Typhoon Race 2010
8-10, October 2010, HONG KONG

Contest Report

The overwhelming interest in TR2010 with 60 pilots registered has given the organizer a stunning task to complete whose success depends not only on the coordination skills and logistic supports but also on the most important factor: the weather. With so many uncertainties in hands, holding a large F3F contest with limited competition time is really a nerve-breaking endeavour for the organizer. Thanks for the hard-working organizing team, with all the preparation work done, the contest was finally kicked started. Smooth running throughout the whole contest with favourable weather support had finally made this event a success!  A brief chronological report is given below:
 

Two groups of foreign pilots arrived at the competition site separately; one group with mainly Taiwanese and Singaporean pilots arrived early in the morning. They enjoyed good wind of 6-7 m/s for practicing with speeds can be as fast as in low forties. Unfortunately, there was a mid-air collision of HK Stanley's FS3 with Singapore Francis' Predator, which drove both model planes spirally down to ground. Both planes were out of action in subsequent competition. The second group with mainly Korean and Australian pilots went up in the afternoon. They found that the wind has weakened to 3m/s, some of them had reservation to fly because of the marginally wind condition.  Anyway, both groups of pilots had lot of fun on the slope and were ready for the contest next day.

Pilots woke up early in the morning. After a short briefing in the hotel lobby at 7:00am and a 15 minutes bus ride, and about 30 minutes hiking up to the flying site from Ma On Shan car park, the first round of contest was officially started at 9:15am. A draw was performed to determine the first pilot to fly. Lee Man (hk), number 21, was the lucky guy. Actually, it was a bit unlucky for him because the time when he flew, the wind direction was almost 20 degree off normal with speed only 3 to 5 m/s. The wind direction remained off normal until about two-third of the pilots have flown. Most of the times achieved were sixties, a few pilots managed to get down to fifties. Many pilots have battled with strong cross wind. Chang Chang Tai (tw) has flown magnificently to get a 53.75s to take the lead in first round. The wind condition in the second round was improved a bit with wind blowing normal to the slope, however, the wind speed was still marginally weak. Han Sang Ho of Korea even had difficulty to get enough lift to raise up his model for landing. His model was force-landed a kilometer down away from the slope and he needed to go down the hill to recover his model. The organizer had kindly sent a helper to go with him for the recovery mission. Surprisingly, they found the model undamaged very quick, but the two had to climb back up the mountain again, it was physically demanding! Again, Chang Chang Tai showed his master skill for F3F under light lift condition and took the second round with a 52.50s. Actually, he has a nickname in Taiwan, called "Prince of Light Wind". Wind condition in the third round was further improved, and pilots once accustomed to fly in this slope became more aggressive in turns and thus got faster times. Choi Wing Pong (hk) was the first to get sub-fifty. His fast 48.82s flight granted him a marginally 3-point lead in the ranking table the first day. The fastest time of the day, however, was a 45.72s in round 5 by Pang Yong Wee of Singapore. It was almost unbelievable that Pang's model, a Strega, can fly that fast in light lift condition, and rumors have immediately spread that there will be many Stregas joining the contest the next day! The first day contest was completed at 5:30pm after 5 rounds were conducted. Many pilots joined the welcome reception with BBQ food at night, and they enjoyed not only the food, but also friendly discussion and reflection on today's race, cheers!  Below is the first day ranking table.

Day one ranking: TR2010_day1.pdf

1st Choi Wing Pong, HK
2nd  Chang Chang Tai, Taiwan
3rd K.Y. Mak, HK
4th Kenneth Chan, HK
5th Lin Kuo Ping, Taiwan
6th Stanley Chan, HK
7th Park Hoosik, Korea
8th Eric Wong, HK
9th Alan Lau, HK
10th Au Chi Fai, HK

