HoverRally 2001

Hovercraft Hobby

HoverRally 2001

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This annual event is hosted by the Hoverclub of America.
Just click on the banner to go to their homepage.

Troy, Ohio 2001, this was the 26th annual Hover Rally.

This is the view from the top of the hill before going in the gates to the pit area.
I had one of those disposable cameras, and it was a bright sunny day so the pics did not turn out that good.

This is Harold Carter's Weber Star Cruiser.
This is someone admiring Harolds high quality workmanship.

This is Harold taking another lucky passenger for a flight.

Harold is the first one to take me for a hovercraft ride since 1975 when my father had one. It was like riding on a cloud. He flys his high quality craft with pride, and he should, he did a fantastic job building it.

This is the covered bridge he wanted to show me during our cruise down the river.

Carter Cruise 2

This is on the way back.

Thank You for the cruise, Harold, it was my first in 25 years.

This is Bob Windt's WIG (Wing In Ground effect). It was also powered by a Subaru engine. He did many flybys, they appear to be done effortlessly.

BobWig02

This is Don Bender's high quality craft.
It is powered by a Subaru thrust engine and a Briggs & Stratton 12.5hp lift engine. He said it will cruise at 60mph on the water all day long.

He made a 48" 60 pitch 4 blade propeller for it.
It does a nice job of moving the craft.

You can tell that it is a fairly heavy engine for the size of the craft by the way the craft sits on it's cushion.

This is a Neova-8.
It is powered by a 360 Chrysler Industrial engine.
It has twin multi-blade fans with reverse buckets .
The Neova 8 has a capacity of 8 (hence the 8).

360 Doge Power

Neova-8

This is a homebuilt powered by a Geo Metro 3-cylinder. This is a nicely built craft.

mayor02

This is a Universal Hovercrafts UH10.
It can be built for less than $800.
And YES, they race them too.

UH10b

This is a Japanese minature version of the Aero Cruiser. I thought the engine was running near redline...the sound of the Robyn engine they used is quite whiny and it has a high redline. Very nicely built craft, though, it was just a little small.

In the background you can see two Neoteric crafts. These crafts have reverse buckets and can go quite fast in reverse. The fan is only 28" in diameter but moves the craft along quite nicely.

Here is the Mini Cruiser and a Neoteric flying by.

troycruise

Here is a SevTec flying by with the Mini Cruiser in the background.
The Sev seems to be a very nice craft. It moved along quite effortlessly. He came all the way from Texas.

It was definitly a fun event. There were 69 craft there and all seemed to be having fun cruising, racing and observing them.
I showed up at 2:00pm Saturday and left at 3:00pm Sunday. I had a five hour drive home. Some had twice that.