Race History

The History of the President's Trophy Air Race

ONE OF THE MOST PRESTIGIOUS AIR RACES IN THE WORLD

The Governor-General's CupThis Air Race, one of the most prestigious events on the aviation calendar, has a long and wonderful history. It was originally known as the Governor General's Cup Air Race and was first held in 1937. The cup was originally presented by the then governor General of South Africa, His Excellency The right Honourable Sir Patrick Duncan, G.C.M.K.C. The trophy, which is still in the possession of Aero Club, was manufactured in Sheffield, England by Mappin & Webb Ltd at a cost of approximately £750. More Images of the Trophy

The event was organized to coincide with the opening of Durban's new airport at Stamford Hill. The winners were W H Hulett and R Coull flying a Hornet Moth and the route being from Durban via Ladysmith to Rand for an overnight stop before returning to Durban via Bloemfontein, Kimberley and Bethlehem. The team averaged 120.3 mph.

Durban again had the honour of being the starting and finishing point for the following year's race. well known Durban hotelier Carl Erasmus, who only qualified for his pilot's license the month before, finished first - also in the Hornet Moth, ZS-AOT, - but was disqualified on a technicality. The race was given to JJ Oosthuizen of Klerksdorp, who flew a Hornet Moth, ZS-AKG, at an average speed of 119,5 mph.

With war clouds hanging ominously on the horizon, the 1939 race was from Durban to Matatiele - Aliwal North - Kimberley(night stop) - Rand - Ladysmith and back to Durban. E U B (Usher) Biderley was the winner in Lord Wakefield's "Double Eagle" at an average speed of 159,4 mph. During the war he was awarded 2 DFC's (British and American). 9th in that race was Hornet Moth, ZS-AOA. This aircraft is
airworthy and still flying in the USA as N74EC, and is still carrying its original South African registration marks.

Hornet Moth - ZS-AOAIt was not until 1954 that the Governor General's cup Race was held again, and was won by a young SAAF pilot 2nd Lt BM Fletcher with an average speed of 194 mph in a SAAF Harvard, Lt Fletccer was killed a week later when the Vampire Jet aircraft in which he was practising aerobatics immediately prior to the opening of Louis Botha Airport, crashed.

In 1957, the race started at Wonderboom and went on to Witbank - Vrede - Dundee and Durban to Ladysmith - Bethelehem and Kroonstad - Baragwanath. The upper winds in the Berg area were so strong that several aircraft failed to clear the escarpment and had to turn back. The only Tiger Moth to complete the course was flown by DG van Staden who was awarded a special trophy. The winner of the event was R O Fletcher, flying a Bonanza (178 mph).

List of Competitors - 1962 program. Click to enlarge
P Nieman is technically still the holder of the Governor General's Cup as it was he who won the last race for that trophy held in 1961. In 1962 President Swart, the new head of state, presented the State Presidents Trophy to the Aero Club. This trophy has become a much sought after piece of hardware in the flying community. The race was affectionately known as the "SP" has been held all around the country with aircraft flying to points right across South Africa. Apart from a few breaks the Race has been held on an annual basis, normally in May or early June of each year. A list of winners is maintained here

The format of the race has changed over the years. When it started it was run over a period of two days covering 1 000 statute miles (1 600 km or 863 nautical miles)and all of the four provinces (Cape, Orange Free State, Transvaal and Natal).In 1983 the format was changed and the race consisted of two triangular routes starting and finishing in Vanderbijlpark. The routes were approximately 400nm and took the competitors to Volksrust and Bothaville on day one and to Warrenton and Delareyville on day two. Since 1983 this format has been maintained but the distance has been shortened to approximately 300nm per day for safety reasons. When possible, on the second day, the course forms a bow-tie shape so that the aircraft pass the start/finish halfway through the race to add spectator value.

While there are a number of pilots that have been part of the winning crew more than once, only one team has won the event twice. Mike and Jean van Ginkel won the event in 1969 and 1971 in their Piper PA-30 Twin Commanche, ZS-EVB.

In 1994 the race was renamed the President's Trophy Air Race so that the title of the head of state is in line with the new Constitution of the country. All else remains the same, the excitement, the camaraderie, the spirit and the excitement around the country is a feeling that is very special and difficult to explain to someone who has not yet done it.

Race Rules and Regulations

These Rules and Regulations were approved by the Committee of the South African Power Flying Association in January 2011 and apply to the organisation of 2011 President's Trophy Air Race and all future races.

