The Abbeville race weekend marked a turning point for me in Air Racing (bum bum) as I was starting to learn the art of apexing the corners. As the season has a while to go I wont reveal my methods yet until I retire!
A mark of how well you are tracking and getting the apex right is best explained by looking at image 1. In this case we have rectangle course which is in black and this known as "Course Distance". This track is theoretical as we know aircraft have speed so must prescribe the blue track and this is known as the "Optimum Distance" at your handicapped speed. You then go and fly your race - the yellow track, which is known as your "Measured Distance". The main idea is get your measured distance as close to the optimum distance and as close as possible to your handicap speed without going too fast (penalties for speed 1% excess of the field average) - the difference is known as "Excess Distance"
Up until the Sunday race I was averaging about 1.3 nm excess and to win you need to be about 0.4 nm or less from what I've seen.
On the Saturday I flew 0.5nm excess and came 2nd. On the Sunday I flew 0.19nm excess and came 6th (?) mmm suggested to me my handicap speed was a little high. Out of the two races I was most pleased with Sunday because if I could repeat that level of accuracy then a win would surely come?
