Pond Racer: The first, and last Reno thoroughbred racer

Behold the Pond Racer! The only purpose-built Unlimited class racer that would compete in the Reno Races against the traditional P51s and Bearcats that had been dominating the circuit since WWII. Wax-industry magnate Bob Pond partnered with Burt Rutan to conceive the Pond Racer, with the charitable goal of saving P-51s and Bearcats from losses in air races (and driving up the prices of parts and airframes, as these aircraft became increasingly rare). ⁣
⁣
Outrageous in design, and equally outrageous in engineering and execution, this was out-of-the-box thinking beyond what anyone had ever witnessed. Rather than rely on time-tested aircraft powerplants (that were deemed too heavy and un-aerodynamic), the the Racer was powered by small 2 Nissan GTR V6 race car engines. During car races, these could generate 1,000hp - but for only small bursts at a time. The Pond Racer in contrast had to maintain 1,000hp during a 15 minute race!⁣
Development and testing was troublesome. The engines had to fit in an impossibly small space, and were plagued with all kinds of issues during test-flights: Oil loss, electromagnetic interference, seizures due to extreme high RPMs. While projected to produce 1,000hp, they could only function properly at 650hp and medium RPMs. Because cool-running methanol fuel was used during races, the engines had to be pre-heated to full operating temperatures BEFORE starting. Upon shutdown, they were cooled off with huge A/C ducts, otherwise the cowling would melt off! As far as flying qualities, Burt claimed the aircraft was harder to fly than a Mig-29. It landed at 140 knots!⁣
⁣
During a qualifying race in 1993, one of the engines locked up and the prop did not feather. An inflight fire broke out consuming the aircraft, crashing in the desert below. Bob Pond was devastated, and completely dropped Reno Racing altogether (he had sponsored several teams before). Since then, no other attempt has been made to build another aircraft to challenge the Unlimited racers. ⁣
Visit / aircraftadventures for great content on rare and exciting aircraft history.

[@justforever96]

I suppose for a racing plane it's an interesting idea, but there is a reason that warbirds use 27L engines. An engine can make the same horsepower while being stressed much less. You can tune a 2.0L Honda Civic engine to make 2,000hp...but don't expect it to be reliable, and expect to have to totally rebuild it every few races. An aviation engine is designed to put out their designed output for hours on end, and even then many cannot produce full power for more than a short time. While I imagine they chose race car engines built for use in endurance racing, the problem is that those are not designed to run at maximum power steadily either. They produce it in short bursts only, and they are only meant to survive through one whole race before being totally rebuilt. A Reno air race is shorter, but it's still asking for a blown engine to try and run it at peak power for 20 minutes. So I can see why they weren't getting the full 1,000hp they were rated at. Can't expect them to safely last a whole race at that level, not running constantly. And an engine out at 500mph is dangerous. But it's a good idea anyway, in theory. They may be smaller and less powerful, but they are also much lighter and more compact. I think it's a shame they keep burning through all these old warbirds like this. They'll use them all up, and then start raiding museum and collections for more to convert. Like idiots taking increasingly rare antique cars and chopping htem up and modifying them into whatever style of hot rod is in vogue, until the most valuable and rare car is the one that is still mostly stock and uncrashed, un-chopped.

[@SuperYellowsubmarin]

Right. I don't think I would want to exceed 100hp/L (as N/A) in an aircraft even for racing. It's not a dyno pull or a quarter mile, it needs to run for extended periods of time at full power even if you rebuild after the race. I read they had stupid issues, like the oil not flowing back from the cylinder head to the crankcase fast enough.

[@sblack48]

An engine out in a twin at high speed is not that dangerous, unless it violently explodes. You are not sitting right behind it, you have plenty of control power to counter act it and another engine to keep you in the air. So it should have been safer than a p51, on paper anyway.

[@FiveCentsPlease]

@@sblack48 A catastrophic engine failure appears to been the cause from lack of oil, with the right engine seized solid and rod failure. The prop was stopped unfeathered, which would have made the aircraft a handful.

[@alorrick7546]

Good read and this would be why marine grade engines are best suited for this application as many of them are to be at 100% throttle for half an hour max power with little to no fluxation in power or rpm. My frist marine race motor used in roadracing was nearly the last motor i would have ever needed until the chassis split.