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Supplimentary rules - 2011	110.82 KB

2011 President's Trophy Air Race

The 2011 President's Trophy Air Race was be hosted by the Beauchamp-Proctor Flying Club at Mafikeng International Airport from 26 to 29 May 2011.

The winners were William Devine and Carina Bekker in ZS-KPU, an Aero Commander 500-B.
President's Trophy handed to winners

■ Refer to the attached articles for a report on the event - thanks to SA Flyer

■ Full results now available with leg by leg times

2010 President's Trophy Air Race

Isn’t amazing how the years fly by quicker than a turbo charged Lancair as we get older. Just finished the President’s Trophy Air Race 2009 in Bloemfontein and, as we were catching our breath, we found ourselves in Rustenburg getting ready for the PTAR 2010.

This one was special in its own way as has been the case for every PTAR from time immemorial. Albert de Witte compiled a Gant chart to manage the team and make sure it was all done on sched-ule. I am however glad that he could read the chart. The week leading up to the event was fraught with the potential for disaster. A few days before the event the parking areas were flooded by the exceptional rain and there was a very real threat of having too little fuel. There were panic calls asking “How far from the runway can you park an aircraft?” “How much taxi way it takes to park 100 aircraft?” With tempers frayed to the point where people were snapping at each other like rabies infested dogs, Albert coaxed his committee to greater and greater achievements than even they thought possible.

When the competitors arrived to an efficient registration process managed by Denise Spencer-Scarr they had no idea how much had gone on behind the scenes. Everything was running like clockwork.

The routine of the PTAR has now settled. Arrive and test fly on Thursday. Prompt to the point briefings held in a way only Robin Spencer Scarr can. Race on Friday. More briefings. Race on Saturday and then attend a magnificent Banquet in the evening. All this is interspersed with a great deal of banter, camaraderie and aviation talk.
The first route planned was great route but it went to many game farm strips, then we tried to find the owners and get permission. Onto route 2. By now the maps had been ordered so choice was limited. Then onto route 3 which was too long, version 4 had too many open cast mines...... Eventually all the route planners finalised the task on the 6th version. A lovely route which had a mountain range parallel to the track, so do you fly on the upwind side, and cross as late as possible. On the day however, the wind was not a factor and those who flew the straightest track had the best advantage.

Day 1 was a challenging course and good planning was rewarded. On the other hand bad planning saw a number of competitors penalised for flying too high over the Thabazimbi turning point. The results for the day showed how accurate the handicaps are becoming. Just less than fifty air-craft aircraft were within two minutes of their handicap.

Day 2 proved that you can believe the SAWS. The forecast wind showed that there was a unique weather condition that allowed competitors to fly the entire course without any head wind. Logger analysis has proved that the forecaster had it spot on. Those that did not follow his advice were disappointed. This condition obviously played right into the hands of the slower competitors. The course followed the usual bow tie configuration to give the spectators something to watch. As usual navigation was a bit easier as the crews could follow the “aluminium highway”

Eventual winners were Mary de Klerk and Barry de Groot followed closely by John Sayers and Jack Coetzee in second and Arne Badenhorst and Terri Meyer in third. The winning margin was 1 minute with less than a minute to third place.

It is with sympathy and regret that we record the deaths of Werner Blignaut and Cronje Erasmus, who died during this year’s President’s Trophy Air Race. These are the first fatalities we have had at a SAPFA event in its 73 year history, and hopefully the last.

Now on to President’s Trophy Air Race 2011 in Mafikeng.

2009 President's Trophy Air Race

Neels van Deventer and Solly Pretorius, flying a Cessna 172D, are the winners of the 2009 Suzuki President’s Trophy Air Race, one of the premier events on the South African aviation calendar.

The Gauteng-based duo pipped the Cessna 182P of Fabian Cairns and Wade Gomes to the post after a closely contested battle that saw adverse conditions and strict handicaps put many of the fancied crews out of contention. Third place went to the Lancair 360 of Dave Mandel and Rod Crichton.

For Van Deventer and Pretorius, who fly out of the Kitty Hawk airfield near Pretoria, it was a dream debut in what is generally considered the toughest air race on the calendar.

“We were a bit shaky on day one in the turbulence, and even struggled to find the turning point at Barkley East, but we still managed to come in third, a jubilant Van Deventer said afterwards.

“As the slowest competitor, we started first on day two, and managed to cross the line in second place. The win came as a complete surprise.”

The race, which is run on a handicap system that allows different aircraft to compete on an equal basis, attracted a record entry of 113 aircraft, of which 104 were classified as finishers.

