Pond Racer

[LWJCarroll]

Brilliant aircraft!!!...also great to fly in FSX btw...really fast/LOUD/unique views from the cockpit...Rgds...Laurie

[19thSFGA]

Bad design

[willitstimothy2]

@19thSFGA Actually, it wasn't, in fact it was an ingenious one, it did have some stability problems, but that doesn't make it a bad design. The only reason none exist anymore is that its limitations made it unpopular to most homebuilders, and for racers it isn't particularly that much of an improvement over other designs, especially due to the higher cost of construction when compared to other designs. None of this makes it a bad design though, just badly timed.

[DiamondPilotDan]

what is you put turboprops on that? pick up chicks at the airport;)

[swimmerB0B]

yeah, you wouldn't want to put a VG/VH/VK/VQ-ANYTHING in a sentra unless you're putting it in the cargo area to schlep it back to your shop.....for your 9.5-second Datsun 210. Don't laugh- people are doing it. wrong motors- MY ASS! electramotive chose the VG30 because it was lightweight, reliable, and they had a lot of experience tuning and refining it. ...BTW, there's no such thing as a 'VG30ETT' - all twin turbo engines had a double cam valvetrain hence VG30DETT and no VQ or VK series then.

[sakoshooter48]

@swimmerB0B Correct you are!

[jauchiu]

I own one! It flies great.

[captwildbilly]

You have to remember that the wing loading is based on indicated airspeed. For an airplane that is meant to fly a 400 knots indicated the wing loading (and takeoff speed) are just about right. When I flew fighters in the 80s we were quite commonly taking off at 160 knots and typically we did most of our fighting at speeds of 300-500 knots indicated. More modern fighters tend to work best at slower airspeeds than we used to fly, but those old fighters weren't especially dangerous.

[Postie218]

VG30ETT engines belong in Nissan Sentras not airplanes. Poor idea, nice plane. However, "nice" doesn't always mean good.

[ReverendBow]

@Postie218

the VG30ETT In a Twin Turbo, single overhead cam engine based on the mid 80's 300ZX Turbo VG30ET single turbo, or Maxima VG30E (non-Turbo). It was never in a Sentra....

[Postie218]

@ReverendBow Hmm, that must of been my Son using my account. Me, I know nothing of planes or cars. Typical Luddite here.

[viper8red]

@Postie218 Yah that was the problem. The engines never produced as much HP as they wanted and were very difficult to keep cool on the ground, hence the blowers they immediately hooked up to the air scoops. Didn't CO poisoning kill the pilot?

[quantumforce123]

isnt it ironic the great plane this was that it was supposed to stop any more attempts at breaking records with ww2 aircraft ..yet this one crashed and killed the guy who wanted to stop crashes and wastage of rare birds..shame...lovely design..but technically at the time on a knife edge.....

[corebare]

@quantumforce123 - Actually, that's not ironic at all. It would have been ironic if during the accident, he crashed into a P-51 and destroyed it.

[JTMarlin8]

@corebare Even more ironic would be if he crashed into a P-38.

[kirkmach32]

Build a modern, all-carbon, TRACE-engined, twin-fuselage NEMESIS NXT with a Pond Racer-like tail and more Pond Racer-like forward wing sweep and you should have a modern upgrade of this concept that would fully realize that 500-600 mph potential with ease.

[viper8red]

@kirkmach32 Agree.. the problem is people are taking this as an omen to not go forward instead of looking at it as an unfortunate tragedy that occurred during a much needed bit of forward progress in air racing.

[TheKatipo]

Turns out that some of the people who were supposed to maintain and fly that plane lacked experience with modern electronic systems and engine control. One managed to disable the electronic boost controller and jammed the wastegates closed. "Let's see what this baby'll do". That cost an engine. Then there was the temporary fix that resulted in a cockpit fire. The pilot refused to eject the canopy and died when he was overcome. Nothing wrong with the aircraft concept. Just people.

[Icepacalapse]

Those engines ran fine in the GTP racer putting out near 1000hp for an hour long race.

I think it was more of the layout of the components within the engine pods that caused their problems as well as the fact that they tried running those engines on a fuel far different than the fuel used successfully.

If you run high boost for any substantial amount of time, you will get extreme radiant energy from the very hot piping before the turbos and it doesn't look like they had adequate venting.

[bnther36]

It's an amazing airplane. It's a shame that there will never be another one.

[619viewloader]

right plane but rong motors put 2 rolls royce merlens in it

[andgate2000]

Right plane .....wrong engines!

[idontcare80]

Right plane, poor understanding of the engines. Most of the engine problems were actually caused by the cooling system, the engines would sometimes not reach operating temperature there were problems with the lubrication system as a result.

[cardinaldriver]

I remember reading about the Pond Racer in a Flying mag many moons back. Did they end up using the Nissan 3.0L VQ motors in this or did they go another route? Never seen it fly...thanks!

