THE ROCKET RACING LEAGUES DEBUT!!!

[rrl2]

The Rocket Racing League, from the same guys that made the X Prive is coming soon to your tv set. Rocket Racing will be like NASCAR in the skies. The vehilcles will have a 4 minute boost to use at will realeasing a 20 foot plume of smoke and fire. They will have a four mile race track. There is a lot more that I can't tell you about in this message, but if you are interested it will premier in Arizona 2007.<br /><br />the website is <br /> http://www.rocketracingleague.com <br /><br />Once your there go to multimedia or the image gallery to find videos of test flights, pictures of the planes, digital animations, and news boadcast.

 

[why06]

WOW!!!!!!<br />That's pretty coool!<br />---I can't wait.I just hope it gets as much publicity as NASCAR.<br /><br />-----It's to frequent the sponsors fail to endorse anything new.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Best of Luck to ya!!!!!!!! (-: <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <div>________________________________________ <br /></div><div><ul><li><font color="#008000"><em>your move...</em></font></li></ul></div> </div>

 

[kdavis007]

Sweet....

 

[scottb50]

There are 700 Long EZ's out there, I would think this kind of race could be done with those as well as the rockets. Racers wouldn't have to stop every four laps either. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[mlorrey]

You don't seem to understand the racing structure: it is like Formula 1 racing, where everyone has the same engine, the same car design, though I believe RRL will allow teams to modify the baseline vehicle, as one of the goals of the RRL is to promote competition as a means of technology enhancement.<br /><br />But the baseline is the EZ-Rocket 2.0, not the Long-EZ, or even the current EZ-Rocket, which has only two 400 lb thrust engines. The new model will have one 1500 lb thrust engine from XCOR.<br /><br />And, no, I doubt that a stock Long-EZ could compete on this race course. While the Long-EZ's top speed matches the expected AVERAGE speeds of this race, you cannot reach the top potential speeds of the EZ airframe with a 1500 lb engine on it. <br /><br />I developed the EZ-Rocket sim in X-Plane for XCOR, so my opinion here has some weight: with only 800 lbs thrust, the EZ-Rocket has to climb at at least a 45 degree angle to keep from exceeding its airframe max speed. The EZ-Rocket 1.0 is way beyond the Long-EZ. The 1500 lb thrust version will be another light year jump again, and will require airframe and wing stiffening. <br /><br />BTW: Anybody that wants a copy of my EZ-Rocket Sim can email me at mlorrey@yahoo.com. I'm charging $15.00 per copy. I will include an additional version that is RRL compliant.

 

[chriscdc]

I think that they said that they would give the teams a baseline vehicle for the first few years, to avoid competitors craft exploding before they had enough experience in building their own engines.

 

[scottb50]

I didn't mean EZ's competing against the rockets. What I meant was an entirely different class. Though I would think you could stick a turbo-fan in just as well as a rocket. Pit stops might offer less excitement though. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[mlorrey]

Ah, well, in that case, I agree with you. Ideally I'd like to see a turbo-ramjet class or ram-ejector class, as these multi-mode engines are the area that needs more development and commercialization, IMHO.<br /><br />It is unfortunate that, 50 years after ramjet vehicles like the X-10, Navaho, BOMARC proved the high speed and range capabilities of ramjets that we don't see greater use of them.<br /><br />The Long-EZ aircraft itself has a large and dedicated following with their own events. I don't think a race of these aircraft on TV would be nearly as exciting as the Reno air races that already go on annually, or as exciting as the RRL will be. I do wish, though, that the EZ had more fuel capacity. In its current configuration, peak altitude is under 10k feet.

 

[spacefire]

can you include an unlimited-time copy of X-Plane with your sim? <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>http://asteroid-invasion.blogspot.com</p><p>http://www.solvengineer.com/asteroid-invasion.html </p><p> </p> </div>

 

[mcbethcg]

My bet:<br /><br />It won't get enough interest to be viable.

 

[why06]

Since they are already talking about doing lap races is it also possible that a drag race competition might take place for high speed rockets! <br /><br />also isn't it possible that space companies would sponsor these vehicles.<br /><br /><br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <div>________________________________________ <br /></div><div><ul><li><font color="#008000"><em>your move...</em></font></li></ul></div> </div>

 

[mlorrey]

"can you include an unlimited-time copy of X-Plane with your sim? "<br /><br />heh, no. I could provide an unlicensed demo version of the software, but you'd get a castrated version (allows five minutes of flight at a time) with few other aircraft. The full sim is two CD's, and getting all Earth and Mars high res topography takes up another four CD's.<br /><br />I'm working on putting my X-Plane custom planes site back together. I've decided to specialize in spaceship/rocketplane vehicles. I'll probably put up a version of my X-106 once that is done as well.

 

[rubicondsrv]

It is now on 1 DVD <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[mlorrey]

Sure, but I'm not burning to DVD, given the price of DVD-R disks these days. Which reminds me: I need to upgrade my X-Plane. I'm on v 7.0.

 

[rubicondsrv]

will you be offering xplane 8 versions of your aircraft?<br />when/if you do. I may be interested. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[mlorrey]

Yeah, I'm going to upgrade this week.

 

[josh_simonson]

>is it also possible that a drag race competition might take place for high speed rockets! <br /><br />That'd be a lot more useful than flying rocket powered aircraft around a bunch of poles. The competition should be for max speed with a certain weight limit, or just max speed period - with no engine restrictions. That'd encourage folks to compete all the way up to orbital velocities, with high-isp engines. <br /><br />The X-prize cup may work it's way in this direction...

 

[scottb50]

Put the course on the heads-up display, for the pilots and more elaborate graphics for viewers. I doubt it would be much of a live spectator sport though. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[rocketman5000]

Bi modal engines similiar to those in the GTX are the only real way of getting a single stage to orbit with an appreciable payload. The understanding is there, maybe if someone bought the technology like happened to Vasimr things might move forward.