Despite the testing conditions, with strong winds and turbulence over the mountains near Barkley East, there were relatively few incidents.

Perhaps the most serious of these was the forced landing of Lisa Mandel and Alewyn Burger, when their Van’s RV6 suffered a prop separation. Mandel executed a perfect touchdown on a mountain plateau, and the crew escaped unhurt.

Meanwhile, Tienie and Chris Prinsloo, flying a Mooney M20G, circled above the landing site to ensure the RV6 crew was okay, and also relayed the co-ordinates of the forced landing site to the race organisers.

Their gesture cost them any chance of a race win – the intrepid crew still managed a creditable eighth place on day two, but were classified 99th on the overall results sheet.

Conditions on day one were particularly treacherous, with the strong headwinds on the inbound leg hampering the slower, less powerful aircraft, while the turbulence over the mountains made flying adventurous, to say the least.

Douw Wentzel, navigating for Arnie Lowes in their Cessna T206H, got caught out by the rough conditions, and ended up in hospital with a suspected back injury after the aircraft hit an air pocket.

The second day brought cold and frost, but also much better flying weather, and the air traffic control at Tempe had their work cut out to set off the hundred-plus aircraft at sometimes extremely close intervals.

After a total of 637,8 nautical miles and two days of flying, the finish was desperately close, with Van Deventer and Pretorius, 10 min 24 sec ahead of their handicap time, while close rivals Cairns and Gomes beat their handicap time by 9 min 40 sec.

Even closer was the third placed finish, with the Mandel/Crichton Lancair gaining 9 min 18 sec on its handicap time.

“The close competition and the spirit of camaraderie at this year’s Suzuki President’s Trophy Air Race not only made for one of the best races in years,” said Francois van Eeden, the company’s national marketing manager. “It also vindicated Suzuki Auto SA’s decision to back what must rate as one of the top aviation events in the country.

“We would like to salute all the air crews who competed for making this year’s race a memorable one, while race director Kassie Kasselman and his team deserve a big round of applause for a job well done,” Van Eeden concluded.

Suzuki Press release

2008 President's Trophy Air Race

Vliegkoors, The Meercat and PTAR 2008

A Participant's Story of the Race - by George Brink

As usual vliegkoors ran high leading up to the 2008 Presidents Trophy Air Race to be held at Witbank from 28 to 30 May 2008. Doctors orders were, 1 dose of PTAR and the vliegkoors should subside for another year. Our entry was in, in Jan literally minutes after entries opened, but Murphy would play a huge role in this year’s annual PTAR pilgrimage…

External pressure prevented the usual pre race training and as a result of a couple of small niggles & minor snags (or so I thought) we decided to get the C182RG in for some TLC (and maybe extra kt or 2) well in advance for the race….

The dreaded AMO bomb dropped after a week of inspections and it appeared that said aerie needed a top O/H and some AD/SB’s appeared to have been done, but not entered in log book…. No problem still 4 weeks to go to air race and top would only take 5-8 days to resolve it all. To cure Vliegkoors - DO IT. As contingency I tried to arrange alternative aerie for PTAR. Seems PTAR is a 4 letter word. I got some very interesting reposes from aerie owners and flight school who were not in the least bit interested in letting PPL with 40 years experience, 8 PTAR’s and 1000+hrs on type loose on their babies. Never mind, managed to convince fellow Avcommer to let us use his 206, provided we arrange insurance. Problem came in when it came to light that said pilot had last flown any other aircraft, never mind other type in the early 80’s, so we abandoned the H&F option. Only option MUST GET RG READY IN TIME..

Following numerous calls to keep the pressure on the boys, the whole plane was back together on the 20th May at 3pm. Quick call to arrange lift down to Bfn to collect….. Phew, cutting it fine, but we are a go…. And Vliegkoors was once again running high.

NOT… Somewhere along the line a seal had broken in the prop hub and gone undetected. When AMO fired it up, engine was sweet, but oil everywhere…Now we needed a prop o/h to be done in 5 days…. .. Called every prop shop in country… Eventually found guys at Rand who guaranteed 1 day turnaround. AMO agreed to work as required and on Tuesday morning the prop was back in Bfn. Booked schedule down to Bfn and was off to collect plane – Vliegkoors running high. While sitting on the plane at Ollie Tambo, I got a call from AMO to say that a bracket holding nose wheel on had collapsed on Taxi out for test flight – NO CHANCE OF FLIGHT and even Cessna in USA had no $tock of $aid bracket..…

As I was already on the apron I went to FATP to inspect the plane. AMO was right, no chance we could risk nose wheel collapse, prop strike and shock load especially since we just spent a fortune on o/h, and prop… It seemed we were destined to miss PTAR for the first time in 7 years…..

