MWP 12 *Unofficial* (but, will happen) Sparky Motor Drag Race

The Rocketry Forum

Help Support The Rocketry Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Senior` Gus, sorry I missed participating in this, but frankly I was having too much fun at RSO, hell I did it all day! Except for the wayward 2 stage, I hope my initials ain't on that one!

Completely understood Jim, if it weren't for yourself, Adrian and, ALL of the great people who help out....There wouldn't be the spectacle that is *Midwest Power*.

Once again thank-you ALL for what you do...and, did.

(Plus i did get to meet Terry....the announcer who's been butchering my name at Airfest *not on purpose* for the last many years! :rofl: Great guy!)

Are there any pictures or video of this spectacle? I bet it was awesome!

I did get to see many great liftoff shots of the launch on others camera stills....Hopefully *TB* we will see some including video over the next few days as everyone starts to unwind and, collect themselves! ;)
 
Actually incredibly scary when you here the distinct "whir/whistle" of one or two coming in ballistic :y:.

I'd be perfectly content if we limited drag races to a reasonable number of rockets for this very reason. Actually, I strongly suggest that we do.

LPR and MPR - 3 Max

HPR - 2 Max

At least then you can reasonably assume everyone can track them. This just seems reckless.
 
Last edited:
At least then you can reasonably assume everyone can track them. This just seems reckless.

OK, didn't want to start a firestorm here... Let me be clear, as far as I know, all rockets were tracked (visually) and appropriate warning provided (even mine and CJ's :)).
 
Thanks for all the interest on the emails I received about the Sparky drag race , I am just going to post the information from the questions I received here , I will not get a chance to answer all the email’s so I am assuming you will just check here on the RF. Special thanks to Gary Kawabata for help in building and support on the many late nights needed to finish this in time for MWP12.

Kit was a modified 4 inch diameter Madcow Super Striker all filament wound fiberglass kit, airframe for the fin can was changed to 36 inches long, top airframe section was 30 inches long. Fins tabs, rings, and internals were modified for a 75 mm motor tube (my stock super striker came made for a 54 mm motor). What I really liked about this kit was the all filament wound fiberglass 5:1 conical nosecone, haven’t seen the FW conical shape nosecone on other kits yet. Needed the rocket and fins to hold up to a lot of speed so of course used Rocketpoxy for all the internal and external construction, the cool fluorescent yellow external fin fillets were made with Rocketpoxy mixed with a pigmented yellow fluorescent color, they look great, received a lot of compliments about the fin fillets. Dual deploy with a 9 inch Avbay, used two PerfectFlite Stratologgers. For recovery used Spherachute 30 inch drogue and Spherachute 72 inch main. Used 27 feet long ¼ inch wide tubular Kevlar shock cords from TopFlite for both drogue and main. About 8 pounds unloaded and 19 pounds with loaded motor, No nose weight was needed as CG stability margin was about 1.2. Stratologgers measured the Max Altitude reached was 15,187 feet, speed was over 1,570 feet/sec, note Rocksim had calculated a max altitude of 15,570 feet. Motor used was a 75 mm 4 grain Aerotech L1365M. Rocket landed over 3 miles away south but was able to retrieve within about 15 minutes ( driving not walking to the rocket) due to using dual trackers on board, a GPS Garmin astro and a comspec radio tracker. Great straight flight, drogue and main came out as planned and better yet a successful landing - Luckily everything worked they way I was hoping for.

Gus thanks again for the trophy and sponsoring a great drag race. I had to explain to my little one why there's a toilet on top of the trophy and the relationship between skidmarks and toilets unfortunately he now he looks for them and tried to create one at home.

MWP12_DG1.jpg MWP12_DG2.jpg MWP12_DG3.jpg
 
Last edited:
Mr. Olevich is making it a habit winning these races. Clearly selected the right combo--shorter airframe and a high impulse L (everyone else were flying M's). Congrats John!
 
