The most popular type of engine in use was the Vorobiev which is
being used in two versions. The older version has the well known front
exhaust. A new version is out now with a large side
exhaust
There were twelve teams of the fifty competing who were using
a Vorobiev in one version or another. The most successful of these teams
was, of course, the team of Yuri Nazin and Oleg Vorobiev, the designer.
They finished second and had the best semi-final heat time but it must be
pointed out that six of the eventual fourteen semi-finalists had better
qualifying heat times. The semi-final times were disappointing and the
finals were a disaster.
The second most popular engine in use at Norrköping was the Mazniak with
ten being used in competition. The best time for this engine is 3:18 by
Lambert/Ballard of the U.S.A. I suspect there are two reasons for the
popularity of this engine. One reason is that the Mazniak is a very good
engine. This engine is designed by Jakov Mazniak, a protegee of Victor
Onufrienko of Kiev. The other reason is that with the help of Bengt-Olof
Samuelsson of Sweden, the engine has been more available than many of the
other east European engines.
Bengt-Olof has acted as a distributor for Mr. Mazniak since 1992. The Mazniak was being used at this championships in two versions. One version, available for the last few years, is the "MK" version. "MK" stands for Mazniak/Korotki. Alexander Korotki worked with Jakov building these engines. After Korotki moved away, Jakov introduced an updated engine designated "JM" for Jakov Mazniak.
He also employs the new concept for a shutoff/tank refueling combination wherein one can start the engine while filling the tank and be assured of a full tank on release.
The third most popular engine, was the Ivanov with five being used.
The 1st place team, Roberto Pennisi and Andrea Rossi used an Ivanov to
record the fastest heat time this year at 3:14.8, narrowly missing
setting another record. The Ivanov engine was the most consistent engine
with all five Ivanov engines being used by semi-final contestants. The
Ivanov was used to win first, third, fifth, eighth and eleventh places.
This engine has been under development since the late 80's.
Shabashov/Ivanov have also been very consistent winners or challengers
since 1988, winning first in 1990 at the W/Ch.
The fourth most popular engine, the Suraev, used by four teams,
is still a very good engine. The Suraev was used to set
a new heat record at the 1994 Championships in Shanghai by
Fischer/Straniak. Fischer/Straniak of Austria also used the same engine
to make the semi-finals but could not match the record flight they had in
Shanghai. The Suraev engines were based on crankcases from the Profi in
factory in Poltava but were special built by Suraev. Profi engines could
be built with the same crankcase but were not allowed to include the
emblem on the bypass that identified it as a Suraev. It is a shame that
Suraev has decided to begin working on motor cycle engines in Italy and
has left model airplane engines. That is probably one of the reasons
there were not more of the Suraev engines used.
Three ZALP-K engines were used. These engines (built by the
Zaporazhny Aeromodel Laboratory, Polyot) do not seem to have the
reputation for performance of the ZALP engine used for F2A. The best
heat time for a ZALP at this champs was 3:33.2.
Five engines were used from the PROFI factory in Poltava. There was one
PROFI and three CHAIKA'S. There was also a Chaika Jr, which
was used by the Vendel/van Gemert team. At these champs the engines
didn't make a particularly good showing. The Chaika Jr. has "URC" on the
bypass which is for Uri Chaika. All the engines from the PROFI group are
being distributed for PROFI by Thomas Mejzlik of the Czech Republic.
A number of engines have been built using components of other engines and
also some complete "own design" engines. The most successful of the "own
design" variety is the engine used by the team of Vladimir Titov and
Victor Yugov. They were the World Champions in 1992. They
were second place at Shanghai in 1994. This year they had the second
best heat time of 3:17.9 but ended up just out of the finals in fourth
place. The photo was taken in Shanghai in 1994.
Another "own design" which qualified for the semi-finals is the engine
built by Brian Turner, dubbed the B.T.R. (Brian Turner Racer).
They ended in 6th place from the semi-final times.
The team of Marcello Magli and Elvis Pirazzini of Italy who were third
place, also have a home built engine. Pirazzini has built an engine
using the bottom portion of a Cipolla crankcase. The engine
has the steel shaft housing and the home built cylinder is grafted onto
the case. It is not known if this engine was actually used at the Champs
as my records indicate this team used an Ivanov.
One well known team which has used engines of their own design for a
number of years is the Metkemeijer brothers, Rob and Bert. At this
champs they used an "MB" (Metkemeijer / Brendel). Rob does most of the
design work and Brendel does chroming and fitting on the cylinders. The
Metkemeijers used their 1994 engine with three shaft bearings
and large diameter shaft housing this year. However they unveiled a new
engine for this year which had not been tested thoroughly enough to use
at Norrköping.
The new engine features a cast steel crankcase, also with three shaft
bearings. The engine was not flown at Norrköping but it will be
interesting to watch for it in the future. It also is known as an "MB"
however I have been informed that "MB" now means "Metkemeijer Brothers".