My long suffering Pilot was not keen to ride shotgun in the Tandem RV4 (Meercat) and the cost of Avgas meant the Albat was out. Quick call to SAPFA boys to confirm they would not let me fly alone in the Meercat, left me calling everyone I knew over 16 who could just sit in back for me. Posted on Avcom, Microlighters and emailed whole address book. Got offers from people I have not seen in 20 years just to ride in back. Amongst the calls was a call from my cousin’s brother in law who was a fresh comm. student. His pilot had dropped him at last minute and he needed a pilot. He had Jab 430 arranged, but that was now at AMO with sticky valve. I had taken the Meercat to Placo to have brakes o/h when AMO called to say RG would be ready, so that was still in pieces. Call to Joe way after bedtime and he assured me I would have brakes and plane by 3pm on Wed (less than 24hrs before race)…. It was a frantic 24hrs wherein I went from Navigator on C182RG, to Pilot on J430 to Pilot on RV4 provided it was ready…. I had to arrange back seat (removed to make space for scooter) & spats (which I remove due to rough field ops) from Vryburg, get back to Jhb by 4pm to collect RV, test fly and report for test flying in Witbank.
During the drive back to Jhb, we confirmed that Team Meercat would be the entrant and that Jerry would meet me in Witbank. Arrived at Rand at 3ish for test flight only to witness a hell of a storm and no test flight was possible. Not having a hangar to work in, I went home to try to pack and get some sleep.

Thursday morning 7am I was at Rand to fit seat, and spats. Problem. Spats had been sent but without any screws, so after wait for spares shop to open, and frantically trying to match the threads we were back in business.

Thursday Briefing

Time 10am. I was to deliver some computer equipment to the handicap comm. early Thursday for use with the loggers, which were now obviously late. So pressing on we were finally airborne off 35 at Rand. I had never flown the RV any great distance at full tilt without GPS as I have a combo KLX135A and it has just always been on. Even if not set, it always gives ground speed and heading… I had not had a chance to get compass swing done or even test fly using only the “steam gauges”, so I decided to route via Heidelberg and Secunda just to get a feel for it. It was a huge eye opener. Viz was not great due to smoke and at 170+kts the 1:250 was too big for the small cockpit… I sort of found Heidelberg and Secunda, but the latter only once I was almost overhead… This was going to be a hit and miss affair, but a bad day in the cockpit is still far better than a good day at work. Given the events of the past couple days I was just happy to be there at all.

Arriving at Witbank was an experience. I had not been to Witbank in 15 years (my one and only visit) since my dual X-Country Dual Nav. On radio there were pilots complaining that the GPS said they were overhead, but that they did not have field visual. I had similar experience and was cleared down to 5500ft by ATC but still did not have the field visual at 2nm… Finally I saw the tents and other aeries and joined left downwind.

Arrival was organised and we had marshals on quads directing us to parking spaces. Scrutineering & refuel was done almost immediately and once I had unloaded all the equipment we were off for the test flight. GPS had already been “blocked” so it was difficult to gauge speed as at alt the ASI under reads significantly. I had once before flown in short Brits Air race and handicap at that event was 174kts, so was expecting similar… Logger back and I test flew the 3remaining RV’s in the race.

Brief note on test flights.
They are done in race configuration, thus balls to the wall, no flaps, gills or other dangly bits in the wind. A new trend is reflex flaps and these are set full “up” if applicable. Altitude and heading must be maintained and the tests this year were flown at between 5500 and 6000ft. Below an e.g. of a typical test flight logger result.

The logger result is then fed into a computer and a logger handicap speed is calculated based on actual performance on the day.

Thursday was a blur of flying and running between office and aeries and when I finally made it to the beer tent, I was made to pay for my absence earlier in the day. Luckily before all hell broke loose we were summoned to the Briefing tent.

