VARO Heads to KMSO
We kicked of the racing week at KMSO with another round of close T-6 racing. The evening started with Skyguy putting together another blistering qualifying session not only setting the fastest lap in the T-6 but also the F-1. So with Skyguy getting the free pass to the silver the remaining pilots lined up for the bronze. The bronze race was pretty uneventful Maple One setup with a comfortable lead and the rest were just trying not to finish last. The race was soon finished with Jimi having a close encounter with the ground moving everyone to the silver. The silver race begin much the same way , Maple One and Salami up front battling for the lead and Sryth, CptSneed and Skyguy in the back battling not to finish last. Again this race was decided with a DNF, very uncharacteristic for Skyguy he met the ground in an uncontrolled manner. With Skyguy out the remaining pilots setup for the gold.

The gold race started with Sryth quickly jumping out to a very slim lead over Maple One. For the next few laps Maple One and Sryth would fly like they were bolted to each other but it wouldn't last for ever. After a minor mistake Maple One passed Sryth and Sryth never recovered. Maple One would go on to win. It was a great race for those involved but even more so for Sryth, this would mark his first Gold Race finish.

After a short break to reload aircraft and in some cases restart Flight Sim the F1 races started much like the T-6 with Skyguy in the silver and the rest in the bronze. The bronze race itself was yet another battle between Maple One and Salami. Things looked bad for the back markers as the front runners pulled away but Jimi again ended his race with a plume of dirt pushing the remaining pilots into the silver.

The silver race....It all came down to the start, Skyguy was forced to drop out after a technical error leaving the remaining pilots to run a meaning less race but its about racing not sitting so the battle was on. Again Maple One and Salami got out to a commanding lead leaving CptSneed and Sryth way back. Due to some power management problems Sryth started almost half a lap down but with a very fast aircraft and a good line he was able to catch and pass Cptsneed and come in a comfortable third. With Skyguy out for the second time of the night the F-1 Gold would be a repeat of the T-6 gold.

The F-1 gold, well the start looked like the silver with the typically excellent flying for Maple One and Salami leading the way. Sryth again had a lousy start and was forced to play catch up all race. At the finish it was Maple One holding off Salami for first and Sryth coming in third with a blistering finish and CptSneed coming in fourth.

The event ran fairly smooth with the occasional flight sim hiccup that caused some pilots trouble but all in all a very good night of racing. Thanks to all pilots that participated and I hope to see everyone for the unlimited on Saturday.

Other News
Motis Fox and Mintaka
The newest aircraft from Motis Aerobatic Designs is online and can be seen here, and the Mintaka should be back at the KMHV hangar for compatibility testing.

VARO Winter Season Race #3 KMSO Program

Event Schedule for 2/19/05 (all times GMT -5 or US Eastern Standard)
8:00pm: Server Information will be e-mailed and posted the VARO Website.
8:30pm: Server Officially open for practice
8:45pm: Race Official Briefing
8:50pm: Course closed for practice, Pilots asked to land for attendance check.
9:00pm: Open Qualification in T-6 and F1 classes begin
9:20pm: Qualification ends. All pilots asked to land.
9:25pm: Pilot briefing, Race assignments and rules changes covered.
9:35pm: T-6 Bronze Race(8 laps)
9:45pm: T-6 Silver Race(8 laps)
9:55pm: T-6 Gold Race (8 laps)
10:05pm: F1 Bronze Race(10 laps)
10:15pm: F1 Silver Race (10 laps)
10:25pm: F1 Gold Race (10 laps)
10:40pm: Victory Photos and race winner interviews

Times are subject to adjustment pending the finish times of the other races and if these races are needed.


Qualification Changes
1. Pilot with the fastest qualification time will be placed at the #1 starting spot in the Silver race bypassing the Bronze Race.

Final Note
pilots who arrive after the Bronze race will not be allowed to participate in the following races for points. They may run laps but there finish will not count. Also make sure all that you have downloaded the latest software and T-6 Paint Pack from the download pages as well as the KMSO scenery update. These files are required for this weekends races.

Event will be run tonight by Jimi and Maple One pending Sryth's arrival

Hope to see everyone there.