[@Nighthawke70]

And the fuels they ran on. The Nissans were not really set up to operate on straight methanol. Meaning, fuel fumes would recirculate through the crankcase, diluting the oil and adding water to the system as it burned. Probably why they had engines bricking on them. When they ferried the racer to Reno, it ran on pump gas. Straight old 98 octane. Then they had to furiously retune the engine and fuel system for methanol which was complex and messy. The cowling's fitting around the engines had such close tolerances, the air never really had a chance to cool the engines off at anything but full military power at sea level. Overheating was a chronic issue there as well.

[@carlosandleon]

Now this is Pond racing.

[@petertimowreef9085]

By far the closest anyone has ever gotten to creating a real-life pod racer, even it's name is just a letter away.

[@Raven3one]

I came here just to say that

[@rawnukles]

have to wonder if the Pod racers were inspired by the Pond racer

[@AlejandroIrausquin]

Pond Racer 1991 Phantom Menace 1999 There is your answer...

[@worldtraveler930]

You can literally Smell the Rutan engineering in this airplane design!!! 🤠👍

[@a-fl-man640]

i see some Rutan influences also.

[@worldtraveler930]

@@a-fl-man640 Spelling Corrected. 🤠👍 Stupid Voice Recognition. 😒

[@Tinker1950]

'Literally' - really? You literally got the use of literal completely wrong. Virtually smoked.

[@derekcoaker6579]

@@Tinker1950 He meant See...not Smell. lol

[@Tinker1950]

@@derekcoaker6579 Try re-reading my comment.

[@rogerkincaid931]

Rutan's designs are marvellous.

[@aircraftadventures-vids]

And numerous

[@Steve-gc5yb]

@@aircraftadventures-vids Yeah, the Starship really worked out well for Beechcraft! Massive FAILURE!

[@jvon811]

The Pond Racer wasn’t the last attempt to de-throne the heavy metal warbirds. The GP5 was a clean sheet design to compete in the Unlimited Class too. Then the rules were changed so it wasn’t legal.

[@aircraftadventures-vids]

Good point, in fact I wrote on the GP5, and yes it was initially Unlimited then switched to Sport class (I think).

[@airtightindustries]

Thanks for highlighting the gp5 I was thinking the same thing. I was aware of the rule change too, I believe that is why most of the "heavily" modified planes are absence in the now limited unlimited class. Anyone who could set me straight, please do!

[@controllineprecisionaeroba7454]

Had Tsunami not crashed, it would win everytime.

[@leifvejby8023]

It is being rebuilt as we speak

[@nathanslater4645]

GP5 was sports class at best. Not a new design and ran on a poorly built small block Chevy. To say it was in the same class as the Pond Racer is to say NASCAR could compete with LMP.

[@d.powers3428]

As a faithful flyer of Cessna 172s, I can only say that's one hell of a plane to fly west 😊

[@RR-pw5nb]

It was gorgeous.

[@jasosmurray137]

Fantastic! MORE VIDEOS

[@CrosswindSurfer]

Im going to play these videos for my boys. The style you make videos is so reminiscent of old VHS Blue Angels videos. That i LOVED. Keep it up!

[@khcopter]

Thank you for making that I always wondered what happened to that plane. I didn’t know if someone died in it.

[@wikuscombrinck512]

Super interesting video!!!

[@Legman688]

George Lucas and Dick Rutan do know each other. There's a very real possibility that this aircraft inspired the pod racers from Episode One.

[@Iain240]

Now this is pondracing

[@captainobvious9188]

I’ve always thought it was fascinating that for high speed piston powered aircraft you really can’t get much better than the old warbird designs. If I were to try it with an adapted automotive engine, I would look at land speed piston records for some knowledge.

[@abelgarcia5432]

There are automotive engines modified for aircraft use!

[@davidelzinga9757]

Personally, I would look to a detuned drag race or pulling truck engine, and still run it on methanol

[@abelgarcia5432]

Thee are a few highly modified auto engines in airplanes. Except for the fact that it looks like an auto engine on the outside, it is an aero-engine on the inside.

