Attracting some 20 national teams and hundreds of competitors, making thousands of starts, this event will live in the mind for ever. Liptov's Mokrad airfield, cradled in the beautiful Tatra Mountains formed the crucible for a divine synergy of the Slovak Aero Club and Slovak Army organisation, fronted by the maestro Vasil Pavljuk...space modeller extraordinaire. This piece focuses on the Seniors' contest only. The seven classical Space Modelling disciplines - S1B - Altitude, S3A - Parachute Duration, S4B - Boost Glider, S5B - Scale Altitude, S6A - Streamer Duration, S7 - Scale & S8E - RC Rocket Glider - formed the event suite for the 13th WSMC. What was it like...? S1B - Altitude & S5B - Scale Altitude - Previous 'champs have seen these purest of space modelling disciplines reduced to near farce by the inability of the appointed trackers to mark the flights - would the Armady Slovenskei republiky do any better? About fifteen minutes of the S1B opening round provided the answer, the scorers couldn't write the numbers on the board fast enough...and it got better and better and better - Altitude with attitude... S1B is maybe the ultimate rocket contest - everybody asks "how high do they go?", and this class gives the answer, flown with 500 mm long, 30 mm diameter models - although most fly two-staged with an 18 mm diameter pencil top stage. Only 5 Ns impulse ("B" power) propulsion is allowed and good tracks go to more than 700 m (2.300'). How do the trackers see a fountain pen-sized projectile at this height ? They don't, a fluorescent dye is spooned into the top of the rockets, which is ejected at apogee, leaving a visible splash in the sky. S5B is similar, although the rockets are scale models - often of two-staged sounding rockets - which are judged before flight, with the flight altitude in metres added to the static marks to rank the contestants. S1B big hitters looked like Antonio Mazzaraccchio (ITA), Alexei Koriapin & Maksim Stepanov (RUS), Ross Hironaka (USA) and the Kotuha twins (SVK)...but in the 60 strong field there were plenty of others shooting for stardom in the sky. UK fliers, Verney Montague, Matt O'Brien and Team Manager, Stuart Lodge were set up to nail consistent, reliable tracks. The rate of launches through the three rounds and the near certainty of a score produced a brilliant event - with a popular winner...well done, Slovenia's Joze Cuden... And the UK trio not at all unhappy with 8th spot in Team... Individuals: Teams: S5B lined up some brilliant models in the judging hall - Nike Tomahawks & Cajuns, a couple of Bumpers and several Arianes. The Sergeant Hydac of America's Robert Biedron drew the highest static score... just fantastic! But the phenomenally strong Russian trio of Vladimir Menshikov, Maksim Stepanov & Oleg Voronov - all with Nike Tomahawks - looked capable of bending the sky. Local hero, Jan Kotuha, was well placed following the line up in the hall and flew a shrewd series...a safe single-staged opening boost with his Bumper, followed by a two-stage eye-strainer for the gold. Once more, the trackers were exemplary, the medals awarded so... Individuals: Teams: S3A - Parachute Duration & S6A - Streamer Duration - Maybe the simplest classes in space modelling, but always murderously contested. Flown on minuscule 2,5 Ns ("A" power), using 5 g delivery systems, to ~250 m (700') - the recovery system either an ultra-high performance 750 mm diameter parachute, or a "magic mylar strip" skyhook of a streamer - the classes are flown over three maxed rounds (300 s & 180 s) and provide real action and real chases for the recovery teams. S3A always seems a lottery, 3 x 300 s is a prerequisite for high placing, with the max never a formality; minor 'chute malfunctions haunt even the very best. And the entry was massive and packed with stars...Georgi Georgievski (MAC), Josef Jasso (SVK), Zoran Katanic (JUG) & Rene Leferink (NED), to name only some. The scoring was madness ! ...12 maxing out into fly-off 1, fly-off 2 smelted the metal so, signalling the renaissance of the forgotten man of space modelling - Drago Perc was World Champ in 