Habu is Getting Dressed - Any News on Fuel Vendor?

[MiltonP]

Habu, my 996 Duc, is getting primed tomorrow and should be fully dressed in an appropriate Oxcart Racing theme with a week to spare!  When Habu makes a pass Saturday at Wilmington it will be the 50th Anniversary to the day of the first official flight of the Oxcart in 1962!  I am not sure if any of the pilots or crew are near Wilmington but I will be reaching out to them and hopefully a few will come out and see her this season.  The bodywork now looks like it was designed from the start for the 996 and all the technical issues from October are theoretically history.  Now I just need to figure out the correct class lettering for her.  MPS 1000 OCT/G or something like that! 

Any word on the fuel options?  Last I saw here was that it was still up in the air.   

[Joe Timney]

Rocket fuel, just like Maxton.
Joe

[RacerX9623]

Do you have any photos of the bike? I cant wait to see it,

[Cajun Kid]

Come on Milt....you have to have pictures,,, even  a sketch of the paint scheme..

Charles

[MiltonP]

No pics yet.  The the A-12 scheme is somewhat minimal.  The base is the new Camaro color, Ashen Gray Metallic which is almost black in the shade. Toss in a small mix of A-12 appropriate graphics and you have it. There are pods over the hands now and the body has been narrowed a bit up front.  The chin is gone with a consistent slope from the nose to the pan now.  There is a 3" sloped panel on the chin to try and minimize the salt going into the body. The panel cmight add a little lift when the speeds are bumped up but the angle of the pods should counter that. The tail had a wedge taken out to bring the rear down a bit and we extending the seat section another 3".  We may rework the tail eventually but the plan is to focus on horsepower next round.

We did add data logging and an updated PC III quick shifter combo and upgraded the exhaust from the head pipes back.  Other changes were to reduce rotating mass and overall weight.  Same can't be said for the rider though!
 

[MiltonP]

Still has wet sanding and polishing to go but getting real close!

[Cajun Kid]

Looking good Milt

[LSR Mike]

Where did you get Lil' Stinker?

[saltwheels262]

paint and lettering look good.

[MiltonP]

I had my graphics guy redraw him from a photo of the tail of an A-12. There were quite a few different versions of Skunkworks logos out there so I went for the obvious choice!  The two graphics on the sides of the upper are redrawn from the logos for Roadrunners Internationale, pilots of the A-12s, who gave me permission to use them.  I actually put concept of 'Oxcart Racing' when I got an opportunity to meet them at a reunion a few years back.  Figured air speed and altitude record holders might like the idea.

[LSR Mike]

You need to have some of the SCTA Guy's get you some Official Skunk Works Stuff. half of them used to, or still do work there.

[MiltonP]

Habu all dressed up.  Just needs a seat pad and her class info added for Ohio!

[RacerX9623]

Looking good Milton,.

[Freud]

Were A-12s nicknamed Habu? I thought just SR-71's had that title.

FREUD

[MiltonP]

I have only seen a few references claiming the nickname applied to both.  Oxcart Racing and Habu are a tribute to the pilots, crews, and the engineers involved with both programs including the YF12 and M21 drone carrier.  It sort of came together when I met some of the A-12 pilots at a reunion but since then I have also been hearing from folks associated with the SR-71.  Roadrunners Internationale also honors the U2 program.  Both the U2 and A12 are on one of their 2 logos on the bike.  From the records standpoint, the SR71 does hold a lot of official records but the A12 did fly higher and faster.

If I move my EX500 into the modified ranks it may get the more humorous, and slightly slower, scheme of  Ox Cart racing from Southeast Asia. as depicted below.