Friday would see us go to Nylstroom, Selati River Bridge, Lydenburg and back to Witbank. A distance of 334.12 nm. The WX man reported that viz would be significantly better and winds were light NW if any at all. Following the usual safety, start and general info briefings we departed for the “tent” to discuss tactics….. Following said tactical discussions we headed for the hotel to draw the lines. We commandeered the conference hall and began cutting and pasting in earnest along with our 3 fellow teams and 3 others. Selati posed some problems with 3 different bridges being offered as the correct one. Following serious negotiations and head scratching we managed to agree on 1 and hoped for the best. The following day’s flying would be interesting to say the least, with a long lowish leg to Nylstroom followed by some mountainous terrain on the return via Selati and Lydenburg…. There were not as many landmarks as I would have liked and Selati would be a tough TP. In the past we had flown to towns or runways and thus these were usually easier to find than some arb bridge in the middle of nowhere, as Hoedspruit approach was to find out the next day…

We got the 7am wakeup call from our intrepid leader who had been up since 5, “confirming calc’s, headings and distances”…. He was a wreck due to slight navigational mishap in 2007 resulting in a long period of temporarily not being 100% sure of their exact location and was out to make amends… Off to the field for a bacon and egg roll, the days briefing and racing. Roll call took on a humorous angle with crews trying to out compliment the race director in hope of an extra couple kts…

Once the final start times and handicaps were issued, the usual handicap bitching and moaning was the order of the day, but given our 172.22kts for the first time in 7 years I was not one of those… Suddenly our race changed from a “we just here to have a good time brigade to we have a real chance!!!”. At the handicap speed allocated we had a real chance for a top 10 finish and given my best performance to date was 29th in my first race when we did not know what we were doing and were all over the place this was going to be a new experience for me…

I rushed off to the plane to polish, clean and strategise while the Navi went off in search of the magic black (or white actually) box – the GPS logger which tells all. While I was feverishly applying the last drop of an oversize Mr Min tin to the leading edge, my Navi nervously pointed out that he had not yet sat in the plane and looking at it he did not think his 6ft 2 frame would fit…. In all the excitement on Thursday I had forgotten to see if he could fit and then if he did fit if he could even see anything, never mind navigate out the back.. So in he went and lo and behold the canopy would not close with him in and headset on. No problem we still had 55mins to take off… and after some minor mods we lowered the seat sufficiently for him to fit and we were a go. The 1:500K map was the perfect fit as well. Things were all falling into place…

Day 1 logger track - Race 103Around us the engines were roaring as the twins departed. We were placed between an RV7 and a Bonnie, and duly joined the line for take off. Just in front of the RV7 was the Albat and given the sheer size of the machine we would have a nice sighter up ahead until they pulled away, but I did not fancy the slipstream of the 680 horses, so the start was a bit of a shambles for us as we positioned on the run up area well back and clear of the prop wash while the Albat ran up against the brakes on the start line. Once they released, we rushed up to the line behind the other RV and before I could even run up against the brakes the lights went green… Before we had a chance to get settled, the race was on. The RV ahead elected to go high, while we stayed lower and was soon out of sight. The Albat was ahead and we got ourselves orientated. I had forgotten to align the DI to runway on the line due to rush and it was off somewhat. Never mind, what Rally and precision had taught me was to follow the map. DI causes confusion in any case. (Or so they say)

We were about to find out that navigation in a small tandem is all about communication. The cockpit is not big enough to allow pilot to turn or navigator to lean past to point out features on the map. Given my first language is English and my navigators is Afrikaans the Englikaans interspersed with fluent Swahili was entertaining and eventually proved to be successful. Between “gaan just links of that titti to right of daai toring not daai F… toring” we pressed on. Due to the relatively low altitude the performance of the Meercat was superb and I was seeing numbers on the MAP gauge I had never seen before. Our time was good and by the time we got to Nylstroom we were almost on time and had overtaken the Albat. Turning at Nylstroom we sighted 2 other aircraft, ahead and set our sights on them…

We elected to stay low as it seemed to work for us on the last leg and a fire at Nylstroom seemed to indicate that even a couple 1000ft up the wind was too light to justify a climb. This in hindsight proved to be possibly our only mistake of the race. We were consistently left of track on this leg, but it was the first time in the race I had actually “caught” anyone from behind and looking at the Seneca in front of us, it looked like we may catch another… I got sidetracked and focussed on the Seneca rather than the headings and we drifted as much as 2 or 3 miles left of track. Once I had got over the excitement of catching the Seneca and aided by 1 times snot klap to the side of the head from my Navi I put the Seneca out of my mind and focussed on the headings and the hill approaching fast. As we climbed, another shortcoming of the tandem (low wing) setup raised its head. The higher we went the less my Navi could see out the back, so navigation at alt was proving to be a problem. Overhead Mogodi we realised that we were ±3 miles left of track, so given that his viz downwards, and immediately ahead was minimal and I had no map we elected to hug the contours of the countryside where possible and rather fly lower (and in theory more accurately) than higher.. During all this fun and Games the Albat had managed to sneak by us at high alt and we were once again trying to play catch up. Given our contour hugging strategy we stated our decent from 7000ft into Selati at great speed down the valley and I had to come off the power to remain below indicated VNE for most of the decent. It was during this “mineshaft decent” past the tittie on the left that my Navi earned the Mine Shaft Trophy… Needless to say the roll bar became the hold on bar and little navigation was done until we turned overhead Selati….

