Reno from the Pitts part 3

Thursday September 12:

Risky Business, a P-51D flown by Bill Rheinschild, was leading his Silver race when he backed off due to a high coolant temperature indication. After landing, it was determined that it may have been an inaccurate coolant temp. gage that gave a false high reading. Too bad that such a seemingly innocuous problem could cost a race.
Another casualty for Thursday was Jimmy Leeward racing the Jack Roush sponsored P-51D 'Cloud Dancer' who experienced problems with his Aeroproducts propeller so he decided to cool his heels and just run the Sunday Bronze race.
Miss Trinidad, a Pratt & Whitney R-2000 powered Yak lost its ADI system during a race due to a failed solenoid valve. This is the only R-2000 in the world with an ADI system, of course designed and developed by Pete Law. At the beginning of the week Miss Trinidad had a beautifully made mirror finished shroud over the exhaust stack, presumably for additional exhaust stack jet thrust. However, by Thursday this device had been removed. Like many 'improvements', it didn't work, less jet thrust resulted and worse yet, it interfered with cooling air flow causing over heating.

Two views showing Miss Trinidad's attractive but ineffective exhaust shrouds. They were soon removed.

Exhaust energy is a precious commodity for a racer. At Reno many styles of exhaust pumping have been tried; some successfully, some not. These three views show Miss Trinidad, the R-2000 powered Yak with an experimental shroud. Although it looked attractive, it didn't work. Overheating was one of the problems with this stainless steel shroud. The last two views show the shrouds removed. This is the configuration the aircraft flew with for most of the week.

By Thursday morning Strega's engine had been removed

After recovering from the shock of blowing up a potential 500 mph/lap engine, Strega's team got busy rebuilding a race engine owned by Dan Martin.

Clearly, the Strega team's work was cut out for them. It's apparent from this shot that #A1 piston in the Dan Martin engine has seen better days. It shows the characteristic signs of severe detonation.

One of the bank assemblies from Dan Martin's engine

Six new pistons ready for installation. From this view it appears they may be Jack Roush forged racing pistons.

Meanwhile in Michael Brown's pits modifications had been taking place on #232 September Fury. High cylinder heads temperatures demanded some quick action. Dennis Sanders, who along with his brother are considered the Sea Fury Gurus modified a cowl access panel by opening it up with spacers. Worked like a charm.

September Fury after additional cooling vents had been installed.

Close-up of the spacers installed on September Fury. This modification allowed a greater flow of cooling air through the accessory section of the Wright R-3350.

Friday September 13:

Friday the thirteenth unfortunately lived up to its reputation. A fatality in the Sport Class and a serious landing accident in the same race placed a pall over the Reno pits.
Despite the day's tragedies, the day got off to a good start when the superbly built Hughes H-1 replica racer broke a number of speed records. Sounding like a T6 on steroids, the aircraft zipped back and forth over a measured 3 kilometer course seven times in the early hours of the morning.

The Hughes H-1 replica racer. Workmanship had to be seen to be believed. Sheet metal work, in particular, was absolutely flawless. A number of speed records were broken by this aircraft early Friday morning. Perhaps intentionally, 67 years to the day when Hughes set a number of records with the original aircraft. Coincidently, September 13, 67 years ago was also a Friday.

Strega's tired crew have the Dan Martin's rebuilt race Merlin installed but lots of work still remains.

With Strega's blown-up engine parked in the pits, a golden opportunity was handed the 'techies' to discover some of the speed secrets of 3,000+ horsepower Merlins. It has been known for a number of years that Allison V-1710 G6 connecting rods have been used to replace the original Rolls-Royce rods. Allison rods have proved to be a lot stouter. Stock pistons are replaced with Jack Roush forged pistons. With heavier connecting rods and pistons a price is paid in the form of wicked vibration. Despite welding on additional counter weights to the crankshaft, vibration is a major issue. Tie rods, tensioned with Heim joints and turn buckles, help attenuate some of this vibration as well as securing the supercharger to the power section. With almost 70 psi absolute in the intake manifold, a considerable pressure exists that tries to push the supercharger off the power section. Assuming an induction pipe of 5 inches diameter, then the total force trying to separate the blower form the engine is almost 1,400 pounds. Then factor in the power required to drive the blower, which is well over 1,000 horsepower, some extremely powerful forces are trying to rip the engine apart.

Strega's blown-up engine, after being stripped of useful parts, was parked at the Strega pit as a show 'n tell.

Right side view with many accessories removed such as the PD-18 carburetor, induction pipe and magnetos.

Although rude, crude and primitive looking, these brackets clearly do what they are supposed to do; keep the engine together under high power settings.

These two views show some of the numerous turnbuckles that tie the blower section to the power section.

Rear view that shows some of the bracketry and tie rods for securing the supercharger to the power section.

Close up view of the nose case bracket that secures the nose case to the crankcase

One of the many steel brackets that secure the turn buckles to the supercharger.

Good view of the massive steel beam fitted to the main bearing cross bolts. This beam adds structural rigidity to the over stressed engine

Close up of what it takes to keep a race Merlin from coming apart at the seams. In a belt and suspenders scenario, the blower housing had stop nuts, locked with lock washers and Loctite..!!

Rear view of the horse's ass. and rear blower section.

Typical of the damage incurred by a race Merlin when it lets go. Due to the extraordinary forces and pressures generated within the supercharger housing when an engine back fires, the entire blower housing flexes resulting in cracked castings.

Dave Morss, the well known test pilot flying Shawn Carol's Yak 9 powered by the only Allison V-1710 competing in the races, pulled out his heat race due to over heating. The overheating woes were fixed by installing a different and more efficient radiator.
Since last year this attractive aircraft has undergone a number of modifications. In order to assist with ram recovery for the induction system, splitter vanes had been incorporated.

New ram-air induction scoop for Shawn Carol's attractive Yak 9 Russian Roulette.

Close up of Russian Roulette's ram-air induction scoop that feeds the down draft Bendix PD-12 carburetor for the Allison V-1710.

#114, Argonaut the beautifully restored 3350 powered Sea Fury owned and raced by Dennis Sanders was suffering from low ADI pressure. As is usual with these types of problems, Guru Pete Law was called in. Prognosis was that the ADI pump was an old installation and it turned out to be a difficult project to fix. Due to the highly corrosive environment that ADI pumps operate in, Dennis' pump was in poor shape. Not surprising considering the fact that the pump had been installed for a long time.

Argonaut's accessory section opened up to work on a recalcitrant ADI pump.

During the week, work had progressed on Critical Mass. Obviously; there was no intention of attempting to get it ready for racing. Instead, the team gave the spectators a nice overview on what it takes to remove a Wright R-3350 from a Sea Fury.