[@sergeigen1]

wow , what an amazing aircraft! so cool!

[@R760-E2]

Rick would still be with us today, if not for that airplane. He told me earlier that summer that he didn't like it, but had committed to flying it.

[@FireFox64000000]

Now this is Pond Racing.

[@maciejzwanski9015]

Very interesting content! Keep doing the good job!

[@aircraftadventures-vids]

thanks!

[@bluetopguitar1104]

Sad ending to an interesting design. Good video.

[@aircraftadventures-vids]

Thanks!

[@romelmarlopez1171]

Big fan on Instagram... Now a fan in youtube.. Congrats!!!

[@aircraftadventures-vids]

Thanks!

[@johnwhitehead5457]

New and improved - always new sometimes improved.

[@bobthefly5979]

Look like it puts some fun into xplane.:) Good video covers aircraft well.

[@stacase]

Thanks for the edjamakashun I had seen photos and the name, but never knew what it was all about. I could have looked it up of course but didn't. Sorry to hear that it failed with a fatality.

[@TangoandJuliet]

Such a fun channel! I may not be a pilot like Tango, but I’m learning more and more as we fly together! Looking forward to learning more on your channel, new subscriber here 😊✌🏽

[@wildestthornberry3349]

At some point, someone bought the rights to the Turbine Legend kit plane and offered a piston powered variant. Used an LS crate engine for cost and reliability. I think they were hoping a souped up version would compete in the Reno air races but they only built one and only sold a handful of kits with the standard PT6

[@oliverrandall1274]

That was surprisingly interesting, great job!

[@aircraftadventures-vids]

Thanks!

[@GrantOakes]

Burt Rutan is an aviation legend, designing some of the most incredible aircraft the modern world has ever seen. However, he's also laid a couple of goose eggs and the Pond Racer was one of them. Unfortunately it resulted in the loss of the life of its pilot, a person friend of Bob Pond.

[@flyerbob124]

Bob Pond was not a WWII pilot. He flew between the wars. Bob was one of the nicest guys you could ever know. I won’t put in print what I thought about the Pond Racer or those who designed and built it.

[@DumbledoreMcCracken]

👍

[@BigDickMark]

You don't like Burt Rutan and Scaled Composites?

[@flyerbob124]

@@BigDickMark that POS airplane killed a friend of mine.

[@BigDickMark]

@@flyerbob124 Why was it a POS?

[@kutter_ttl6786]

​@@BigDickMark Did you miss the part of the video with the laundry list of problems the Pond Racer experienced? And the fact that it crashed and killed Rick Brickert? What more explanation do you need?

[@RedTick2]

2:45 I would say Mike Patey's "Turbulence" is a custom racer, and he absolutely owned the rest of the racers when it came to speed and power. Now it was/is a turboprop, so maybe it's fair to put it in its own category, but it was/is certainly custom.

[@mccartanaaron]

Very true. Only difference is Turbulence was a Lancair Legacy that's been converted to Turbine; an existing design retrofitted with the new powerplant. Pond Racer was clean-sheet concept. Saw it once, looks incredibly cool.

[@RedTick2]

@@mccartanaaron Fair point

[@keithsargent6963]

Really cool , handling and maintenance nightmare. Forcing that power from tiny engines is bad enough in a car , but insane in an aircraft .

[@stephensowell9578]

Hearing all those things about the pond racer was excellent, although I had heard about it many times. All this was new to me.

[@davidrox4591]

The VG30DETT is a wonderful motor. Very reliable, lots of bolt ons were and are available, but so much as touch the heads, and the magic was lost. Known thing in the 300ZXTT community.

[@PistonAvatarGuy]

These were the SOHC engines.

[@monostripezebras]

cool aircraft

[@aceg81]

Now that's what I call pond-racing!

[@Sacrosanctity451]

Now this is pond racing.

[@Graymenn]

now this is pond racing

[@jtuttle11]

It wasn't the only plane built specifically for unlimited racing. The 'Tsunami' was also purpose built for racing. Unfortunately both were lost.

[@wojciechbatog576]

Nice video, loved it :) As for constructive criticism: sound has a lot of echo :)

[@aircraftadventures-vids]

Thank you. And yes I ran my voice thru a filter, too much reverb. Learning...