2008 PTAR Race 103: George Brink preparing the MeercatThe radio was starting to fill with chatter and Hoedspruit was trying to raise a competitor who had wandered 40nm east and was into Hoedspruit’s CTR. Once they were raised Hoedspruit made the fatal mistake of vectoring them to Selati and within minutes the radio waves filled with similar requests for vectors to Selati. One schedule commented that his TCAS must be U/S as he had multiple low level bogeys, far too many, to all be aircraft…

Returning to the race, after turning over Selati at below 3000ft we were forced to climb back to 6500ft clear the mountains and suddenly all this looked familiar. We had flown from Tzaneen to Lydenburg in PTAR 2004 and surprisingly I was able to identify many of the landmarks and soon enough Lydenburg appeared on the nose. We had once again made up significant ground on the Albat and turned just below them at Lydenburg. Heading for home appeared to be into some wind and given our limited Navi viz we elected to stay low again. The albat was now pulling away from us and navigation features were limited. We had a brief encounter with a Bell 206 near Middleburg who was a bit taken aback by all these fixed wings at Heli altitude, but soon enough Witbank appeared on the nose. Through the gate and land behind the Albat. Given out stopwatch time we guestimated we had made up about a minute on our time (but it appears that we were also late in starting the stopwatch at the start) as we had in fact made up 2mins 35 seconds.

Following the flight it was off to the pub for the customary comparisons of war stories and the decent into Selati seemed to be high on all’s agenda… Review of the logger file shows we did 198kts ground speed going into Selati at reduced power….. Every now and again a big engine would roar over and all would run out to see who it was…

The afternoon was spent plotting the next day’s bowtie route. Witbank to Rooikraal, to St Michaels, overhead Witbank, to Bela Bela, right to Power lines and back to Witbank a distance of 310.57nm. Again a couple of innocuous turn points at Rooikraal and power lines which would be interesting if you arrived and the aluminium highway was not ahead to show you the way…

The evenings briefing focussed on safety, weather and the different Start lights… After the briefing provisional result were published and we had managed to squeak into 4th position 15 seconds behind the Hoes n Peop (C337) and a further minute behind a C182. The C210 was over 5 mins ahead and failing a major mishap the race was his to loose. Very excited we retreated to the Hotel for dinner to strategise. The strategy session did not last long as there was little or nothing we could do any differently. High alt was a no no given the navigation and thus we were left with go low and fast and hope for the best….

Sat was similar procedure to Friday and following the 8:30 briefing we discussed the route and our chances of making up a position to finish on the podium. The 210 was a country mile ahead and realistic chances of making up more than 5 mins were not likely, but the other 2 ahead were definitely in our sights. We made a note of their race numbers to monitor their progress in front of us.

Race 103 - ZU-RVFWe had a nice gap before launch on the start behind the all girl team and used the extra time to set the DI to runway heading and run up against the brakes. Green light and we were a go. Start on day 2 was a much more organised exercise from our perspective and we blasted off down the runway with Bonnie and RV7A in sight. We climbed slightly to try to use forecast wind, but navigation again become tough and we set up for a slow 200ft a min decent to improve Navi Viz. Overhead the Rooikraal we passed the RV7A and again we were forced to climb for the higher ground to St Michaels. Again review of the logger track reveals a bit of a snail trail as soon as we climbed. This leg was tough. There were limited landmarks and no other aeries to follow. Navi kept his head and we managed to hit his hotspots 100%. Nearing St Michaels we saw the other RV7 come from wide right and turn overhead right on the nose. Turning for Witbank we went low into the wind and passed a significant number of planes. We now started focussing on the Hoes & Poep’s race number. They had turned about 2 mins ahead at Rooikraal and roughly the same at St Michaels. When they called 2mins out of Witbank it was down to 45 seconds. Overhead Witbank the sky filled with aeries and it must have been a sight to behold from the ground.. Setting course for Bela Bela we were well and truly on the aluminium highway. There were 15+ aeries above, below and ahead of us and we were catching them all.. It was hugely exciting. Nearing Bela Bela we sighted the Hoes N Poep and it was a foot race to the TP. We were left of track and they were right and we were on course to meet overhead. We turned almost together and headed out for power lines. After the sky being filled with aeries for so long it was eerie to turn at Bela Bela and not have a single aircraft in sight. The wind favoured a climb so even though we had viz issues, the 20kt wind was too much to ignore. Again we went for a fast climb to 7000ft and then a gradual decent to improve the viz. Logger again shows the snail trail with altitude. Nearing the TP we started picking up aeries again and just before the TP we passed the Turbo Arrow, which was a couple places behind us on Day 1. The Albat was also closing fast and now less than 1 min behind.