Finally another home-built engine by Jan Gustafsson of Sweden features
bar-stock crankcases but uses some internal parts from a Mazniak. Two of
them were presented for photos. The similarity to the Mazniak
is evident in the photo.
| Place | Team | Country | Engine | Qual. Place |
Best Heat | Best Semi | Final |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Pennisi/Rossi | Italy | IVANOV | 1 | 3:14.8 | 3.21.6 | 7.18.1 |
| 2nd | Nazin/Vorobiev | Russia | VOROBIEV | 7 | 3:20.8 | 3.21.5 | Disq |
| 2nd | Magli/Pirazzini | Italy | IVANOV | 10 | 3:21.8 | 3.22.7 | Disq |
| 4th | Titov/Yugov | Russia | TITOV (own design) | 2 | 3:17.9 | 3.23.2 | |
| 5th | Shabashov/Ivanov | Russia | IVANOV | 11 | 3:21.9 | 3.23.6 | |
| 6th | Ross/Turner | Great Britain | B.T.R. (own design) | 12 | 3:23.4 | 3.27.0 | |
| 7th | Fitzgerald/Prior | Austria | MAZNIAK (JM) | 5 | 3:19.3 | 3.28.4 | |
| 8th | Gilbert/Gilbert | France | IVANOV | 13 | 3:24.2 | 3.30.4 | |
| 9th | Fischer/Straniak | Austria | SURAEV | 6 | 3:19.4 | 3.33.0 | |
| 9th | Samuelsson/Axtilius | Sweden | MAZNIAK (JM) | 4 | 3:18.8 | 3.33.0 | |
| 11th | McCollum/Lee | U.S.A. | IVANOV | 8 | 3:21.4 | 3.33.7 | |
| 12th | Nitsche/Nitsche | Austria | SURAEV | 9 | 3:21.6 | 3.34.1 | |
| 13th | Ascher/Ascher | U.S.A. | VOROBIEV | 14 | 3:25.2 | 3.36.9 | |
| 14th | Ballard/Lambert | U.S.A. | MAZNIAK (JM) | 3 | 3:18.0 | 3.39.2 | |
| 15th | Fitzgerald/Thomason | Great Britain | MAZNIAK | 3:25.3 | |||
| 16th | Langworth/Campbell | Great Britain | VOROBIEV | 3:25.4 | |||
| 17th | Dessaucy/Dessaucy | Belgium | VOROBIEV | 3:26.4 | |||
| 18th | Metkemeijer/Metkemeijer | Netherlands |
"94"M.B. (own design) | 3:26.7 | |||
| 18th | Mary/Mary | Brazil | NELSON | 3:26.7 | |||
| 20th | Borer/Saccavino | Switzerland | SURAEV | 3:28.0 | |||
| 21st | Mortinho/Goulão | Portugal | VOROBIEV | 3:28.6 | |||
| 22nd | Surugue/Surugue | France | VOROBIEV | 3:29.6 | |||
| 23rd | Gustafsson/Olsson | Sweden | MAZNIAK (KM) | 3:29.8 | |||
| 24th | Wakkerman/van de Weerd | Netherlands | CHAIKA | 3:30.1 | |||
| 25th | Stjärnesund/Andersson | Sweden | ZALP-K | 3:33.2 | |||
| 26th | Brietzke/Wieck | Brazil | B.P. | 3:33.6 | |||
| 27th | Martini/Losi | Italy | SURAEV | 3:34.7 | |||
| 28th | Leupold/Engfer | Germany | ZALP-K | 3:38.8 | |||
| 29th | Ivanko/Trinkal | Ukraine | ZALP-K | 3:39.2 | |||
| 30th | Rális/Fusek | Czech Republic | CHAIKA | 3:40.4 | |||
| 31st | Hoogenkamp/Bertina | Austria | VOROBIEV | 3:40.4 | |||
| 32nd | Giger/Studer | Switzerland | PROFI | 3:40.7 | |||
| 33rd | Jerabek/Parent | Canada | VOROBIEV | 3:42.1 | |||
| 34th | Fairey/Maclean | Canada | VOROBIEV | 3:42.3 | |||
| 35th | Siejda/Pyka | Poland | MAZNIAK | 3:42.9 | |||
| 36th | Boys/Boys | New Zealand | MAZNIAK | 3:43.6 | |||
| 37th | Kaminski/Moskalets | Ukraine | MOSKALETS | 3:43.7 | |||
| 38th | Fauk/Krause | Germany | IVANKO | 3:44.6 | |||
| 39th | Oterino/Rodrigues | Spain | MAZNIAK | 3:46.7 | |||
| 40th | Marques/Rodrigues | Brazil | NELSON | 3:47.2 | |||
| 41st | Lindemann/Schönherr | Germany | MAZNIAK | 3:47.5 | |||
| 42nd | Martinez/Crespi | Spain | MAZNIAK | 3:49.2 | |||
| 43rd | Ustinov/Oreshkin | Russia | CHILOV | 3:52.2 | |||
| 44th | Vendel/ van Gemert | Netherlands | URC (CHAIKA JR.) | 3:55.8 | |||
| 45th | Maret/Picard | France | VOROBIEV | 4:06.7 | |||
| 46th | Isidro/Loureiro | Portugal | VOROBIEV | 4:21.2 | |||
| 47th | Praus/Manowski | Poland | CHAIKA | 4:23.6 | |||
| 48th | Kobiercki/Raczynski | Poland | NELSON | 86 laps | |||
| 49th | Surugue/Perret | France | VOROBIEV | 77 laps | |||
| 50th | Gumulinski/Braciak | Poland | FMV COPY (own
design) (Jacco de Ridder) | disq |