Most of you I'm sure will never have heard of F3F. Those of you that have, will possibly know that it has something to do with Slope Soaring. Few if any will know that it is in fact a FAI racing class for slope soaring gliders.
When I first became interested in F3F it was described to me as 'a simple task that is difficult to do well'. Essentially, you take your slope soarer and hurl it of a big hill. You climb for height and within thirty seconds of the launch you must enter (at speed) a timed 1km long closed course. The 1km is made up of 10 x 100m legs and nine 180 degree turns. You race against the clock and yours is the only model on the course. The fastest pilot wins 1000 points, penalties aside.
Hopefully throughout the day many rounds are flown and some scores are then dropped. The person with the highest accumulated points total for the event emerges victorious to the acclaim of his fellow competitors. Who am I kidding?
Any glider is eligible provided it weighs less than 5kg and is not bigger than 150dmē area.

What follows is an account of my first ever F3F race at the English teams' Viking Race qualifying event. This was held at the legendary Bwlch in south Wales over a long weekend at the beginning of March. These 1000ft+ high tree-less hills are home to the South Wales Soaring Association who were excellent hosts for the event. The Viking Race itself is a world championship in all but name. Held every two years at a country determined by committee, the VR is the premier event in the F3F calendar. In 1998 it was held on these very hills. As this was the first event that I'd actually got to fly in, it was to be a real baptism of fire!

With the VR entry date looming for the race in Donovaly, Slovakia in August/September 2002 it was decided to try and pick the English team (Wales and Scotland have other arrangements for team selection) at this special three day qualifier.
Whilst I have mentioned that almost any glider is eligible, in practice, and to remain competitive, it is necessary to have a model designed for the purpose. Whilst there are one or two competitors regularly using home brew equipment, most of the pilots use commercially available hollow moulded gliders of between 2.5m and 3.2m span. No Builder of the Model rule here! All have 4 servo wings, all utilise extensive radio mixing facilities and all are very, very strong. Names such as Sting, Pike, Acacia, Ellipse, Tragi, Wizard and so on may be familiar to some of you.

My own weapons of choice had been selected after much deliberation, soul searching and not inconsiderable cost too. They consisted of a shiny new Rudolph Masny designed Acacia 2 F3F from Slovakia, and a Wizard Compact 2x from Milan Janek in Slovakia also.
In the days preceding the event the essential line of communication and mickey taking for budding F3F pilots: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/F3F was buzzing with activity. Mike Shellim the BMFA F3F league co-ordinator had done his best to determine the final numbers and frequencies well in advance of any flying, B&B's were booked and the pub of choice had been determined.

On arrival after a very early start for me on Friday travelling down from Manchester, I arrived to find some 26 pilots and various onlookers huddled in cars at the top of the hill known as Mickeys Slope. I believe it is quite a big hill but it was difficult to tell in the gale force winds, fog and the rain!
The CD for the event Keith Nicholls from the host club delivered the briefing from the warmth of his car whilst we shivered by the window desperately trying to keep ourselves from becoming hypothermic.
In the event, it became clear that the first day would be lost to the weather and some of us headed of to the south coast of Wales for some foamie combat over the sea.
Saturday dawned much brighter and the hills were now clearly visible. However, the wind was gusting to 85mph. Not conducive to good racing. A smattering of foamies were sacrificed to the weather gods and by 2pm the wind had dropped to around a steady 45mph. Still near the upper limit, but we set up the course and the timing gear anyway.
It is essential in an event of this kind that everyone present helps out in some way to expedite the running of the maximum number of rounds. This helps in eliminating the element of 'slot-luck' that can influence the placings if only a few rounds are flown. The assistance one can give ranges from launching, scribing and buzzing (at the turns) right through to CD if you don't step back quickly enough! Anyway, this being my first race I was hoping to get a slot somewhat down the flying order. In the event this wasn't to be the case and I was to be the fifth to fly.

These slopes are a little daunting if you are not used to standing on what amounts to a cliff edge, and Mickeys Slope has seen the F3F world record broken twice quite recently. A combination of both this, and the daunting conditions throughout the day meant that some pilots elected not to compete.
All to soon it was my turn to fly. Kevin Newton the ex world record holder had just exited the course after placing a time of 38.60 seconds. The current world record by the way is 30.80 seconds by Alexis Marachel from France. Just for information you understand! World records in F3F are very dependant on conditions that can sometimes only come along once in a lifetime for some pilots and never for others. I however would be happy just to not crash into the mountain!

Before I knew it the Acacia was in the air. Such a lot to think about now. Camber for climbout or not? Did I ballast it right? Snapflap or not? What type of turn for the conditions? Too late - the off course buzzer has just gone and I've only got 15 seconds to get down and into the race. This lift is ballistic compared to back home! I enter the course still with 2 seconds to go, no matter, the Acacia is really shifting!
Being extremely careful not to drift back behind the safety line and incur a 100 point penalty I'm at the first turn before I'm ready for it. That wastes some time. The top pilots will just shave past this already being fully committed to the turn. A cut however would have meant a turn back and a loss of even more time. I manage to keep the momentum going getting better at judging the turns, and I exit the course at the end of a 46.57 second run. Apparently non too shabby for a first effort.
Now all I've got to do is hike backwards uphill for 200 feet or so to land the Acacia without trashing it in the rotor, then make my way back down to the pits in time to start again.

The racing continued for a total of four rounds. Not an ideal situation but at least the weather held out for us to get in the minimum number of rounds to count as a valid competition. Sunday was a total washout and a sensible decision had us heading homeward by around noon. Some good times were posted in the actual racing. The fastest of the event was 36.84 seconds by Alex McMeekin who won all but one of the rounds also flying an Acacia. There were one or two mishaps but I emerge unscathed at the other side after three days of very enjoyable soaring on some of the best hills in the country with some of the worlds best pilots. The English teams however, would now have to be determined from a combination of this event and the forthcoming league scores. My final position in the trial was 9th and I enjoyed every minute of it.
The hosts, organisers and CDs played a blinder despite the weather and my model set up is now reaping the benefit of its first competition.

Should you be interested in giving F3F a go, check out Mike Shellims website at www.rc-soar.com which will lead you everywhere you need to go. Subscribe to the Yahoogroup at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/F3F and buy yourself the Viking Race 1998 video from Kevin Newton at http://www.knewt.btinternet.co.uk/index.htm or West London Models. This is a pictorial record of one of the most awesome F3F races ever held and is a true one stop shop for all the questions you might have about what F3F Slope Racing entails. Alternatively, simply get to an event near you, and throw your model off the hill in like minded company. It may indeed be a FAI class competition but I guarantee that you will enjoy it as well.

Post Script. The team selection process was finalised at the White Sheet BMFA league event. The final top six and hence the two permitted teams are Alex McMeekin, John Phillips, John McCurdy, Mark Southall, John Bennett and Greg Dakin.
We wish them well in Slovakia.

Andy Ellison.