[@wojciechbatog576]

@@aircraftadventures-vids hey, if your first video would be perfect, there would be nowhere to go from there ;)

[@jamesarmstrong-jones5082]

This with a couple of pt6s would be sick

[@jiyushugi1085]

Compressor wash at the end of each day, then everyone goes out to dinner, and retires for a good night's sleep.

[@ZacYates]

"The only purpose-built Unlimited class racer" - what about Tsunami?

[@aircraftadventures-vids]

Yes I stand corrected there. I think the Pond Racer stood out to much as it was so unique. The Tsunami had a passing resemblance to WWII plane. But it was truly the first.

[@AClockhead103]

The 1uz is also another car engine that's so reliable the FAA oked a plane with it. Doesn't pump out those numbers in stock form but it can since the early non vvti models were over engineered

[@MX304]

You have the fuel issue backwards. The engines were designed to be run on Methanol. The aircraft could not carry enough fuel for that to work, so they had to switch to Gasoline. (Not regular Av-Gas, but a special blend for unlimited racing made by VP). This change de-rated the engines to 600--650HP and caused massive issues with heat and engine packaging. Not to mention its propensity to throw rods out of the block on almost every race flight.

[@aircraftadventures-vids]

That makes complete sense, either I skipped over that or missed out on that bit of info. Thanks for the clarification!

[@stewartgrant9832]

The fuel capacity was sufficient to race on methanol. The system allowed for different ECU mapping for gasoline in order to ferry the aircraft to and from the races. The fuel at Reno is a custom batch made for race week with an octane rating of 150.

[@MX304]

@@stewartgrant9832 Incorrect. It could NOT complete a race distance on Methanol.

[@stewartgrant9832]

@@MX304 Why design it to run on methanol then? They knew how much fuel they needed to race it before they built it. It's not like no one knew how much fuel the engines used at the power setting they wanted.

[@MX304]

@@stewartgrant9832 They mis-calculated it. They relied on the fuel burn numbers they were given by the engine builder and the numbers were incorrect. Just one more reason to not use automotive engines in an aircraft.

[@Varue]

“Burt Rutan was the only man who could make it happen” well it sounds like he didn’t make it happen 🤣

[@aircraftadventures-vids]

There's a ton of designs who couldn't make happen (not taking away from his amazing feats of course)

[@paulschweikert3823]

Let's face facts. Burt based his design on an utterly unsuited engine which never came close to meeting the performance required. That is a major design failure. The Pond Racer never even came close to meeting its goal. Burt failed spectacularly as a designer on this aircraft. The Pond team spent years trying to make it successful and never even came close. There are a number of high performance engines designed for high output over a reasonable time period which can be had off the shelf and have proven real world credibility. The unlimited ocean racer engines come to mind. Burt had a number of proven powerplants, he skipped them all. @@aircraftadventures-vids

[@larrylem3582]

Scaled Composites Ares Mudfighter was also cool.

[@QG-vz4qg]

I love air races. Because I've watched Disney's planes. Have you watch that movie before or never heard of it? If you haven't heard of it I'll explain that movie

[@jimsmalleimb7709]

Did you record the narration of this in a sonotube?

[@aircraftadventures-vids]

😂😂 that’s the damn voice i was blessed with. Deal with it

[@jimsmalleimb7709]

@@aircraftadventures-vids Nothing wrong with your voice. It's the way it was recorded that sux.

[@stocchinet]

The pond-racer looks like a pod-racer from star wars

[@brianb-p6586]

Yes... and the pod racers first appear in a movie made after the Pond Racer was built. It actually looks much more like a Naboo N-1 starfighter, from the same era of Star Wars movies.

[@lqr824]

Lucas surely copied it--his genius was recycling things around him. Star Wars was used the plot from the Kurosawa movie Hidden Fortress, with many details from Flash Gordon.

[@lucywucyyy]

its weird how this thing looks like a pod racer and is named the pond racer even tho it was made 7 years before that movie, is it possible the movie took insperation from this plane?

[@justforever96]

I would say almost certainly yes.

