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Fastest RV-10?

Scott Will

Scott Will

Well Known Member
Just curious who has the fastest RV-10 and what they did to get it that way? If/when I decide to build a -10, I'd want it to perform admirably.

Is the Hartzell BA the best choice out there for speed at the moment?
Has anyone thought of installing a Continental IO-550 instead? (such as those installed in Cirrus, Mooney Acclaim, Columbia, etc?)

Thanks in advance!
 
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Fastest RV-10

The only way to determine who has the fastest RV-10 is to do an air race at multiple altitudes.

I have no doubt that my RV-10 with MT 3 blade prop is slower at lower altitudes (1000-6000 MSL) based on actually side by side flying with other RV-10's running the Hartzell BA 2 blade prop, I have yet to do any side by side flights at altitude.

On my return trip from OSH2007 I was flying at 10,500, with 20.6 MP with full throttle and in level flight by changing the prop RPM back from 2600 to 2150 I was able to pick up 9 knots and reduce my fuel flow to 9.2 GPM. One of these days my buddy Gray Bridwell and I will be on a long cross country together and at altitude we will check various configurations and see what works best for both his Hartzell BA and my MT prop. We both have standard IO-540's with 260 HP. I will post such results but it may be awhile.
 
dav1111 said:
On my return trip from OSH2007 I was flying at 10,500, with 20.6 MP with full throttle and in level flight by changing the prop RPM back from 2600 to 2150 I was able to pick up 9 knots and reduce my fuel flow to 9.2 GPM.
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Russ, what speed were you indicating, and if you have it, what was true speed at the above settings??

Thanks----probably a lot of folks would like to know.
 
Russ, are you sure....

dav1111 said:
I was able to pick up 9 knots and reduce my fuel flow to 9.2 GPM.
Click to expand...

I hope that was 9.2 GPH not GPM (minute). :eek:

Kent
 
Air Race!! (Can anyone beat 299.6 mph?)

We should plan a quick race at LOE this year. That would be fun.

That is such a hard question with so many variables. The only way to test it would be a side by side race and even then if you don't have an altitude hold a small decent can fudge the numbers. Tim Olsen and I actually turned the A/P on and did a quick side by side at 24 square then at full throttle at Oshkosh. It was very close (maybe within a knot or two). I have also found that the top speed in the RV-10 is really affected by weight. If the plane is loaded around 2400 lbs I easily cruise at 170 knots TAS but around gross I only get about 165 knots TAS (at 11,500 ft , 19.5 inches, 2360 RPM) Maybe the best test would be to clear out the top ground speed setting on our GPS's, get everyone on the same heading at the same time and same altitude and see what happens.

All I know is that my max ground speed off my Garmin 430 says 299.6 mph. (Nice tail wind one day). They say parts start flying off at 300 mph so I didn't want to push it.
 
I'm thinking that Todd's LS powered -10 will be up near the front in the speed department once the bugs are worked out.
 
rv6ejguy said:
I'm thinking that Todd's LS powered -10 will be up near the front in the speed department once the bugs are worked out.
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Your right there! Dwayne in Midland is also building a V-8 powered RV-10. I bet the climb out will be close to 60 degrees nose up. How close is Todd's RV-10 from completion?
 
It seems I take one step forward and two steps back. I had to re-do the nose gear attachment. It only took four hours but that was four hours less of other work that I was unable to work on something else. Our avionics and body work are slowing us down. Hopefully, I can do an engine run up this weekend with the prop on. I have to book some time with Alex pretty soon! The plane has to be flying within the next six to seven weeks or probably won't be until Nov because I have a baby daughter due on Oct 15. It is crunch time!
 
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img1087cr7.jpg
 
img1086nz8.jpg

Actually has a kind of Lancair look to it. I built the top front up about 3/8" to meet the size of the cowl. I am also adding some body work to ease the look of the cowl side vents. I had to move the fresh air vents behind the luggage door. That's what the blue areas on the side are. I don't know if they will work back there since it is probably a low pressure area of the plane.
If I can get this engine running and everything works I might have a slight advantage climb wise. Ofcourse when I kick in the supercharger it might climb like a rocket. But the fuselage is still limited by Vne in straight flight. I am not going to flutter my plane to death or rip the wings off just to see how fast I can go. But I will see how fast I can climb.
 
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Was just checking this yesterday

Hi Scott,
Good timing on your question as I was just up yesterday doing some 4-way GPS runs. This was my first time with passengers......my 17yr old son (Ricky) did all the flying 'cept for the landing flare while my girls played and giggled in the back :) .

My goal was to do the 4-way GPS runs to check the GRT TAS reading for accuracy.

Full fuel on board, we climbed on top of the scattered cumulous to 8,500'.....air was silky smooth. 64F/30.04 - 22.1"/2400rpm yielded 173.7kts on the 4-way......only let it run about 5-6 miles on each of the N/S/E/W headings. My GRT TAS reading was pretty much rock steady at 174kts. Nothing real scientific but enough for me to feel confident with my GRT TAS reading.

The plane gets a real nice boost when pushed up to 2500rpm but I didn't get a chance to check anything other than 2400 yesterday. Again, was just trying to verify the GRT TAS. I'm giving rides tomorrow and hope to gather some additional data.

Oh....this is with a new Mattituck IO-540 engine and Hartzell BA C/S prop.

I'm up for side by side runs anytime.....winner gets a Dairy Queen....no V8's :D .

You are going to love your RV10!

On a side note.....was great to meet Scott S, Jesse S, Tim O, Russ D, and all the other RV10 builders at Oshkosh this past week. Sorry but I can't remember all the other names :rolleyes: .

http://rv6rick.tripod.com/ohiovalleyrvators/id19.html
 
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