Team MeercatSimilarly rounding out after the turn at Power lines the sky was empty and the land was flat. We drifted 2-3miles left of track and did not see many aircraft. We made a large correction West of Groblersdal and we were back on track. Rounding a small koppie suddenly we were back on the highway. Switching to Witbank freq, we heard the 210 call 2mins out. We were at least 4 mins out and the race was on for 2nd. Navi chucked the maps in the back and started scanning the sky for aeries ahead. There were none and we had not seen any of the 182’s yet…. We called 2 mins out with 4 other aeries, but we could not see any of them. Witbank came into sight and we heard 210 call overhead, followed by another and another. (the other 2 turned out to be guy’s overhead the bowtie). Well 4th was a good result. When we passed overhead the field, we were cleared to land no 2 to the 210 on finals? Awesome feeling to be overhead the finish with not a single aerie on the ground.

Excitement was too much and on landing I almost totalled the aerie, but managed to wheeler the 4th bounce and almost stay on the runway. We parked next to the C210 and congratulated Eugene & Steyn as well as the other top 5 finishers. The 210 crew had dominated the race from start to finish and were deserving winners. We had managed to make up a further 2 places, sneak onto the podium and gained a further 1min 17seconds on our handicap on the day.

The afternoon as spent in the beer tent, reliving the events of the last couple hrs….

The evening gala event was slightly disappointing, while very glamorous, the venue did not lend itself to the function at hand. Colin Jordaan made a thought provoking speech and the CAA seems to be in good hands. Robin was again on song and the trophies were handed out in double quick time. Dix Voster entertained the gathering as only he can.

All in all I think a most successful event and we had so much fun both in and out of the air that it should really be illegal. Every year I am reminded of fellow RV driver Jan Hanekom’s apt description of PTAR. “It the most fun you can have with your headset on!” and I agree 100%. I hope to see all the SAPFA boys and gals in Bfn next year…. Vliegkoors will once again be running high and 1 dose of PTAR is exactly what the doctor ordered…(and I can’t wait…).

2007 President's Trophy Air Race

Article by Robin Spencer-Scarr, Pictures by Dirk de Vos & Chris Breet

Race 81 – Quinton Warne and Lloyd McKayThe morning was crisp, clear and freezing cold. The nervous energy on the Klerksdorp Airfield could be felt miles away as the sound of more than 100 aero engines combined with the smell of burning Avgas heralded the arrival of the contestants on their way to do battle in the skies of the North West Province.

As Thursday grew older the Klerksdorp Pilots Association members changed into top gear and began the onerous task of ground marshalling, parking and refuelling over 100 aircraft.

It is always an impressive sight to see so many brightly polished planes ranging from the tiniest little Pipistrel to the huge and ungainly Albatross. Now we know that all things beautiful fly but there can be no doubt that the new little “plastic” planes like the Lancairs, Sambas and the ever popular Jabirus stand out amongst the prettiest.

Handicap Team: Dirk de Vos, Ann White and Chester ChandlerWhilst the future looks “plastic“ it is still soothing to see the old favourites like Piper, Mooney and Cessna returning to push the envelope again. The most exciting to race and to watch however, still remain the heavy metal twins that go by the name of Baron and Seneca who were hunted down and beaten this year by the sleek and stunningly fast Aerostar.

Thursday also saw a small queue of handicap queries that were left over from those who had not already made arrangements for a test flight by e-mail. It was generally agreed that having the handicaps published as early as possible eliminated almost all the last minute queries. The aim of the PTAR committee will be to publish them even earlier next year.

The test flights were quickly and efficiently affected and the results passed through the hands of the handicap committee and the jury and communicated to the competitor. The last laugh in many cases was how many of those who complained that their handicaps were too high wound up getting higher handicaps for the race. There were absolutely no complaints in these instances because the logger tracks and figures as they were presented could not be disputed and most of the comments heard were jovial and light hearted.