[@lqr824]

I think it's very likely. Lucas's genius was recycling things in culture. Star Wars itself is basically the Kurosawa movie "Hidden Fortress" and indeed, the "board room" scene where Vader is choking a guy at the table, the guy is being choked as he says "Hidden Fortress," a cool easter egg. And Lucas combined the Kurosawa plot with many details recycled almost completely from old Flash Gordon movies. He also liked hot rods, which contributed to the look of the fighters in Star Wars with all their exposed engine parts and so on.

[@Charon58]

It is certainly possible to build a competitive non- warbird unlimited. The LS based Falconer V-12 engines could be gotten to a reliable 1,000 hp for racing. A twin fuselage carbon type airframe could be stable and strong and low drag. Spend enough money and you could do it

[@billstech1715]

It would be nice to know why it crashed and what were the circumstances, if there is information on why the engines failed to meet expectations.

[@TheTechnoPilot]

There is a fabulous chapter about this aircraft in the book “Fly Low, Fly Fast” by Robert Gandt. Definitely go check it out if you want much deeper dive into the story and the whole Reno Air Races as a whole!

[@AgiHammerthief]

ah, so that‘s what inspired Episode 1 Pod Racing

[@guyforlogos]

It looks like the Pod racers from that Star Wars prequel. Wonder if that’s where Lucas got the idea?

[@scottwhitmire6577]

Rick was a good stick.🏁

[@bdadamovicz]

Sad part is the pilot might have survived if he didn't change his mind and do a belly landing, he had the gear down spacing the runway then changed his mind and ended up belly sliding into rocks.

[@MX304]

He wasn't going to make the runway. Landing off in the dirt and rocks with the gear down is a recipe for disaster.

[@robertwarner5963]

One theory holds that Rick was asphyxiated by leaked engine fluids before he touched down. He is the only person to die while wearing a parachute that I packed. Bummer!

[@GregoryAlanGaskill]

Waxing it to get that extra knot or two of airspeed

[@CaptCreekmore]

The Nemesis NXT is a thoroughbred Reno racer. What’s more, is was dominant until it retired.

[@Nighthawke70]

Sport/F1 class racer. This was the Unlimited class big birds.

[@stebstebanesier6205]

It almost seems like there was a reason why Merlin's are so popular.

[@owenmaberley6682]

You run an Incredible Instagram account, hope to see you do really well on this platform!!

[@aircraftadventures-vids]

Thank you! I seriously need to produce more content here on YT, it takes much more time and effort. Hang in there, I'll have another one soon!

[@owenmaberley6682]

@@aircraftadventures-vids I’m sure I’m one of many who are willing to give both time and effort to help out in anyway!

[@Blu0tuth0ninja]

I feel like going bigger might have been the key here. And take notes out of those old engines. They had very low compression ratios to improve reliability, and to accept forced induction. Aluminum block v-8s with low compression heads, and some big nasty turbo's to increase the amount of air("displacement") the engines could burn through.

[@andrewyork3869]

This is one of those you can have your cake and eat it to type things. I would have reached for a Lamborghini/Ferrari V12 with turbos hell even jaguar was making V12 for the XJS at this time.... No good reason to stress such small V6s that much.

[@Blu0tuth0ninja]

@@andrewyork3869 The 12s would have sounded nice, but they're not particularly high displacement. And not a great aftermarket. I'm not an LS swap kind of person, but a big aluminum block Chevy could definitely handle the stresses. And has a wide variety of parts.

[@MrOshirinoana]

You showed a pic of Swamp Fox as a crashed P-51 aircraft early in the video. It hasn't crashed, isn't a Reno racer, and their crew is about to restore an F-86.

[@DeadRoman]

Tsunami was a one off unlimited.

[@qq-uh2mx]

Pond Racer I have flown with the simulator, and fly long distances along the coastlines of the host. It's a shame that you don't build two or three pieces to extemally upgraded, such as the range, the speed and the manoeuvrability. Pond Racer is built to fly quickly and handle high loads. Flying the Pond Racer is one's dream to fly. I miss the Pond Racer very much, a dream to fly with.

[@Jim.Thunda]

NOTHING BUT NOTHING beats the mighty Sea Fury.

