SEN 1269 - 29 Nov 2008

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Category: Archive 2008

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1. Pan American
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Hello everyone,

I’d like to take this opportunity to formally announce the preliminary details of the new Pan American Open contest, to be held on February 12, 2009, between next year’s Isaacson and MaxMen contests.

As some of you are already aware, there had been extensive discussions over the years of having a North American championship, and I was very eager to see the idea revived and implemented.  I sent a few emails earlier this year, had the opportunity to talk to many of you, and finally got together with a group (Ron Felix, Peter Allnutt, Ladislav Horak, Todor Boidjev, among others) at the last Sierra Cup, and committed with them to formally putting together a contest for 2009. 

I am very thankful to everyone who supported the idea, and to those who gave me helpful advice along the way.  In particular, much gratitude must go to Ron Felix, who had volunteered to act as the contest Director, and has largely been managing the administrative end of things.  I would also like to thank my son Jack, with whom I spent many late nights working out the mechanics of how this contest could work, and who helped me extensively with drafting all the ideas into a cohesive concept.  To everyone who helped makes this a reality – many thanks!

And now, the preliminary details of the contest:

-          It will be a 7 round contest, with F1A, F1B, F1C all flying on the same day

-         It will be both an individual and team event, open to all participants regardless of nationality, and any self formed team, regardless of the nationality of the members

-          Contestants and teams will time each other’s flights.

-         It will work on two levels: as a contest, and as a Pan American Championships – and there will be two sets of prizes to compete for:

1.       the usual contest awards (first, second, third), which would be awarded to any individual or team participating in the contest, regardless of nationality or mix.

2.       titles (in the form of a trophy), which will only be awarded to the top North or South American individual and team in each class. 

This way the contest will crown a legitimate Pan American Champion (with a separate award), without eliminating the incentive for non American participants to take part and try to win.   

-          More on Teams:

-          Teams will be encouraged to be nationally based (with no limit on the number of teams from any one country), although mixed teams will be allowed if that is what the participants want (a group of friends, for example) or in cases where there aren’t enough participants to form a team along national lines. 

-          Allowing mixed, non American, and multiple teams from the same country to participate will get around the “lack of participants” problem often cited in past proposals, and will allow for a larger number of team participants, while still allowing us to crown a Pan American Champion.  

-          The non American or mixed teams would be eligible for the prizes, but only teams from the Americas and purely based on national lines can win the team title.   As noted earlier, there could be multiple teams from the same country (USA 1, USA 2, etc)

-          As an example to demonstrate the team mechanics:

-          Lets say you would have the following teams: 

1.       Team USA 1

2.       Team USA 2

3.       Team Argentina

4.       Team Canada

5.       Team Mexico

6.       Team Ukraine

7.       Team Russia

8.       Mixed Team #1 (1 American + 2 European)

9.       Mixed Team #2 (3 Europeans)

10.   Mixed Team #3 (2 Americans + 1 Canadian)

-          While any of the above teams can win the team contest, only the first 5 listed above are eligible to win the team title, as they are the only purely North or South American Teams based on national lines.  Note that a mixed north American team (the last example) could not win the title either, as it does not represent a unique Pan American nation. 

-          Teams would have to be entered prior to the start of the contest, and would have to be self arranged and registered.

-          The composition of the teams is entirely up to the contestants – particularly in cases where you have multiple teams from the same nations.  You could have teams based on the home states of their members – Team USA (California) and Team USA (New York) for example.  Or teams based on some larger region; Mixed Team (Scandinavia). Or, teams based on no affiliation at all: Team USA (Jim, Mike, & Bob), etc...
For the purposes of the Pan American title, only the national composition of the teams is important, not how the team was composed.  As multiple teams are allowed from the same nation, everyone will have a chance to form a team and compete.

-          Individual participants, both American and foreign, could also always join the contest without a team affiliation and only compete for the individual awards. 

-          Essentially the setup is akin to a mixed open contest/regional championship:  it is open to all, and everyone can win, but only those belonging to the region, namely the Americas, can be crowned with the team or individual Pan American title. 

After all the discussions I had with you over the last few months, I feel this is the best solution to creating a contest that will allow for a large enough group of participants, interesting enough to convince those participants to attend, and create a challenging and prestigious enough contest to legitimately crown a Pan American champion.  And of course, add an element of social interaction and enjoyment.

We hope to have the official schedule and information posted shortly. 

Hope to see you all there in February!

Chris Lenartowicz

(F1A Canada)

From: Buzz Averill This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Does anyone sell taco shells, or other components, suitable for F1J sized models?

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