Red Bull Air Race World Series

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Red Bull Air Race World Series
Sport	Air Racing
Founded	2003
No. of teams	10
Country	World Wide
Current champions	Kirby Chambliss (pilot) Red Bull (team)

The Red Bull Air Race World Series, established in 2003 and created by Red Bull, is an international series of air races with the participation of the world's most skilled pilots, in which competitors have to navigate a challenging obstacle course in the sky, in the fastest possible time. Pilots fly individually against the clock and have to complete tight turns through a slalom course consisting of specially designed pylons, known as "air gates".

The races are held mainly on airfields, but also above cities, sea or natural wonders. They are accompanied by a supporting program of show flights. Races are flown on weekends following three training rounds and one qualification round. The exciting event attracts huge crowds of people, and is also broadcast live throughout the world by major TV channels, the views from the onboard cameras providing spectacular shots.

At the races, currently 14 pilots compete against each other. The race winner is the competitor who accomplishes the best time after two runs of the same course. Pilots race on a twisted course with five groups of specially erected spinnaker pylon obstacles. Flying against the rules results in disqualification or in a time penalty added to the flying time. The first six ranked pilots of each race leg get points from 6 to 1 from top down. The air racer with the most points at the end of the series becomes Red Bull Air Race world champion. The champion of the 2005 season was Mike Mangold from the USA. The champion in 2006 was fellow American Kirby Chambliss.

Contents 1 History 2 Air race locations 3 Perth, Western Australia 4 Aircraft 5 Maneuvers 6 Rules 6.1 3 seconds penalty 6.2 10 seconds penalty 6.3 Disqualification 7 Scoring 8 Competitors 9 See also 10 References 11 External links

[edit] History

The idea of the Red Bull Air Race came about in 2001, following Red Bull's efforts to create a new aviation event. The aim of the event was to challenge some of the world's best pilots in speed, precision and skill.^[1] With these criteria, Red Bull approached Péter Besenyei, then two-time World Aerobatics champion, seeking to use his skill and experience to adapt the concept in to real race situations. Two years of planning culminated in the first Red Bull Air Race being held in Zeltweg, Austria in 2003 during the AirPower show.^[1]

[edit] Air race locations

Red Bull Air Race World Series Air Race Locations
Country	Location	Rounds in
		2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
Australia	Swan River, Perth				9th	12th
Austria	Zeltweg	1st		3rd
Brazil	Rio de Janeiro					2nd
Germany	Berlin				3rd
Hungary	Budapest	2nd	2nd	6th	6th	8th
Ireland	Rock of Cashel			4th
Mexico	Acapulco, Guerrero					11th
Netherlands	Rotterdam			2nd
Portugal	Porto					9th
Russia	St. Petersburg				4th1
Spain	Barcelona				2nd	5th
Switzerland	Interlaken, Bern					6th
Turkey	Golden Horn, Istanbul				5th	4th
United Arab Emirates	Port of Mina' Zayid, Abu Dhabi			1st	1st	1st
United Kingdom	Longleat			5th	7th
	RAF Kemble		1st
United States	Monument Valley, Arizona					3rd
	Reno, Nevada		3rd
	San Diego, California					10th
	San Francisco, California			7th	8th

Note 1: the 4th round of the 2006 season in St.Petersburg, Russia was cancelled.

[edit] Perth, Western Australia

Perth, Western Australia hosted the last of nine races of the 2006 series over the Swan River on Sunday 19 November 2006.

As a lead up to the race an Air Festival was held over the river on 17, 18 and 19 November including aircraft history and heritage as well aircraft fly overs, and aerial and static aircraft displays.

Highlights from previous races and interviews with the pilots were screened on six video screens on the river foreshore. A "Paddock Walk" to see the pilots and aircraft closeup was held between 8.30am and 10am on the morning of the race on Langley Park.

[edit] Aircraft

The competitors use high-end aerobatics planes such as the Zivko Edge 540X, the MXR Technologies MX2, and the Extra 300, all of which are equipped with Lycoming engines.

The series has begun to see competitors develop enhanced version specifically for the series, with Michael Goulian flying a modified Extra using lighter composites and a more highly tuned Lycoming engine. However, the safety implications of engine or airframe failures mean that performance tuning by individual teams, as is commonly done in other motorsport events, is limited in scope in the series.

[edit] Maneuvers

The Red Bull Air Race involves quite tricky aerobatic maneuvers.

• Knife edge
• Crossing a gate
• Loop
• Cuban eight
• Half Cuban
• Horizontal round
• Horizontal eight
• Horizontal roll
• Vertical quarter
• Vertical half
• Vertical roll
• Tailslides

For a picture of each maneuver go to http://www.air-races.com/maneuvres.htm

original reference by: Justin Yau

[edit] Rules

[edit] 3 seconds penalty

• Incorrect passing of a gate
  • too high
  • incorrect knife flying
  • incorrect level flying

• Incorrect aerobatic manoeuvre
  • incorrect aerobatic manoeuvre

[edit] 10 seconds penalty

• Touching a gate

[edit] Disqualification

• Dangerous flying
  • crowdline
  • dangerous flying
  • flying into clouds
  • flying too low
  • touching the surface

• Not flying the course
  • course deviation
  • not executing aerobatic maneuver

[edit] Scoring

The championship is decided by points, which are awarded according to the place in which a pilot classifies at each round. Points are allocated as follows:

1st place	6 points
2nd place	5 points
3rd place	4 points
4th place	3 points
5th place	2 points
6th place	1 point

[edit] Competitors

Overall standing of the pilots after the 2006 Red Bull Air Race World Series season is as follows:

Red Bull Air Race World Series Overall Standing
Rank	Pilot	Team	Races	Champion	Wins	Points
1	Kirby Chambliss	Red Bull	18	2	6	80
2	Peter Besenyei	Red Bull	20	1	6	85
3	Mike Mangold	Mangold	16	1	6	72
4	Paul Bonhomme	Bonhomme	19		1	45
5	Steve Jones	Jones	19		1	28
6	Klaus Schrodt	betandwin	19			38
7	Nicolas Ivanoff	Hamilton	16			20
8	Michael Goulian	Goulian	8			14
9	Nigel Lamb	Lamb	11			3
10	Alejandro Maclean	Maclean	15			3
11	Frank Versteegh	Versteegh	16			3
12	David Martin	Martin	1			2
13	Jurgis Kairys	Kairys	1			0

[edit] See also

• Competition aerobatics

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Red Bull Air Race and Festival, Perth, Western Australia, November 17 - 19 2006
• Feel the Gee's as a Red Bull Air Race Pilot!
• Red Bull Air Race
• Red Bull Air Race World Series
• Jurgis Kairys’s Personal website
• about David Martin
• BBC Wiltshire coverage of the cancelled September 2006 race at Longleat

Red Bull Air Race World Series
2003 • 2004 • 2005 • 2006 • 2007