VARO wraps up racing at KMHV
The last weekend at KMHV provided for some excellent unlimited and Jet racing. With an average turn out and a modified schedule for the evening things got started with the Bronze race. With the bronze race quickly underway it became very clear that there was going to be some close racing with Skyguy setting up a descent pace up front and some close racing between Roscoe and Maple One for second and third respectively. I myself(Sryth) bought it on the second lap after making a turn to close to the ground and turning my sea fury into a smoking pile of metal. With my DNF that ment that everyone else in the race would move on to face CptSneed, who had the fastest qualifying time, in the Silver.

The Silver race with a slight hitch, Roscoe had some how killed his engine and couldn't get it refired leaving him standing dead on the starting grid as the other racers launched. The race it self quickly took shape as Skyguy jumped out into the lead and held on to it for the remainder of the race. Near the end of the race Roscoe finally got his bearcat, "Bearly Able", refired and proceeded to run his own race. Once everyone was done safely Jimi being the sportsman that he is decided in the interest of a better race to give his spot in the gold to Roscoe. This would prove to be a very interesting development.

The final unlimited race of the night at KMHV began with a bang, or actually maybe a rocket. From the word go Roscoe was on a mission within the first couple of laps he had made up for the lousy silver race and proceeded to pass the front runners Skyguy and MapleOne to take the lead from there he would proceed to take the first unlimited gold of the season. From what I can remember I do believe this is Roscoe's first gold win of his career. On a side note once the results were reviewed Skyguy had his revenge taking the fastest lap award and taking the lead in the unlimited point standings.

On to the Jet races, with an average turn out for the unlimited races I hoped that the Jet races would garner some interest but alas we only put on a four man show. So with the diminished numbers a decision was made to only hold a silver and a gold race. The silver race began with Roscoe having engine problems again which delayed the start. Once Roscoe had his engine problem sorted we began the silver which turned out to be a one man show and the man was Skyguy. At the start of the race Skyguy took what appeared to be a small lead but over the next few laps he would end up putting almost half a lap between him and the field. Jimi and MapleOne had some close racing for a distant second and third but it became a mute point when Roscoe declared a mayday and brought his jet back down to the ground. All pilots with the exception of Roscoe would move to the gold.

The gold race began with Skyguy jumping out to a big lead again and it appeared that Jimi and MapleOne were yet again doomed to simply battle for second and third, but somewhere in the closing laps Jimi and MapleOne began to gain ground, it wasn't rapid by any means but sure enough they were closing in on Skyguy and trading positions the entire time. Unknown to Skyguy he had inadvertently activated his landing gear and they were creating a lot of drag and slowing his aircraft down. On the final lap the inevitable happened Jimi and MapleOne caught Skyguy. All racers streaked across the finish line only tenths separating them. In the end Jimi claimed the Jet Gold win with MapleOne and Skyguy and very close second and third respectively. As expected Skyguy came away with the fastest lap award and five bonus points.

Overall the evening went well we didn't have any noticeable network glitches or problems. I would like to thank all pilots that joined us and I hope to see everybody for the short course races at KMSO this weekend.

Other VARO News
Mintaka
We are still doing some aerodynamic tweaking on the Mintaka with the hopes of fielding it in the next unlimited race. The guys over at MoTIS are doing a great job and we should see an updated prototype on Friday.

VHRO
Some of you may have noticed a new category in the forum labeled VHRO. This will soon house information about Virtual Hydroplane Racing Online. Many of you know I have been experimenting with hydroplane boats for a while and I am very close to having a working model. This group will not necessarily be for racing in the beginning but merely a group working hydroplane boats. Stay posted for news about the VARO spinoff organization.

KMSO
I should have the course update package complete with updated pylons, starting grid and some new boards near the grid ready by Wednesday or Thursday of this week.

VARO Race Day #2: KMHV Long Course

The Voice Communication server is up and running and can be found at the addresses below. Practice will begin in aprox 1/2 hour.

VARO Race Server(Flight Simulator Session)
IP: TBD Connect to TeamSpeak First
Password:

VARO Communication Server(TeamSpeak Server)
IP: offline
Password:

Pilots please use the name you are registered with in the VARO forum to prevent confusion. Pilot please log into the "VARO Lounge" channel on the TeamSpeak server prior to changing channels.

Also all pilots should have the latest version of the TransponderRC3 downloaded and installed.

All Pilots also need to have the KMHV scenery update and the Jet and Unlimited Paint Packs.

