Reno Air Races 2023

[KiwiZac]

After a lot of clandestine planning I made it to Reno for the first - and final - time this year after having wanted to go since I was five. I've written articles for a magazine and website and hopefully can share the latter soon, in the meantime here are some very average videos I shot.

[NARSES2]

Glad you got there Zac - they waited for you     

[perttime]

Top Sport Class racers are very fast. Faster than many warbirds in Unlimited.
I have mixed feelings about Jet Class. Maybe they just sound funny in that context? Purr and Roar vs. Suck and Blow?
T-6: the planes are very equal, so racing tends to be tight. Just.... a T-6 isn't all that fast and sexy.
Unlimiteds have the speed and sound! Too bad many of the highly modified ones are out of the game. Too expensive and labour intensive?

Did you catch any Formula 1? Small planes with small engines going around the shortest course.

It is a pity biplanes missed the races this year. Some kind of litigation cripppled their organisation enough to keep them out.

[PR19_Kit]

Interesting sounds in the Sport Class event. A couple times there was a distinct 'Blue Note' like well flown Hunters used to make at speed. 

[KiwiZac]

Glad you got there Zac - they waited for you     

I kept my trip so quiet - for fear something would go wrong and it wouldn't happen - that not even my parents knew until I shared a video on Facebook, so they must have had some real sleuths on their staff!

Interesting sounds in the Sport Class event.

Based on what videos I'd seen I always thought the super-modified Unlimiteds sounded wild, but some of those Glasairs and Lancairs sounded UNHINGED as they tore past! It was insane to see (and hear, and feel!) in person: the first time Jeff Lavelle and Andrew Findlay came around Pylon Eight I felt my insides move!

Top Sport Class racers are very fast. Faster than many warbirds in Unlimited.

See the above! A lot of folk feel the future of air racing is in Sport, and I'm inclined to agree. The innovation going on is amazing and the field is huge!

I have mixed feelings about Jet Class.

I did too until seeing it in person, but I think a large part of that was being out on the pylons rather than the pits/grandstands. For some reason a couple of the starts came in lower and further east than others so those nutters were RIGHT over my head. That memory's not going anywhere.

T-6: the planes are very equal, so racing tends to be tight. Just.... a T-6 isn't all that fast and sexy.

The equal, tight racing is what makes it awesome! And the noise, of course.

Unlimiteds have the speed and sound! Too bad many of the highly modified ones are out of the game. Too expensive and labour intensive?

I think the expense of running them - and an apparently dwindling prize pool - is the biggest factor. I hear rumours a couple of the big guns are coming back to chase records, and there are a couple of scratchbuilds either under resurrection or new and more determined ownership to complete them. I kept hearing from my friends who've been many times "The Unlimited are not dead" and I believe it.

Did you catch any Formula 1? Small planes with small engines going around the shortest course.

Sadly they were on so early in the day and I was running around so much, to my shame I never caught a single race and only got the smallest handful of photos. But I did manage to photograph everything in the hangar!

It is a pity biplanes missed the races this year. Some kind of litigation cripppled their organisation enough to keep them out.

Incredibly - almost as though to rub salt in the wound - the pilot behind the whole thing had his Pitts on display outside his hangar on Sunday. It wasn't until the following week I realised why the name on the side looked familiar.

[KiwiZac]

I wrote a thing about Reno: https://warbirdsnews.com/warbirds-news/a-kiwis-first-and-final-flag-at-reno.html

[Vulcan7]

Great article & photos (& vids)