[@aircraftadventures-vids]

Nothing. but nothing...but Dago Red, lol

[@CripesAMighty2]

I think a delta wing type airframe, maybe XF-88B with 1, maybe 2 F1 engines, would have a better run at ushering in the next gen unlimited at Reno.

[@thewaltbrownellchannel9318]

Wait wait wait. No one has Dethroned the Pond Racer? Tsunami was the first purpose built airplane after ww2, and it placed 1st in the 1990 gold Unlimited races. Pilot Skip Holm said it was the fastest air racer he ever flew at 586mph. Pond racer was a total FAIL.

[@FiveCentsPlease]

+ The Walt Brownell Channel Tsunami is being rebuilt, so we'll see she can do.

[@wernerschulte6245]

The unique desing of the pond racer reminds me of star wars. In fact, the pond racer has got three fuselages, two for the engines, one for the pilot. This can´t be a slim aerodynamic. They wanted to go beyound 900 km/h but it wasn´t faster than a WW II warbird.

[@anthonylowman9518]

I love the design of the pond racer. Absolutely stunningly beautiful! But car engines … nah

[@abelgarcia5432]

I am surprised why they didn't use a larger engines, I mean you can't beet cubic inches plus it would be more reliable.

[@princecharon]

The design and name have me wondering if George Lucas was familiar with it before or during writing The Phantom Menace.

[@myperspective5091]

I didn’t know that they lost it and that pilot.

[@edcew8236]

I've read that engine choice was flawed. The engines were chosen based on racing success, but that success was largely because of the engines' ability to accelerate, not sustained power output as was needed for flying.

[@brianb-p6586]

Those engines were used in endurance racing - they could handle an air race.

[@andyharman3022]

The Nissan V6 turbo dominated IMSA endurance racing in 1988/89, with something like 8 straight wins at race lengths of 3 to 6 hours. They were reliable at 800 HP. But then they engine displacment was increased from 3.0 to 3.2 liters, and boosted it higher to make 1000 HP. Those are not small changes. Plus, I wouldn't be surprised to find that it was secondary factors such as the design of the dry sump oil system and fuel system that caused the Nissan engine trouble in the Pond Racer. The aviation environment is a lot different than the automotive environment, and it takes caution and time to work out the little problems that can become big ones.

[@brianb-p6586]

The supporting systems (lubrication, fuel, cooling) were likely the whole problem,@@andyharman3022.

[@MarkShinnick]

Dick test piloted Pond racer in Mojave. So sad the engines were such a pain.

[@MarsFKA]

Merlins developing three thousand horse power! How long do they last at that power setting?

[@GoogleEqualsEvil]

Sometimes not even the duration of a heat race (about 15 minutes). They are pushing over 60+ psi of boost to make those numbers. If they're lucky they will make it through the whole race weekend without blowing up. So a total of a few hours at most.

[@MarsFKA]

@@GoogleEqualsEvil I read, in my pre-teen years, about the Rolls Royce R Motor that powered the Supermarine S6 and 6B Schneider Trophy seaplanes. It developed 2,800 horsepower and, according to the source that I read, at that power setting, lasted around twenty minutes. The R Motor was later developed into the Griffon that powered the Spitfires from the Mark XII onwards - the Merlin-powered Mark XVI excepted. It was actually de-rated from the racing engine's output and, accordingly, lasted a lot longer.

[@GoogleEqualsEvil]

