Red Bull Air Race World Championship

Red Bull Air Race World Championship

File:Red Bull Air Race Logo.PNG Red Bull Air Race World Series Logo
Sport	Air Racing
Founded	2003
No. of teams	10
Country	World Wide
Most recent champion(s)	Mike Mangold (pilot) Cobra (team)

The Red Bull Air Race World Series, established in 2003 and created by Red Bull, is an international series of air races 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 events generally attract large crowds and are broadcast, both live and taped, in many nations. Eight pilots compete head to head against each other in an elimination bracket format. In the head to head competition, the pilots each take a turn at completing the course in the fastest time possible without committing any rule violations. The race winner is the competitor who survives the single elimination bracket and is victorious in the final round. 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, six for the winner down to one for sixth place. The air racer with the most points at the end of the series becomes Red Bull Air Race world champion. The 2005, 2006 and 2007 series were won respectively by the American pilots Mike Mangold, Kirby Chambliss and Mangold again.

Action at Kemble airfield, Gloucestershire, England in June 2004

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. 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.

Format

In earlier seasons, 2005 and 2006, pilots first ran two qualifying rounds to determine starting order, with the fastest time starting last. The race was then run over two rounds, and the combined time of both rounds determines the winner.

Starting in 2007, a new knock-out format was introduced. During qualifying, the 12 pilots with the best course times proceed to the elimination session, and from there the top eight move on to the finals bracket. Once there, quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals followed by the Consolation final are all 1-on-1 duels between the pilots.

The championship is decided by points, which are awarded by how the pilot places at each event.

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

Rules

2006 champion, Kirby Chambliss, crossing the Quatro in the prescribed knife-edge flight

The rules are simple, pilots must pass through each of the air gates correctly while completing the required aerobatic maneuvers. Three different gate types require a specific manner of crossing. Blue gates must be crossed in level flight, red gates must be crossed in "knife-edge" or vertical flight, and the slalom gates as their name implies.

Penalties are incurred for violations of the rules.

3 seconds penalty

• Incorrect passing of a gate
  • Too high
  • Incorrect knife-edge (vertical) or level (horizontal) crossing
  • Incorrect knife-edge side
• Incorrect aerobatic maneuver

10 seconds penalty

A plane slices through a pylon, resulting in a penalty

• Touching a gate

Disqualification

• • Dangerous flying
  • Crossing the crowd line
  • Dangerous approach
  • Flying too low
  • Not flying the course
  • Course deviation
  • Not executing aerobatic maneuver

Aircraft

The competitors use high-end aerobatic 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 versions of their aircraft to better performance, and thus times. For example, Michael Goulian is flying a modified Extra which uses 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.

Maneuvers

The Red Bull Air Race involves 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
• Reverse Cuban eight

For a picture of each maneuver see: [1]

Results

Year	Winner	Runner-up	Third place
2003	Peter Besenyei	Klaus Schrodt	Kirby Chambliss
2004	Kirby Chambliss	Peter Besenyei	Steve Jones Klaus Schrodt
2005	Mike Mangold	Peter Besenyei	Kirby Chambliss
2006	Kirby Chambliss	Peter Besenyei	Mike Mangold
2007	Mike Mangold	Paul Bonhomme	Peter Besenyei

Race locations

Red Bull Air Race World Series Air Race Locations
Country	Location	Rounds in
		2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
Australia	Swan River, Perth				9th	12th	10th
Austria	Zeltweg	1st		3rd
Brazil	Rio de Janeiro					2nd
Germany	Berlin				3rd
Hungary	Budapest	2nd	2nd	6th	6th	8th	7th
Ireland	Rock of Cashel			4th
Mexico	Acapulco, Guerrero					11th3
Netherlands	Rotterdam			2nd			5th
Portugal	Porto					9th	8th
Russia	St. Petersburg				4th1
Spain	Barcelona				2nd	5th2	9th
Switzerland	Interlaken, Bern					6th
Sweden	Stockholm						4rd
Turkey	Golden Horn, Istanbul				5th	4th
United Arab Emirates	Port of Mina' Zayid, Abu Dhabi			1st	1st	1st	1st
United Kingdom	Longleat			5th	7th
	RAF Kemble		1st
	River Thames, London					7th	6th
United States	Monument Valley, Arizona/Utah					3rd
	Reno, Nevada		3rd
	San Diego, California					10th	2nd
	San Francisco, California			7th	8th
	Detroit						3rd

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

Note 2: the 5th round of the 2007 season in Barcelona, Spain was cancelled.

Note 3: the 11th round of the 2007 season in Acapulco, Mexico was cancelled.

See also

• Competition aerobatics
• Reno Air Races

External links

• Red Bull Air Race - Official website
• Air-Races.com - Independent informational website