Sharp Nemesis NXT

Sharp Nemesis NXT
Sharp Nemesis NXT at Mojave
Role Racing aircraft
Manufacturer Air-C-Race
Designer Jon Sharp
First flight July 10, 2004
Variants Sharp Nemesis
A Nemesis NXT built by Dan Wright of Santa Barbara taxis at Mojave

The Sharp Nemesis NXT (which stands for "Neoteric eXperimental Technology"[1]) is a sport-class kit-built aircraft designed for air racing. It was designed by Nemesis Air Racing's president Jon Sharp, as a follow-on to the highly successful Sharp Nemesis. It is a single place, single engine, low wing, retractable gear kit aircraft. As designed, the aircraft is powered by a Lycoming TIO-540-NXT "Thunderbolt" six-cylinder engine.[2][3]

Since 2011 the German company Air-C-Race has been the official builder.[4]

Racing history

The prototype Nemesis NXT, race number 3x (N333XT), flown by Jon Sharp, won the 2008 Reno Air Races Sport Class championship, setting a new race record speed of 392 mph. During the ten-day event, Sharp also set a heat record of 393 mph and during the qualifying set a record of 409.297 mph (355.67 kn), the first time a racer in this class broke the 400 mph speed barrier (speeds of over 400 mph are usually only turned in by Unlimited Class racing aircraft).[2] A second NXT, race number 42 fielded by Relentless Racing, finished fifth with an average speed in the gold race of 336.526 mph.[5]

Records

On July 30, 2008, Sharp set an FAI class C1b world record for speed over a straight 3 km course at 573.46 km/h (356.33 mph).[6] On September 20, 2009, Sharp won the Super Sport Gold race at Reno with a speed of 407.061 mph.[7] On Wednesday, September 16, 2009, Sharp qualified first with a speed of 412.554 mph for the top spot in the Super Sport class at Reno.[7] On Thursday, September 17, 2009, Sharp set a Super Sport race record of 383.292 mph. On Friday, September 18, 2009, Sharp beat the previous day's record with a speed of 399.336 mph. On Saturday, September 19, 2009, Sharp set another record with a speed of 406.051 mph. This is the first homebuilt aircraft ever to exceed 400 mph average race speed on the Reno course. On Sunday, September 20, 2009 Sharp set yet another record by winning the Super Sport Gold race at a speed of 407.061 mph. He also earned his 15th National Championship which was also a record thus completing the "Record a Day and Two on Sunday" Reno campaign of 2009. Jon Sharp announced his retirement from Pylon Racing on August 3, 2011 as the winningest pilot in history.

Photo by David Hackett

Specifications

Data from Nemesis NXT[8]

General characteristics

  • Capacity: 2
  • Length: 23 ft ()
  • Wingspan: 24ft ()
  • Height: ()
  • Wing area: 70 ft ()
  • Airfoil: Modified NASA NLF (Natural Laminar Flow)
  • Empty weight: 1600 lb ()
  • Loaded weight: 2600 lb ()
  • Powerplant: 1 × Lycoming TIO-540-NXT piston engine, 350 hp ()

Performance

References

  1. ↑ Relentless Air Racing website
  2. 1 2 "History Made at Reno by Jon Sharp and Lycoming", Lycoming News Archived 2010-10-11 at the Wayback Machine.
  3. ↑ Bayerl, Robby; Martin Berkemeier; et al.: World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2011-12, page 113. WDLA UK, Lancaster UK, 2011. ISSN 1368-485X
  4. ↑ Tacke, Willi; Marino Boric; et al: World Directory of Light Aviation 2015-16, page 119. Flying Pages Europe SARL, 2015. ISSN 1368-485X
  5. ↑ Reno 2008 race results database, Reno Air Racing Association, archived from the original on 2008-12-05
  6. ↑ FAI world record database Archived 2006-05-12 at the Wayback Machine.
  7. 1 2 Racing results, Reno Air Racing Association, archived from the original on 2006-10-08
  8. ↑ "Nemesis NXT". Nemesis Air Race. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
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