship 2003 Class F3D in Melnik, Czech Republic and all the technical hiccups seem to be ironed out and now we can see our laps, cuts (in my case lots) and lap times. The marshals all are getting to know what is going on and all is looking good for the main event next week. The result was a good win buy Antti from Finland flying 7 cells with as much weight lost in everything to get it under weight. After Antti flew through a pylon on the first day he trashed the A model and had to add bat wings to his reserve to get it underweight. This did not slow him down and a combination of a fast plane and very fast thumbs got him the win. Team Germany were clearly experimenting with set ups and gear and I suspect they will not be recording many 200’s in the worlds and still look hot favourites to win. Team USA have the most impressive style and I tipped them for a possible win and I am sticking to it. Gary Freeman in particular fly’s happily round the course lower than the pylons and is so smooth he looks slow but these guys look serious and I am looking forward to a good USA V German battle. Team UK has been dogged with troubles that started with loosing all our models and then having to repair the damage done in transit that have kept John and Mark busy on the ground and not practicing like everyone else. I have been able to get things going and we are all relying on my experiences with props, cells, motors & charge currents to know what best to do next week. Our plan is to get lots of practice in tomorrow to get models flying straight and level and then hopefully we will be able to feature more in the main event than we did in the Pitesti cup

19 Aug 2006 08:20 - Flying at last !

4.5 rounds of F5D flown today, 3 actually counted as we had troubles with the signal lights that ended up cancelling the first round and half of another. One of the German team has put in a 63 so the air is fast for some but most of us are finding it very slow. The main problem being the incredible heat out here, as an example I normally charge my packs at 3 amp and cut the charge at 40 deg. Out here the packs start at 32-35 and so the temp cut out kicks in straight away as the packs get to 50 just charging normally. This means they run too hot and gas after a few laps. The 7 cell set up seems the fastest but is also the worst hit by heat problems so our 18 cell is looking promising for the worlds as more reliable (we hope) Atti has had the only F5D disaster so far and flew through the Number 3 pylon at incredible speed. He is now trying to find a way of losing weight on his remaining models to get the heavier set up in them. We have no idea who is wining the cup at present as the organisers are still having IT troubles and I don’t think they even know who is doing what. I have a load of photo’s but unfortunately I am also having IT problems and cannot get anything to upload to my site so will have to see if I can cure this when and if we get 5 mins……

17 Aug 2006 17:50 - More delays

Today the Pitesti Cup was supposed to start. At 1730 the organisers finally got F5D going only to discover that the lights and timing was not working!!!!! There was some practice going on and cells are 18, 12 and 7. Yes 7 and Atti’s 7 cell set up is very very quick. First impressions are Team USA look fast but not as fast as the German team. However they may be running old packs and saving the good stuff for The WC next week. We are still model less but they are at the airport so we have sent a car down to pick them up. Hopefully we will fly tomorrow.

15 Aug 2006 07:45 - Last day in the UK

Well it’s the last day in good old Blighty and preparations for the World Champs have been a nightmare. The latest disaster happened whilst sorting out the programs for the three new models. 2 of the servos decided to start double centre. This meant only the Union Jibe had a test fly and I had to butcher the wings of the other two getting the servos out……Hopefully I will get 5 minuets today to test fly the other two before getting on the plane. There is quite a bit of room at Heathrow I am sure they wont mind if I set up in the corner somewhere! The next Blog will be from Romania I hope….

11 Aug 2006 20:59 - I can see the light again :-)

Today, 4 days before we leave the motors and a spare speed controller has arrived from Hacker. Thank you Jens & Hacker. The 3 Jibes are all but finished and reading to go, Thank you Franco, so its just time needed now to get the Demon’s that arrived Monday (Thank you Ruud) finished and tested. Not much time to practice and trim but I guess that’s what the Pitesti Cup is for. John is now all sorted and all his models and gear is in the garage ready to pack. Mark is busy putting the finishing touches to his gear and we will be doing a final practice Monday afternoon before packing all the gear and heading off Tuesday. Romania here we come. (we hope).

10 Aug 2006 14:33 - Splat

The light at the end of the tunnel turned out to be an express train being driven by a terrorist! The first of the UK F5B team was heading to Romania today but on getting to Heathrow discovered that all flights are cancelled due to terrorist problems. Furthermore due to new security checks and precautions no hand luggage can be taken on the plane at all from now on. What chance have we got getting out there early next week with a very big box full of batteries and electronic gadgets?????

07 Aug 2006 23:12 - Light at the end of the Tunnel?

UK team latest, Demons here now so building starts tonight. Jibe spares also arrived last week so repairs to the large Jibe fleet also well in full swing. Motors still lost somewhere between the UK and Germany and the good old PO still unwilling to help. Fortunately Jens Bartels at Hacker has agreed to make us some new motors and send them out this week so thanks to Jens and the good old Credit Card we may not be hand launching at the start and trying to glide round the coarse……Thinks its fair to say that preparations are still not going to plan.

04 Aug 2006 20:01 - Its getting worse!

Latest news. Demons still not here and now the Motors and Speed controller are lost in the post with good old Royal mail not willing to even let me report them missing till after the Worlds have started!!!!!! O well guess I will just have to go down the pub this weekend instead of building or practicing!

02 Aug 2006 09:32 - 2 weeks to go and its all gone Pete Tong

With the success of the German event I thought all was well for Romania and with a little practice we could all record a string of sub 70’s and get a good place in the World Champs. Little did I know! I made a silly statement on the way back from Germany and that was that I had not damaged a model in 2 years! Silly me, 2 weeks later I had wrote off my best 2 models. Just to add to the team misery Mark and John also took out their best models so the team went from 10 Jibes ready for the worlds to 6 between us. Fortunately Franco has replaced 3 but its left me with only 1 good model and 1 old dog! Fortunately Ruud has offered to send me 2 Demons so I will be back to 4 models however 2 of them un-built and un-flown 2 weeks before the World Champs!!!!!! O yes and to add to the misery. 2 motors and 1 speed controller were damaged in the carnage so they are now back at Hacker being repaired and I have no idea when they will be back! Preparations for the World Champs are not going well!

30 Jun 2006 19:31 - First Blog Entry

2006 has been a terrible season for flying with only 3 rounds held in 4 events!!!!!!! Not to be beaten we asked our fellow F5D pilots in Germany if we could join them in one of their league events which they kindly accepted, so with tha 2/3rds of the UK team headed off to Uelsen in Germany to get some practice. Click here to see how we got on!