What is a Gryphon G4?

Gryphon G4 is what I am calling the culmination of over 20 years of racing aircraft and the collaboration of the most respected aviators and builders I know. N430R started life as a pretty stock Glasair III but after a few years growling around the wild blue yonder it suffered an almost certain ending of its flying career when it ran off a runway causing significant damage to the wing and landing gear; normally this sort of accident makes repairing and rebuilding a monumental task for most mortals. Two highly skilled engineer types scooped up the pieces and brought her back to their private “skunk works” in San Deigo, CA. Robby Grove founder of Grove Aircraft Landing Gear and his cohort Jim Rust founder of Whirlwind Propeller thought they would see if they could cobble together something to keep up with the fastest Glasair III ever to fly owned by Jeff Lavelle -Race 39. The funny thing is they are all friends and it didn’t take long to rebuild that stock G3 into Race 24 with so many improvements that its rumored that Jeff even bought some parts from Robbie and has since incorporated them into Race 39. In just a few years pushing well over 750 hp out of a 6-cylinder Lycoming Jim was running within a few feet of Jeff and had the races continued at Reno I am confident that we would have seen Race 24 on the podium. The 2022 Reno Races turned into a bit of a gong show when 5 of the fastest Sport Class racers including both Race 39 and Race 24 end the week quickly both blowing their motors. During the off-season the Reno Air Racing Association announced that 2023 would be the last race. While many racers quickly rushed to try and participate in what many saw the end of an air racing era Jim and Robbie decided enough was enough and rather than rebuild Race 24 for the final race they left her bolted to the fixture they used to trailer her home with a totally destroyed engine.

Jim, Robbie, and Kevin Eldredge (me) picking up what was left of Race 24 only 87 days before the start of the 2023 Reno Air Races.

After a short three-day drive back to Eastern Washington the “thrash” as my old crew chief called it began. I stripped everything from Race 24 and prepared her for the first liquid cooled engine I had been waiting for for over 18 months to arrive in time to get through testing and mount on the newly named and numbered Glasair III Gryphon G4 Race 7. Now reassembling a Glasair was really not a big deal for me in just 3 months but installing the very first 383 liquid cooled 6 cylinder Lycoming from AC Aero and ASAP Aircraft Engines in an air-cooled environment did seemed to be an impossible task, even for me.

Well it only took me 65 days (and some late nights) but the engine fired on the first blade and with tremendous help from Jacob at ASAP I quickly tuned the engine with my the new engine, prop and cooling system and in just a few days took to the air once again with the entire package running perfectly. The only mistake I made was in the radiator sizing. It would hold the engine temp to the target temp of 215 degrees up to about 60% power. Even at 60% power I was able to fly the amazingly slick airframe at speeds pretty close to a heavy stock G3 200-210kts. but with only a few weeks before having to show up at Reno I found a simple .5 gallon per hour spray nozzle on the face of the radiator gave me all the cooling I needed for my 375hp engine. I quickly picked out the custom ADI tank I had just removed from the turbo configuration and found I could blast around at full throttle for about an hour with only 10 gallons of water or pull it back to 60% power an still cruise at a respectable 200 knots!

Things were going so well I was able to fully test three different variations of wing tips, two props, and even get a little touch up painting done well before I need to head of the the final Reno Races 900 miles away in Stead.

The work was so worth it for me! Many of my closest friends showed up and up until the final day of the races I hadn’t had a better week of racing in 23 years.

Stay tuned to this blog and I will keep posting what is in store for Gryphon next, it will blow your mind!