AUSTRALIAN MINIATURE

PYLON  RACING ASSOCIATION INC.

Web: www.ampra.org.au

1.       

               AMPRA NEWSLETTER

                                 May 2008

 

     PRESIDENT                                                    SECRETARY

                                       GLENN MATTHEWS                                      KIM O’CONNOR

                                       6 CHRISTA CRT                                                    10 DALVISTA COURT

                                                   LILYDALE    3140                                                          WERRIBEE    3030

                                                   03 9735 0121(home)                                                        03 9741 6518 (home)

                                                  matthews000@ozemail.com.au                                         terry4kim@optusnet.com.au

 

Newsletter written by Glenn Matthews.

 

 

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

 

The next AGM will be held at the Blue Shades Motel, Maryborough Qld on the 7th June at around 8:00PM. We will confirm this at the pilots briefing on Saturday of the AMPRA Champs.

 

AMPRA CHAMPS, Maryborough 2008

 

The plan is;

    Saturday                 FA1    We intend running 9 rounds. This may go into Sunday morning.

    Sunday/Monday                Q500, QM in alternating rounds followed by F400.

 

The number of rounds for QM, Q500 and F400 will be determined by the number of entries and time available.

Q500 and QM will be flown on the small (QM) course.

The field will close each day at 9:00am with racing to start as soon as possible after that.

You may be asked to assist in the running of classes you are not flying in. Please be prepared to help us out if necessary.

If you have not booked accommodation by now, good luck!!

 

AMPRA 2009

 

If your club would like to host the AMPRA championships on the long weekend of June 2009 please send an offer in writing to the AMPRA committee by the June meeting. Any questions just ask.

 

WORLD CHAMPS BID.

 

A group of members led by Joe Luxford have but in a bid to host the 2011 F3D world champs. This is proposed to be in Bundaberg in August 2011. They have the full support of the Bundaberg club and will be seeking the support of as many AMPRA members as possible to run the event if we get it. This bid will be voted on at the MAAA council conference this May and if accepted will then go to a CIAM meeting in December for a decision.

 

 

 

 

RULES

 

There are many changes happening to the international rules for F3D. As of 1st Jan this year there was a major re-write of these rules. Most are to do with race organisation, course layout, numbers in heats, safety, model processing etc.– if you have the spare time go to the FAI sporting code web site and select the R/C Pylon Racing competitions link; 

http://www.fai.org/aeromodelling/documents/sc4

 

These changes will affect our competitors who compete at the next World Champs. They will also have a major impact on the running of any future World Champs in this country.

There will also be changes that come into affect in Jan 2010. These are in effect a noise reduction rule - the fitting of a secondary silencer to the exhaust system.

 

Please note that we run our pylon racing competitions and team selection events in accordance with our rules for FA1 (Formula Australia 1) as published on the AMPRA web site.

 

SAFETY.

 

Would you consider putting a group of 20 people in the middle of a road and drive a car flat out towards them, then swerve around them at the last second a safe thing to do?

Probably not.

 

Would you put the same group of people in a paddock and fly a model aircraft travelling at 90 metres per second directly at them and then turn away from them less than 30 metres before you hit them? Maybe not a good idea!

Please think about that the next time you are test flying…..

This is not directed at any one person; there a few of you out there that need to consider others when test flying your model.

And remember, safe practices are the responsibility of all of us. If you see something happening that you consider unsafe, don't just ignore it!

 

TEAM TRIAL, COHUNA

 

I am sure most of you know by now that we had a very successful FA1 event at Cohuna recently. Congratulations to Chris, Frank and Barry on their great results. Chris's average time was 59.5 seconds.

Unfortunately there were only a few entries in F400 and after a couple of retirements we gave up on this class. Had we had a better idea of the numbers planning to attend this weekend we could have given everyone a better idea of the scheduling for F400 sooner which may have made it more successful.

See the full results on the AMPRA web site.