Photos taken in day one

Despite of heavy rain overnight and light drops in the early morning, the contest continued as planned. The first round (round 6) of the day officially began at 9:00am. Wind was much stronger at 6-9m/s. The first pilot to fly was Lai Kwong Leung (hk) who easily got a 48.00s. Then a few runs later, Hung Tsung Yi (tw) flew with stunning accuracy to push the record to 42.30s. Round 7 saw the first sub-forty, Kenneth Chan (hk) flew steadily fast to a new record at 39.32s. Spectators on site were applause with sounds of congratulation. Rain dropped after about ten pilots have flown in round 8, and the contest was suspended for about 35 minutes, just more than 30 minutes official suspension time, so the scores for these pilots were discarded and round 8 was re-started after the rain has stopped. The contest was getting more tense in round 8 when Lin Kuo Ping (tw) flew a magnificently fast 38.85s, but this recorded was overtook a minute later by Stanley Chan (hk) with a 38.82s. The record was further pushed down to 37.77s in round 9 by Cheung Wan Kin of Hong Kong. Round 10 was even more astonishing, Choi Wing Pong (hk) flew his Ceres with high accuracy to get a 36.21s. This is not only the fastest time for the day but also his personal best, congratulation! Round 10 was completed at about 4:45pm and there was insufficient time to start a new round, so the organizer called for a group photo taking to finish off the day. The ranking table after second day of contest is shown below.

Day two ranking: TR2010_day2.pdf

1st Lin Kuo Ping, Taiwan
2nd Stanley Chan, HK
3rd K.Y. Mak, HK
4th Kenneth Chan, HK
5th Chang Chang Tai, Taiwan
6th Hung Tsung Yi, Taiwan
7th Choi Wing Pong, HK
8th Eric Wong, HK
9th Ko Fu Chung, Taiwan
10th Angus Lee, HK

Photos taken in day two

Again, there were overnight rain and light drops in the morning. The weather forecast was similar to previous day but with stronger wind. Indeed, it was, by the time round 11 was started at 9:00am, the wind was average at 9-13 m/s. It was wetter and fog was at low level, the contest was occasionally called off waiting for low level fog to clear up. Landing was hazardous due to strong wind with low fog level. A few pilots had difficulty to land and the contest progressed slowly. On the other hand, the wind was really strong and many pilots achieved their personal best. The previous day record was easily broken by many skilled pilots. Chang Chang Tai (tw) flew his Ceres to a new record of 34.76s in round 11, it was just amazing to watch his plane dazzling through turbulence air with speed. This was a nerve-breaking moment for Hong Kong pilots because the best speed time has remained in Hong Kong pilots' hand since round 7. Round 12 will be a hard fight to regain the best speed record. Round 12 started immediately with many sub-forties, Ah Pong flew a 37.64s, the second best in his pilot's life so far, but he said instead he is not happy! The contest was really tense and everybody was aiming at least a sub-forty. Finally, the record was broken again at the middle of round 12 when Stanley manipulated his Freestyler 3 steadily and accurately in turns to achieve a stunning fast time of 34.26s. Applauses and congratulations thrown in. The atmosphere was getting more exciting because everybody was hopping to break this new record. Unfortunately, after about one-third of pilots have flown in round 13, the fog level was getting much lower and the visibility was really low. The contest was suspended for 40 minutes and the fog condition seemed getting even worse, so the organizer announced to cancel round 13 and called off the contest at 1:45pm. Typhoon Race 2010 was officially over with 12 rounds completed. The champion went to Lin Kuo Ping of Taiwan, 1st runner up to Stanley Chan of Hong Kong, and 2nd runner-up to Chang Chang Tai of Taiwan. Stanley Chan also won the best speed award with a 34.26s. Congratulation! The ranking table and detailed score sheet are given below:

Final result: ranking and detailed score sheet

1st Lin Kuo Ping, Taiwan
2nd Stanley Chan, HK
3rd Chang Chang Tai, Taiwan
4th Kenneth Chan, HK
5th K.Y. Mak, HK
6th Hung Tsung Yi, Taiwan
7th Eric Wong, HK
8th Choi Wing Pong, HK
9th Ko Fu Chung, Taiwan
10th Cheung Wan Kin, HK

Photos taken in day three

The banquet and award presentation ceremony was held in Regal Seafood Restaurant at 6:30pm. Over 70 guests including pilots, helpers, sponsors, and family guests, were invited to the banquet. Good food and friendly discussion made this event full of fun. Smiling faces and drink were seen everywhere. There were many sponsored prizes for the winners and for lucky draw; a JR Propo 11x channel 2.4 Tx set, a Sanwa SD-10G 2.4 tx, four MKS servos, four JR ds171 servos, six Hyperion HP-DS095-FMD servos, two Avante 60" mold gliders and some duct fan models, thanks the sponsors. The organizer was congratulated for the success of holding TR2010. All contesting pilots have unforgettable memory to bring home. The next Typhoon Race will be held in Taiwan, so see you all next year in Taiwan!

Photos taken in the banquet

Rcsail Forum,Hong Kong

Flying Pizza Club,Taiwan

Korea R/C Soaring Society

Team F3F,Singapore