VARO Winter Season Race #2 KMHV Program

Event Schedule for 2/12/05 (all times GMT -5 or US Eastern Standard)
8:00pm: Server Information will be e-mailed and posted the VARO Website.
8:30pm: Server Officially open for practice
8:45pm: Race Official Briefing
8:50pm: Course closed for practice, Pilots asked to land for attendance check.
9:00pm: Open Qualification in Unlimited and Jet classes begin
9:20pm: Qualification ends. All pilots asked to land.
9:25pm: Pilot briefing, Race assignments and rules changes covered.
9:35pm: Unlimited Bronze Race(5 laps)
9:45pm: Unlimited Silver Race(5 laps)
9:55pm: Unlimited Gold Race (7 laps)
10:05pm: Jet Bronze Race*(5 laps)
10:15pm: Jet Silver Race (5 laps)
10:25pm: Jet Gold Race (7 laps)
10:40pm: Victory Photos and race winner interviews

Times are subject to adjustment pending the finish times of the other races and if these races are needed.
*Bronze Jet race will only be needed if there are 6 jet pilots on the race server at the start of the race. All times are U.S. Eastern Standard Time

Qualification Changes
1. Pilot with the fastest qualification time will be placed at the #1 starting spot in the Silver race bypassing the Bronze Race.

Final Note
pilots who arrive after the Bronze race will not be allowed to participate in the following races for points. They may run laps but there finish will not count. Also make sure all that you have downloaded the latest software and Unlimited and Jet Paint Packs from the download pages as well as the KMHV scenery update. These files are required for this weekends races.

Hope to see everyone on Saturday

Mintaka at KMHV
The first Mintaka Prototype kit arrived at the KMHV last night. The kit will go through a series of flight and racing test prior to VARO certification. The testing should only take a few days and then suggestions will be sent back to MOXSY for any changes to be made if needed. After any changes are made we will start the testing back up again. At this point I am not sure if we will make the race on Saturday but we will do our best.

Mintaka kit arrives tomorrow!
For those of you who haven't been keeping update to date with your partner MOXSY Aerobatic Designs, the first of 3 aircraft designed for use in the Unlimited class is almost ready and will arrive tomorrow. Now that doesn't mean it ready to race just quite yet, we still have some testing to do on our own to make sure it will be competitve with the other Unlimiteds.

If all goes well and the testing goes smoothly Sryth will be flying the Mintaka in the Unlimited race at KMHV. When this aircraft does fly it will be the first aircraft designed from the ground up for racing to grace a VARO event. We shall see what happens. This could be the begining of many great things to come.

VARO News 020705

VARO Racing again!
Welcome to another season of VARO racing which was kicked off with an excellent display of racing skill and competition in the T-6 Class. The Silver and Gold races in the T-6 class were probably the most competitive races I have ever seen during a VARO event. It was a close competition between Maple One and Salami for the Gold victory but in the end after a slow start Salami edged out Maple One by about a second to take the KMHV Gold. Aside from Salami's first win in his first official race we also had another rookie pilot that made it into the gold Asp. Asp had a rocky start to the evening but he managed to make it into the gold. Another notable pilot racing in the T-6 class for the first time was Roscoe. Roscoe was with VARO in the early days and we are glad to have him back out on the pylons. With all this close racing the T-6 class may shape up to be some of the closest racing ever seen at VARO.

After the T-6 race finished we quickly got started with the F-1 races but unfortunately a file discrepancy was noticed and the race was canceled in order to keep everything fair. The discrepancy was not intentional and the problem has been fixed. Hopefully we will have a successful F-1 race next time. Pilots who participated in the F-1 races will receive participation points.

Overall I felt that the races went very well, we had a pretty good turn out and with only moderate connection problem we raced 4 clean t-6 races and a couple of F-1 Races. For those pilots that were able to participate well done, those who had connection problems preventing them from connecting, I sincerely apologize and I hope the problem does not persist, and for those pilots that didn't make it I hope to see you all racing the unlimiteds and jets this Saturday.

Complete Events scores can be found on the "Winter Series" page.

Other News
Changes to the Event format.
After running a two class event with four races in each class and ending way over the 2-2.5 hour goal, I have decided to remove the heat race from the schedule. Instead all pilots will be positioned in the bronze race. The fastest pilot will still be placed in the silver and we will still use the last place "knock out" format where the last place pilot is eliminated and the remaing pilots move on(note: you still must finish the race in order to move on, in the case where the entire field crashes the pilot who completed the least amount of laps will be eliminated). What does this mean, pilots are guaranteed bronze race points for one. It also should help speed the classes up and help us finish the event in under the 2-2.5 hour goal.

