So its 06h00 in Upington and I am afraid we have some bad news. We got a call late last night from Robin Spencer Scarr informing us that our handicaps are not right. According to the rules of the race the planes have to be tested at absolute full rpm and power. This as most of you will know is impossible for a Rotax motor. The 912 and 914 motor are governed at 5800rpm by the constant speed prop as revving the engine higher will result in a complete engine meltdown. They want us to retest at full power and rpm by removing the constant speed governor. This in layman’s terms means that we need to rev our engines to max rpm with our props as fine as they can go. Yes……… that means we will all melt our engines in the first 2 minutes……….So what to do?? While we recognise that this is how the race has been run from the beginning of time (sure feels like the beginning of time up here in the Kalahari) we also think it’s a bit unfair to expect us to destroy our beautiful machines just to prove a point. So the only solution that we have come up with is to return to the race, cap in hand, and tell them to give us whatever handicap they want (197 knots). We will still compete, albeit safe in the knowledge that we will come stone last……. After all we are here to have fun, race hard and make the rest of the aviation community green with envy for our beautiful Slings!So, off we are to the airport to have fun, learn, teach and FLY!!!Wish us luck and send us messages of encouragement. You kind words and messages of encouragement are keeping us going and in good spirits, in these most grave times.Sling Racing Team 2012