Day 1 Take-off

Friday morning saw the pre-dawn temperature at minus 4 degrees. The air was thick and the wind sock looked like an old piece of cloth snagged on a barbed wire fence. The azure blue of the sky was only faintly broken by just a hint of stratus that looked to be easily at 30 000 feet. This was going to be a good day.

Heavy metal – Race 40 Gary and Andries
Briefing again and very few queries brought the meeting quickly to a close with everyone scrambling to get their steeds fired up, warmed up and ready to roll. The ground marshals did a sterling job to get every competitor out of his parking bay and onto the taxiway toward the starting blocks where Nellis Nel performed a magic trick with the dragster type lighting tree.

All but one got off the ground safely to put their heads down and go balls to the wall around the 320 odd mile course. The one who slipped up was as a result of a comedy of errors starting with the team leaving their aircraft keys in their hire car that had gone off to town. When they had recovered their keys, they found their Baron had a flat battery and couldn’t find jumper leads. When they found jumper leads they found their baggage compartment that housed the battery was jammed closed and they had to almost dismantle the nose of the aeroplane to get to it. At this point they must have been thinking that somebody must have been plotting against them.

Only two participants failed to make the finish in the allotted time. One because a rough running engine made them decide to land at Lichtenburg and the other because they became “temporarily unsure of their position” and also landed at Lichtenburg. Conspiracy? Will we ever know?

One of the oldest competitors – 1957 modelThe end of Day One brought some interesting results with only four handicap changes being necessary. This is considered a record as history shows that the race has traditionally seen a multitude of changes that became a great source of irritation to the competitors and embarrassment to the organizers. Of the four changes, two were test flown again and two were changed on historical data. The day’s race also only saw two exclusions for missed turn points.

Day Two dawned with the nervous tension expected from a field of highly strung pilots and nervous navigators. The wind had picked up during the night blowing across the runway from left to right at about 10 knots. The creases on the Safety officer’s brow relaxed a little when the met man confirmed that the tail wind component was only about 3 knots and dropping.
Ready Steady GO! …. and a myriad of Lycoming, Continental and Rotax engines roared into harmonious life. Now the interesting bit started as there were starting times down to 6 seconds apart which is quite nerve-wracking for most pilots but absolutely intimidating for the newbie’s. It might be interesting to note that the handicaps and day 1 performance had put 70 aircraft within 7 minutes of each other. Obviously an ATC’s nightmare.

Lining UpBut, as the saying goes, they all made it into the air safely and after a steep turn they were on track again the only difference this time was that they could see the competition around them.

The race progressed well with the only unfortunate incidents being last year’s race winner having to land at Potchefstroom with a rough running engine and a C210 being skilfully parked in the Koppies Dam. Nobody was hurt in any way (other than egos of course). We eagerly await the report to see what actually happened.

The winner was a most surprised young C172 driver who kept saying he couldn’t believe it and that he’d spent the entire race looking over his shoulder for someone to pass him. He was Donovan Bailey who flew with navigator Oliver McLoed Smith in Race 53.

In number two spot was the very clean Aztec that obviously spent the entire race flying down a mineshaft in order to achieve the fantastic performance he did.

Number three was a very pretty Cirrus (Race 91) that was well flown and navigated by the team of Dirk and Marc.

There are a great deal of positives that came out of this weekend. First and foremost it is obvious that the handicaps are getting better and better. Whilst Chester and his team did another sterling job, a great deal of the credit must go to the GPS loggers that eliminate most of the old guesswork and brainstorming that had to be done. The test results could be proven and test/race results were handed to people whilst they were still fresh, sober and in good humour.

Hectic Take-off - Day 2On the negative side the refuelling was a problem (again). A number of bowsers had been arranged but to the dismay of the organisers they all leaked.

It is the objective of SAPFA to give every single competitor a chance to do well no matter what he flies and we will continue striving to fine tune the handicaps on an ongoing basis. We are confident that the loggers will go a long to help us in this endeavour.

SAPFA always says that they want to get 100 aeroplanes over the line at the same time. Well as the handicapping gets better and this goal gets closer it gets a little scary when we think how it would be handled it if they got it right! For this to happen pilots and navigators would have to perform at the optimum speed their aircraft can obtain.

Finally, and probably the greatest achievement this weekend was the fact that it was a happy weekend. People spent the weekend laughing, chatting, sharing war stories and generally having a good time. This is what the President’s Trophy Air Race is all about. Even the last placed competitor must be able to go home with a smile on his face and a happy heart knowing that it was nobody’s fault but his own that he did not perform better and that he will try harder next year It is a competition, but it is also a sport that competitors do for enjoyment. That must never be forgotten.