1992... Individuals: Teams: S6A remains the big teaser - the 180 s max is normally just out of reach. Quite the most fiercely contested class in the book and everybody was on the field for the big one. The Yugoslav trio of Zoran & Radojica Katanic and Zivan Josipovic looked intimidating, Antonio Mazzaracchio always there, Robert Zych (CzR), Igor Stricelj (SLO)...who'd test the podium? Great class... Individuals: Teams: S4B - Boost Glider & S8E-RC Rocket Glider - Space Modelling and Aeromodelling swim together in these classes; S4B models resemble a free flight "chuck glider", S8E gliders a small soarer...but it's the Formula 1 of Silent Flight ! S4B contests are flown under 5 Ns impulse, with some choosing to fly with old style rigid models, but most now plumping for models which fold up for the boost: Many "rigids" now feature wing flaps and variable incidence surfaces. One or two use radio control... Star Slovaks, Stefan Mokran & Michal Zitnan used single channel RC in innovative fold up models - albeit shortly to be consigned to history with 2001 rule changes. No one came close to matching their consistency with free flying models, although many who flew would have won anywhere else. Stefan showed his only frailty in the fly-off, his glider "stripteasing" in the boost, returning as a kit of balsa, leaving one of the world's best all-round space modellers, Michal Zitnan, with an open sky... Individuals: Teams: S8E...often hailed as the Blue Riband event - and often accused of having too much performance and too few objectives. But the afternoon in question was gusty and cool and a sure test of even the great names like David O'Bryan & George Riebesehl (USA), Stefan Mokran, Franz Weissgerber (GER), Arthur Hunziker (SUI) and Jan Pukl (CzR). UK's Nigel Bathe set out with a brace of innovative models and in confident mood. The flying proved much more difficult than usual, with only 4 of 29 pilots making it to fly-off 1...Bathe dropping out of contention after losing his best glider in the low cloudbase in Round 1. A spectacular performance by "Kaiser Franz" sealed it... Individuals: Teams: S7 - Scale - Professional cycling's Paris-Roubais World Cup race is called the Queen of the Classics...but also the "Hell of the North", for the riders' carnage it causes. S7 forms a similar paradox - the finest rocket models on earth...which often dig their own graves! Typical prototypes for this event include, Ariane series 1-4, Soyuz generics, Saturn-1 & Saturn 1Bs...and really very little else. Until this year....America's George Gassaway lined up Space Shuttle "Endeavour" - the marque which flew during the 1992 WSMC in Florida - and it was lovely, until it planted the main fuel tank - ouch! Robert Biedron's Ariane 3 was exquisite, as was the Soyuz-TM of Alexander Levykh (RUS) and Soyuz-T of Arnis Baca (LAT). But there was so much quality in the hall - Pole Marcyn Bielecki & Wojciech Krzywinski's Saturn 1B prototypes, Slovak Mikulas Szabo's Ariane 4...which would do enough on the field!? And the answer was...not enough of them, either for the satisfaction of spectators, or the good of space modelling generally. Misfires, catastrophic motor failures, recovery system failures, wanton destruction of works of art. But those which went were wonderful - and Miro & Jan Kotuha are Gold medal twins... Individuals: Teams: Stat Attack... - The event attracted some 300 competitors in total, a third of these juniors...the future of space modelling looking very rosy indeed. Mokrad aerodrome saw over 1500 rocket launches during World Champs week - plus another 300-odd in the World Cup event that succeeded it. Re-entry - The 13th World Space Modelling Championships was the finest model rocket event anyone had experienced, a credit to Event Director - Vasil Pavljuk, Contest Director - Jaromir Mlynek, Range Safety Officer - Jan Maixner...and yes, the Slovak Army, Aeroclub of Slovakia, Hotels Maj, Junior & Grand and individuals too numerous to mention. Slovakia 2000 has set the standard for the World Championships to follow. |
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(c) ARK Komarov 2000