@@MarsFKA That sounds about right. The Merlin (and Griffon) like virtually all reciprocating (piston), large displacement aircraft engines, has a very long stroke (6 inches in the Merlin or 15.24 cm) which significantly limits it's average piston speed, which in turn significantly limits the RPM it can safely turn. For military use they kept it's maximum RPM at 3000, which gave it an average piston speed of 3000 feet per minute (15.24 m/s) which kept it healthy. The only way to make more power in a (reciprocating) internal combustion engine is to force it to consume more air / fuel, so you have to increase it's RPM limit and / or use forced induction via supercharging or turbocharging. The race Merlin's typically run at around 3400 RPM, which isn't a very large increase in RPM, so to make the crazy power that they do, requires a lot of pressure (boost) using forced induction (supercharging in the case of the Merlin). The more boost used, the more stress the engine has to deal with. Of course aircraft engines also have to deal with the huge amount of stress that results from being directly coupled to the propeller through the Propeller Speed Reduction gearbox which is housed within a case that is bolted to the front of the engine. Here are a couple of articles you might find interesting that give a lot more insight into what it takes to make a Merlin live at ~3,500 bhp. Interestingly they both state that some of the racers use 150" (inches of mercury) of boost, which is about 74 psi (or as the British liked to use +59 psi - which was boost over 1 atmosphere)! vintageaviationecho.com/voodoo-speed-record/ www.airspacemag.com/flight-today/masters-of-the-v-12-3039083/?all That first article is about the fastest piston driven, propeller aircraft in history (so far). It's a modified P-51 with a Merlin that ran it's first pass for the 3km level speed record at 555 mph (895 kph)!

[@FiveCentsPlease]

@@GoogleEqualsEvil The standard race trick developed by Dwight Thorn was to use beefy Allison connecting rods in the Merlin, giving a heavier rotating mass with the high boost.

[@Akira-nw4jl]

Lubrication on any engine differentiates in the application of the engine. For example a, a racing engine needs volume whereas a slower street legal engine needs pressure, so the oil pumps must be metered accordingly. An aircraft engine is another beast that has to be designed from square one. Torque is different, speed is different, cooling is different, and gravity is all over pulling negatives to positives at any time. It's truly fascinating but dangerous to the pilot if not designed and tested properly. Ruttan is an interesting designer but pilots lives are at risk.

[@philprice5712]

And what of Tsunami?

[@aircraftadventures-vids]

Yup, i learned about tsunami after producing this. Oh well

[@pistoninthewind]

I bet Mike Patey could build something that would make them look silly!

[@Quasihamster]

Now, I don't know which came first, but if the Pond racer didn't inspire the pod racer, then it probably was the other way round.

[@brianb-p6586]

It's unfortunate that the video only superficially covers the engines, and ignores everything else. Why a twin? What about the novel planform?

[@3RTracing]

test pilots are hero's.

[@mochabear88]

fair attempt

[@watahyahknow]

they could just build a replica of a airplane that known to work , yes they would need a good replacement for a warplane engine but i think there can be engines found to replace the old wartime engines

[@donaldgrant9067]

I wouldn't say it was the first. There were lot of purely racing plane built like the Gee Bee. Just a thought.

[@aircraftadventures-vids]

First RENO racer (Gee Bee wasn't Reno). But, having said that, I retract that statement as the less well known Tsunami came a few years earlier.

[@donaldgrant9067]

@@aircraftadventures-vids I stand corrected. I just figured that Reno would of had one back then, but come to think about it Reno didn't really exist until the 1950's.

[@dallesamllhals9161]

Heh! 0:17 As in a non-'murican Hawker Sea Fury?

[@Glen.Danielsen]

Merlins had 3000 hp? I had thought it was about 1750.

[@FiveCentsPlease]

+ Glan M. Danielsen A race-prepped Merlin can make about that for a short while. It can also come apart spectacularly..

[@Glen.Danielsen]

@@FiveCentsPlease Ah. Thanks Five. Interesting. 💛🙏🏼

[@abelgarcia5432]

these are modified to produce much more

[@alexprost7505]

Миг29 это лучший в управлении истребитель

[@richardwallinger1683]

great looking aero but ! history now .

[@aircraftadventures-vids]

Sure is!

[@thewaltbrownellchannel9318]

The owner was taken to the cleaner on this. That should be the real story.

[@nonsequitor]

Burt Rutan is a total genius...apart from when his designs are crap 👌

[@cartmanrlsusall]

An awesome idea and airplane but instead of what they needed which was a lancair,or glassair,with a v12 car engine or even a modified v8,which would have given them a reliable 1000+horsepower engine they used Nissan v6 engines boosted beyond what they could endure .the multiple engine layout and weird forward swept wings were aerodynamic mystery stuff better left on the drawing boards instead of in a race winning machine

[@regdor8187]

Intersection Drag^3.....

