Scanner Racing

[RodG]

I hear you guys are going to be running some Scanner Races this year. Does anyone know the dates?

[Peter T]

I hear you guys are going to be running some Scanner Races this year. Does anyone know the dates?

Hi, You beat me to it. Was talking to Dennis this arvo. The dates are the 3rd Sunday in May, July, September, and a Gold Cup Trophy and prizes in ( 3rd Sunday) October. You need to fly in at least one event to participate in the October Gold Cup. Depending how this goes, we are thinking of having this yearly. We are calling it the "WAM Gold Cup Scanner Challenge". Hope to get many flyers here. We have put an flyer, ( AD) in the next ( I think its the ) Airflow mag?? (MAAQ one) out in a few weeks. If you want to txt me with your email address, I will send you a copy of the flyer I did up.

[Celwin]

How did our courageous pair go today at the Gold Coast?

[RodG]

Dennis and Greg put up a good show for their first event. A big thank you to them for coming all the way from Warwick.

[gbar7217]

Dennis & myself had a few mishaps but overall we enjoyed ourselves, wonderful club & atmosphere down at the Gold Coast club, recommend a visit. We came away with a better understanding of conducting a scanner race meet and a trophy each. Will be back for sure and hopefully will continue a series of Scanner racing amongst various clubs.

[Celwin]

Looking forward to the Scanner racing in two weeks.

It was interesting to have a drag race with Dennis while he was flying his Black Horse Speed Air was it? I thought it was a Sonic, but I can't find any pictures for confirmation. Without any telemetry, it was a close call. The OS powered Scanner might have been slightly faster than Dennis' ASP powered Black Horse, but it wasn't really obvious. With the next shipment of Scanners set to be around the $280 mark, they will no longer be a cheap and somewhat expendable entry into larger and more serious types of pylon racing. Open the class up to a design from Black Horse I say.

[Peter T]

Hi. Dennis said the G/coast guys were really scanner only. But I don't c y we couldn't have a class of scanner look a likes, or anything similar with a 46 on it?

[Celwin]

With so many Scanners out there as spares, ready to go, I can see the resistance tiwards allowing other designs the right to compete. When those spares are eventually written off and they need to buy replacements, that's when we'll see pressure mount to have a cheaper option. A Scanner really isn't worth $280. They're not a work of art or a difficult build, there are quality issues so why are they so dear compared to the competition?
I know why... the manufacturer can see an opportunity to make a buck because they have a captured market now. The retail price would quickly drop if the racing was no longer a one-design class. On the down side, Phoenix may also drop the manufacture of them altogether if they are no longer a hot sales item...

[Peter T]

I think u hit the nail on the head. But saying that, I had to go else wheres to get parts to fix my wing? Had a good fly on sunday, and NO crashes either. Ha! The scanners are b pretty flimsy built, Wonder if there is a plan and we could build our own?

[Celwin]

There would be plans somewhere, we could never build one as light as the Chinese. I was having a close look at Dennis' new model kit model from many years ago. It was competition at the time for the Aeroflight Hustler. It had solid sides, sheeted top and bottom and a solid tail. It would be quite heavy by comparison, but still flew well with an Enya 40 In the nose. If we copied the profile of the scanner, we could build a tough one, but it would never out turn a light one. History shows that we're not real good at completing projects as a club...