Thanks for the write up, John and congrats on the win. I can see Teddy now quickly standing up and spinning around to see if he made a "skidmark". That's some funny stuff right there!!!
 
Gus thanks again for the trophy and sponsoring a great drag race. I had to explain to my little one why there's a toilet on top of the trophy and the relationship between skidmarks and toilets unfortunately he now he looks for them and tried to create one at home.

Your welcome! ;) I have created a monster in Teddy....Lets just call him "Teddy Monster" from now on...:rofl:

Mr. Olevich is making it a habit winning these races. Clearly selected the right combo--shorter airframe and a high impulse L (everyone else were flying M's). Congrats John!

Yes, he's won alot of my side money over the last few years (trophy wise) at Thunderstruck in the Mach Madness Shootouts AND, now Midwest Power! :eek: Also, by running the "L" he was not required too run an extra battery, wiring, switch and, battery like the rest of us...
Smart, if you ask me.

I'll give you THREE guesses who came in second (flying the ratty old upper half of his Extreme Wildman Two Stager). :rolleyes:

Great drag race! Congrats

You can blame a certain *Redhead* from Ft. Wayne for NON STOP pestering me to do this...I'm a sucker for Redheads!

I can see Teddy now quickly standing up and spinning around to see if he made a "skidmark". That's some funny stuff right there!!!

I highly recommend the takeout Chinese food from our local "Authentic" restaurant....Especially the Beef Low Mein...:rolleyes:


I would also like too point out that due to faulty igniter/getting back from finding a V-2.... both Dave Kittel and, David Reese where put into a last minute runoff after the big shoot. Although they were officially out of the running, it was awesome to see them both going at it for bragging rights.

Even though "Dr." Reese had no problems finding HIS rocket...Guess who had to help "Dr." Kittell find his...:confused:
They don't call me *Hound Dog* for nothing. :cyclops:
 
I just wanted to show you don't have to be a guy to play with the big boys.
 
I just wanted to show you don't have to be a guy to play with the big boys.

In my eyes Jenny, everyone is equal...Obviously you know that i worked with Manny quite a bit (with some mixed emotion) but, i'm really proud of him (for what he has accomplished.) I'm really looking forward too working with this little dynamite of a talent whose name is simply *Sabrina* and, she will have my full attention/help if she so desires.

We are ALL equal in the big picture of this dynamic hobby.
 
We are ALL equal in the big picture of this dynamic hobby.

Absolutely Gus! Love watching all of it. From little kids flying their first Estes all the way to the big boys. Club projects for me have been to enjoy the company, and to have us all learn from each other. Launch what you can afford and enjoy the rest ;)



Sent from my iPad using Rocketry Forum
 
side note on whistling rockets, 4 guys i didn't know
jumped under my truck! during decent

john
 
Yeah..... I spent 3 hrs digging my 4in Wildman Xtreme fin can out of the dirt.

The orange one that augured in to the right of the flight line. & There was so much smoke & sparks at lift off, never did see what caused the early separation & mayhem. It's a foot shorter now but all the parts came back later during the launch, so it will fly again.

But of course this is all part of flying, SOMEO?NE has to make an offering to the rocket gods now & then!:grin:
 
Really cool! We could never launch that many sparky's at the field I use in Florida. There's a fire after just about every sparky launch.
 
Last edited:
Rockdoc, those are really nice pics. Thank you for sharing.

May I inquire what camera you are using?
 
I would also like too point out that due to faulty igniter/getting back from finding a V-2.... both Dave Kittel and, David Reese where put into a last minute runoff after the big shoot. Although they were officially out of the running, it was awesome to see them both going at it for bragging rights.
Dude.

Gus.

THANK YOU SO MUCH.

Not only did he give me an M2200SK to fly, he also let me fly it in the second heat after the V2 race, and gave me a killer igniter that ensured I beat the other Dr. D off the pad :D The M2200 put the Competitor up on a spectacular flight!

Comp IV Pad 11-1-14R.jpgIMG_8293.jpgIMG_8294.jpg
 
Back
Top