[@GoogleEqualsEvil]

Yes, way too much. Also too much skin friction drag from too much wetted surface area for it's size. Top speed is a function of power vs drag, so this aircraft would have never reached it's design goals. Too much aerodynamic drag and not enough power.

[@HeatherSpoonheim]

Like others here, I don't think a car engine is the way to go. For a prop racing engine, I don't even know who would have the knowledge to build something better than what they were using in WWII - when the people developing prop engines had all the resources they needed. Maybe the answer is in figuring out how to build an old Merlin design out of modern, lighter materials.

[@PiDsPagePrototypes]

Kinda points towards someone like Steve Morris, and an aero version of the SMX or the V16 he did for the Devel16, but designed from the outset to run in an aircraft.

[@killzone64]

A car engine would be fine however what kills them is the long time spent at high rpm and you can't build the engines like conventional race car engines. I feel like the people to look to are the land speed guys. Personally id approach pete aardema/kevin brain to get some custom engines built.

[@andyharman3022]

Problem is, modern engines mostly use materials that were developed for the Merlin, Allison, and other WW2 engines. Engine design has progressed from the WW2 engines, it's just that there isn't a large enough market for 27-liter V12's to justify the cost of development. Unlimited hydroplane and Reno Unlimited racers need to pool their resources and come up with an engine. Unlimited hydroplane racing was using up warbird Allisons, Merlins, and Griffons at a scary rate in the 1960's and 70's. They converted to turboshaft engines, like the T55, but the sport has suffered from it because spectators no longer come to hear the Thunderboats. All the turbines put out is a whoosh.

[@PiDsPagePrototypes]

@@andyharman3022 Would there be Meteor's around that can be converted in to Merlins? People coming for the sound, is kinda like what happened with F1 going to the first year of Turbo V6's after the V12's and V10's, motorsport is more then just speed, sound adds excitement, an emotional response that adds to the sights. Maybe the turbines can have something spinning through the exhaust, like how a Heli's gas turbine exhaust points up through the blades to create the thwack-thwack-thwack sound, but for boats, have it faster pulse rate.

[@ChristopherJohnson-un9gb]

All of the IFL's / formula 1's are thoroughbreds..

[@gmanchurch]

All of that modern technology went into building this airplane and then they got spanked by mostly nineteen thirty’s technology.

[@gallodeplata]

Rip rb

[@controllineprecisionaeroba7454]

Burt was happy to deplete his bank account in exchange for a piece of junk.

[@sblack48]

The airplane was great. It was the engines that didn’t work.

[@GoogleEqualsEvil]

I'm not sure that I would characterize it as a piece of junk, but it definitely wasn't a great design. It had some serious conceptual design flaws (too much drag, especially intersection drag and skin friction drag from too much wetted surface area for it's size, and of course a terrible choice of engines) that no amount of exceptional detail design could correct. It would have *never* reached it's design goals (fastest top speed and fastest time to climb for piston driven, propeller aircraft). Burt Rutan is one of the most overrated aircraft designers in history. He has made a career out of designing quirky and outright weird aircraft that sometimes work well, but other times don't work well at all (like the Pond Racer).

[@brucemiller8109]

The Pond is a pooch...." During a qualifying race in 1993, one of the engines locked up and the prop did not feather. An inflight fire broke out consuming the aircraft, crashing in the desert below. Bob Pond was devastated, and completely dropped Reno Racing altogether (he had sponsored several teams before). Since then, no other attempt has been made to build another aircraft to challenge the Unlimited racers." No $hit.

[@ToniSatoAvag]

How about a Pond Racer II , two placer and two RED Aircraft A03(set to give more power) + MT Propellers? Running on ethanol? But this one is for normal speed enthusists( " I feel the need, the need for speed" mind set).

[@PistonAvatarGuy]

Red Aircraft engines make less power than the engines used in the Pond racer and two of them weigh half as much as this entire aircraft.

[@user-bx7nw1ve6y]

Like Voyager before it, this aircraft had too many design flaws to count. Although I understand that no one held a gun to the pilot's head, Burt Rutan's unorthodox approach to aeronautics is what killed him.

[@dawnboyd1753]

you nailed it

[@DeadRoman]

The title to this video is so upsettingly false.