January Pilot of the Month
Jimi has been named pilot of the month. Sometime this week I will be with Jimi and get the name of all he aircraft he flies in order to put is Pilot of the Month Image up in the POM section of the website. So if you see Jimi online congratulate him and maybe talk a little air racing with him because Jimi is an excellent pilot and does a great job helping keep things running here at VARO.

Cross Country Racing
I have started work on the cross country code for the Transponder. Its not that much different from the normal Transponder code so I hope to have it finished in the next week or so for testing very soon. My goal is to have the Cross Country series up and running by the 1st week of March. Along with working on the Transponder code I will also be planning the route across starting somewhere in Florida and eventually finishing at KMHV in California.

Race Reporter Wanted!
VARO is in need of a Race Reporter! What does a race reported due? Well thy provide a recap of all races that will be posted to this news page. Race Reporter's are only limited by their imagination the main goal is to cover the races so that other who weren't there could get a feel for what happened. So we are looking for someone with good writing skills, you don't need to be an English major or journalist, you just need the ability to capture an event with words. Any pilots interested please send me a message through the forum or talk to me online.

VARO Winter Season Race #1 KMHV Program

Event Schedule for (2/5/05)
8:00pm: Server Information will be e-mailed and posted the VARO Website.
8:30pm: Server Officially open for practice
8:45pm: Race Official Briefing
8:50pm: Course closed for practice, Pilots asked to land for attendance check.
9:00pm: Open Qualification in F1 and T-6 begins
9:20pm: Qualification ends. All pilots asked to land.
9:25pm: Pilot briefing, Race assignments and rules changes covered.
9:30pm: T-6 Heat Race 1*(6 laps)
9:40pm: T-6 Bronze Race(6 laps)
9:50pm: T-6 Silver Race(8 laps)
10:00pm: T-6 Gold Race(10 laps)
10:20pm: F-1 Heat Race 1*(6 laps)
10:30pm: F-1 Bronze Race(6 laps)
10:40pm: F-1 Silver Race(8 laps)
10:50pm: F-1 Gold Race(10 laps)
11:00pm: Victory Photos and race winner interviews

*Times are subject to adjustment pending the finish times of the other races and if these races are needed. Heat Races will only be needed if there are 8 pilots on the race server at the start of the race.

Qualification Changes
In order to make things a little more interesting and make qualifying a little more important I have decided to make a couple small changes.

1. Pilot with the fastest qualification time will be placed at the #1 starting spot in the Silver race bypassing the Bronze Race.
2. Pilot with the second fastest time will be places at the #1 starting spot in the bronze race bypassing the Heat Race.

Hopefully these small changes will improve competition and give pilots a change to race in a couple of races.

Final Note
Pilots who arrive after the Heat Race or if the Heat Race is not run the bronze race will not be allowed to participate in the following races for points. They may run laps but there finish will not count.

Also make sure all Pilots download the latest software and T-6 Paint Pack from the download pages. These files are required for this weekends races.

Hope to see everyone on Saturday

VARO News Update!
First I would like to announce a new partnership with MOXSY Aerobatic Designs and MoTIS Xtreme Racing Aircraft. They are currently working on a new twin engine aircraft what will soon be available for air racing. Please visit the link below for more information about MOXSY Aerobatic Designs and MoTIS Xtreme Racing Aircraft. We at VARO hope the partnership/friendship produces some excellent aircraft and many benefits for both organizations.

MOXSY Aerobatic Designs

And in other news,

Scenery:
I hope to have the scenery update for KMHV finalized and uploaded by Thursday. The update will include a starting grid at the end of the runway along some other objects to help lend to the racing atmosphere.

Tuono:
Work continues on Tuono, I am fairly satisfied with the exterior of the aircraft and am currently heading inside the cockpit to finish outfitting the aircraft. Sadly to say however I have hit a snag in the flight model construction and I am having to start from scratch. This will put a minor delay in the release of the aircraft.

Tranponder:
I have looked at the source code and have found pieces that may be causing some adverse effects if the transponder is run for multiple laps over a long period of time. Currently the easiest fix I have come up with is the re-load the course file between long races. This should help reduce the chances of an overflow error until I can get the next release finished.

Custom Paint Schemes:
The deadline has passed to get custom aircraft schemes into the Winter Skin pack for each plane. However there will be a second pack released mid season if there is a need. Expect a skin pack download for aircraft that have custom skins in the next few days.