| OSHKOSH 500 For the second year QAC entered the Oshkosh 500 or LBF Race. This year QAC entered the Q-20() and Scott Swing’s 75 HP Q2. This race has proven to be very hard on airplanes and this year proved to be no exception. Of the 18 entries, only 8 finished and qualified. Four aircraft including Scott’s. had engine problems. Three aircraft used too much fuel. Three aircraft were too slow to qualify. Conditions for this year’s race were not ideal. We encountered strong winds and heavy turbulence. This probably accounts for some of the non-finishers. In our own case extensive pre-race testing indicated that our power setting fur the race (about 2500 RPM) should have resulted in about 202 MPH. However, this would be without any allowance for losses in the turns and minor navigational errors. Some of the other finishers estimated that the adverse conditions cost them 10 MPH. Our guess would he closer to 8 MPH. In any event everyone flew in the same air and we are not complaining. The Q-200, N81QA, did even better this year than last in spite of the poor conditions on the course. In the Lowers competition the Q-200 finished 6th with a speed of 189.31 MPH, 11.5 MPH faster than last year. |
| In the Falck competition (fastest single lap) we were 7th with a speed of 190,24 MPH, 7.9 MPH faster than last year. In the Baker competition which adds your unburned fuel to your speed we flew 189.31 MPH and we burned 93.5 lbs. or about 15.5 gals. We were allowed to bum 144 lbs. The Q-200 finished 3rd, at 189.31 MPH plus 50.5 lbs. of fuel for a corrected speed of 239.81 MPH which is a 26.3 MPH improvement over last year. Since the course is 500 miles long this means that the Q-200 averaged 32.2 MPG flying at only 500 Ad.! The Q-200 won the Mead-Matthias Award for having the greatest increase in the Baker competition over the previous best Baker score. We not oniy had the best improvement this year, we had the best improvment in the history of the competition. Some other interesting observations: No 2-passenger aircraft has ever used less fuel than the Q-200. In fact even the Formula 1 racers used more fuel this year. The Q-200 is the only aircraft that has proven to be competitive in both the CAFE 400 and Oshkosh 500 races. Using the CAFE formula (MPH x MPG x Payload) the Q-200 would have finished 1st by 1% over the AJ-2 which was designed to win (and does) the Oshkosh 500. Look for a complete report in the ()ctober or November issue of Sport Aviation. |
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