KMAC Rat Race Challenge and Doncaster Novelty Roundup

THE RAT RACE

Preceding the novelty judging was the KMAC's own fun fly event intended to introduce some of the newer members to a new discipline, albeit in a light hearted vein. Peter Koch and Steve Vallve combined resources to build three little Rat Racers. Yes they look a little like Good Years rather than Ratties but the flying skills varied greatly between the intended participants and safety was a concern with most not having flown with others in a circle before. So we kept the speed down. We simplified the rules a little and even on the day needed to be more relaxed about them than some would have liked. We flew two up instead of of three at a time. This proved enough of a challenge for some. With the 20 - 30 Knot winds the little models struggled into the wind.

However we had a lot of fun. David Nobes survived an attempt by Mr "G" ( prefers to remain nameless) to have his head separated from his neck after lines became wrapped around him. A couple of the models survived some serious crashes, including unintended inverted flight. Hooray for super glue and Pete's building skills at the front end. In these events there is often someone who steps up and adds value or in some cases just makes things work. In this case I would like to pay a special tribute to two people in particular who made this work. Firstly to Peter Koch, who built the models and pitted for a couple of people, made the lines and supplied the fuel. Secondly and unexpectedly, Robin Hiern who Cd'd the whole proceeding. Thank you to you both.

Here are the results. Only one round , a final was not flown because of the deteriorating flying conditions. So the winner was the one with the most laps in the first round. Bummer!