BTW, who was the pilot who passed away in the crash? RIP

[idontcare80]

They were Nissan VG30s, not sure if they were DOHC or not though.

[cardinaldriver]

Thank you sir.

[JTMarlin8]

@cardinaldriver Rick Brickert (sp) was the guy who crashed.

[XF540]

Uh, guys, I'm jumping the gun to say this but I'm aware someone's trying to get the tooling and cash together to build a new one with Mazda Rotary engines. And who would wan tto fly it? It took off at 160 knots for a rotation speed, blind spots like a bat and it has a higher wing loading than an F-15. It weighed 4500lbs with a 70sq/ft wing. It had a LOT of problems and needs major modication to be successful again. And I know because I'm trying to get on the build team or do it myself!

[r32adt3db]

I remember seeing that plane race for the first time. They barely ran it at 60% and it was hauling ass. Such a gorgeous machine and piece of engineering artwork. To bad what happened to her and the pilot.

[msjr777]

If they made this over as a kit.And kept the cost down. I think a pair of rotax 582 with 4 props,30 gals to each motor.The plane can be down sized. Doing it this way you would lighten weight the plane alot .This plane should do 300 to 400mph with two rotaxs engines.

[msjr777]

And using two rotaxs 582 use 2.5 to 3.0 gals each a hour. Which means 10 hours of fling and covering up to 3,000 nms. The plane should not weight more then 700lbs with two engines.

[viper8red]

They HAVE to rebuild this aircraft. You don't give up just because you fail. Lots of people have died racing, it's part of the danger. The risks outweigh the reward. Hopefully Rutan or someone else starts prototyping exotic reno racers.

[ejlister]

Agreed. Guess it just hurt them too much. What a shame.

[amadeus5889]

I know it's not the real thing, but I've flown a computer-generated replica of this plane on a flight simulator. It goes like stink, a real bullet. It definitely needs to get rebuilt by someone.

[BatgurlRacing]

This plane will never get rebuilt. They went about things all wrong. they were still fitting panels when they showed up to qualify.  Testing was not done, and they made some really bad choices that caused it to catch fire. Burt Rutan was very upset about alot of what he saw and considered it a failure, and lost a close friend, and swore he would never build another race. It breaks my heart too...I would love to see this or another modern unlimited plane fly

[amadeus5889]

You're right. You can't rush a plane like this, especially when there's that much power packed into the engines. It ripped itself apart.

[Deltaspeed93]

actually 620 MPH was the projected top speed, weather it actually went that fast?.... I have gone to the races every year since 1988 when I moved to Reno, I believe Rare Bear holds the record 540 MPH

[Attilaakiraly]

I wish I could see one of these in real life! A fatal crash? It is sad but wich aircraft doesn't? Every plane in the world once has a problem. I would love to fly in one of these I would even love to fly in Concorde whether it crashed once or not...

[Attilaakiraly]

stunning aircraft!

[r32adt3db]

That thing had all kinds of problems. I remember watching it fly at Reno in 91 or 92 and soon as they would land, the crew had to immediately flush the engine with coolant so it wouldn't melt all the cowling. they were only running tests that year at 30% or so and claimed it was capable of 500+ at full throttle.

[Deltaspeed93]

actually 620 mph

[r32adt3db]

Was that estimated top speed or did they achieve that? It was a ingenious design for a new style of racer for sure. Sad we lost her and the pilot.

[powerbandman]

Great video - thanks for posting. I helped develop the prop gearboxes and did dyno runs on the engines at Electramotive in El Segundo, CA. Got to meet the Rutans at Scaled Composites, etc. What a project, but unfortunate outcome. RIP!

[ThemostRegectedName]

I wish i could have seen that plane it was said to be capable of around 500Mph

[georgitushev]

STAR WARS

[lundtcu]

Wild plane.  Great.

[djdecember]

your lucky you even saw it flying man

[av8rdav]

I miss this plane. Saw it fly one year at Reno. Bought 2 shirts in 1992 and was going to buy more at '93 but....

[Petrolhead1984]

I still wonder if really could beat all the unlimted warbirds@reno airrace.

[a2g6d4k8]

I wish that they would bring this bird

back.

[greyhound38]

Wow that airplane brings back some memories. I'll never forget how exciting and inspiring this was for me to read about and watch on TV as a kid. I wish I'd had a chance to see her fly in person.

[viper8red]

This aircraft needs to be rebuilt, and so do it's successors. It's sad that it claimed a life but so have the boldest and most brilliant ventures mankind has sought to succeed in. The space race, the automoble, oceanic exploration, etc. The V-22 Osprey unfortunately claimed many lives as well and yet it is a great concept like the pond racer and is now coming into it's prime. We need more advanced exotic aircraft like this!

[MX304]

Thank you very much for posting this. It is sad that such a beautiful and well thought out machine would still claim the life of Rick Brickert.

[kitam1]

outstanding