Red Bull Air Race World Championship

THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE

WWW.REDBULLAIRRACE.COM

ABU DHABI, APRIL 17&18

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RED BULL AIR RACE MAGAZINE

INSIGHT

THE CONTENT

Cover Photomontage: Red Bulletin/ Creative Retouching: Lee Laughton; Cover Photography: Alamy, AP, Markus Kucera, Shutterstock; Photography: Julian Broad, Daniel Grund, Markus Kucera

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Our pick of the best pics of 2008

10 BULLEVARD

HELLO AND WELCOME TO…

A review

of last season and a sneak preview of this season: is the MXS-R the new silver bullet? Plus: an insight of Glen Dell’s head, some 2008 Red Bull Air Race high flyers and sophisticated spy talk

16 HERO

What the others always wanted to know: a question-and-answer session

with twice World Champion Mike Mangold

18 PORTRAIT

Hannes Arch. He is the

reigning Red Bull Air Race World Champion.Check out what makes him tick, how he thinks and what his strategies are

26 REPORT

Who would guess that a guy from the set-up

crew is the owner of a professional mountain-bike downhill team and breaks world records in his free time? Find out more about Mäx Stöckl

30 FEATURE

with its transformation into a motorsport capital

Abu Dhabi is wowing

32 ROOKIES

Fresh, young and

talented: how the four new race pilots made it into the world championship and what their background is

38 PROFILES

42 THE PLANE

A detailed look at the mechanics of the MXS-R

44 THE COCKPIT view

Close-ups of all 15 Red Bull Air Race pilots

Take a seat in Peter Besenyei’s race plane and get the pilot’s

46 RACE CALENDAR

Championship stops this year

Find out where the Red Bull Air Race World

48 RULES AND RACE FORMAT

More about

the rules and regulations of the race as well as an explanation of the race format

50 LOCATION

another promising season of the Red Bull Air Race World Championship. A great deal has changed since the title decider in Perth, Australia, last year. We are starting 2009 with more pilots and a subsequent revamp of the rules. Also, many of the planes have been highly modified during off-season – so expect the competition to be more closely fought than ever before.

As the official Red Bull Air Race World Championship magazine, we’ll be here to keep you up-to-date with every development. We’ll also bring you behind-the-scenes insights into the travelling crew that is the Red Bull Air Race, as well as fresh and exciting interviews and features with the pilots and their teams. You can also keep up to date with the latest issue of the magazine online at www.redbullairrace.com Meanwhile, in this first edition of the year we introduce you to the new pilots, we travel with reigning champion Hannes Arch to his training base in South Africa; we get the pilots to pose some pretty revealing questions to former champion Mike Mangold and we show you the planes, and explain the rules and the format for this breathtaking motorsport.

We’re looking forward to a great season of competition, and we hope you’ll enjoy the Red Bull Air Race World Championship along with us.

The editors

All you need to know about the race location for an exciting Race Day

IMPRINT THE RED BULLETIN GMBH, Heinrich-Collin-Straße 1, 1140 Vienna, Austria e-mail: redbullairracemagazine@at.redbulletin.com Managing Directors Karl Abentheuer, Bernd Fisa Project Director Jürgen Eckstein Editors in Chief Robert Sperl, Nadja Žele Editor Matt Youson Contributors Alan Ewens, Dalal Harb, Werner Jessner, Rana Mouawad Art Directors Erik Turek, Markus Kietreiber Designers Claudia Drechsler, Dominik Uhl Photo Editor Markus Kucera Illustrators Almut Becvar, James Greenhow, Dieter Kainrath, Seso Media Group Producers Michael Bergmeister, Wolfgang Stecher Proof Readers Nancy James, Sarah Thomas Lithography Josef Mühlbacher, Clemens Ragotzky Printed by Offset 5020, Bayernstraße 27, A-5072 Siezenheim www.redbulletin.com RED BULL AIR RACE MAGAZINE

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SENSATION Lucky spectators get a close-up view of the action.

In 2008 more than 3.2 million fans worldwide enjoyed this amazing experience in person.

Photography: Daniel Grund

PAUL BONHOMME, ABU DHABI, APRIL 2008

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TOUR DE FORCE ROOKIES

Navigating at low level through Air Gates and at speeds of up to 370kph is no easy task. Race pilots must be in top physical and mental shape to succeed.

Photography: Balazs Gardi

PETER BESENYEI, BUDAPEST, AUGUST 2008

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PACE

Only the world’s most skilful pilots can cope with the demands of this amazing motorsport. They fly agile, lightweight 350hp planes and pull up to 12G

Photography: Joerg Mitter

HANNES ARCH, ROTTERDAM, JULY 2008

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2008

REVIEW

BULLEVARD

Perth

Abu Dhabi

Hannes Arch is World Champion.

The title is his after Qualifying.

Bonhomme takes a consolation with 2008 race victory number four.

A new plane and a slimline Arch – 10kg lighter – surprises 250,000 fans by getting second, behind an all-conquering Bonhomme.

San Diego

Bonhomme maintains his form. Mangold and Chambliss follow in his slipstream.

Guess who’s fourth? Arch! Witnesses of this exciting thriller: the cast of Scrubs.

Detroit

750,000 cheer on the first US victory of 2008. Chambliss shuts out Bonhomme in the final.

Arch takes third.

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Pos Pilot

Nationality Plane

Points

1 Hannes Arch

AUT

Edge 540

61

2 Paul Bonhomme

GBR

Edge 540

54

3 Kirby Chambliss

USA

Edge 540

46

4 Mike Mangold

USA

Edge 540

44

5 Peter Besenyei

HUN

Edge 540

34

6 Steve Jones

GBR

Edge 540

33

7 Nigel Lamb

GBR

MXS�R

30 21

8 Alejandro Maclean ESP

MXS�R

9 Nicolas Ivanoff

FRA

Extra 300SR 19

10 Michael Goulian

USA

Edge 540

16

11 Sergey Rakhmanin RUS

Edge 540

2

12 Glen Dell

Edge 540

0

RSA

PREVIEW

2009

Rotterdam

Super Paul is on top again, Arch (second) catches up slowly but surely.

Bonhomme’s pal Steve Jones (third) tastes podium air.

In front of his fanbase Bonhomme loses his nerve. Pylon-Hit! The delighted winner: Chambliss, who turns the World Championship duel into a three-horse race.

Budapest

600,000 watch the classic on the Danube. And the winner is? Arch! The Austrian celebrates his first-ever win.

Porto

The downfall! 650,000 witness the disqualification of Bonhomme. Arch wins again. The standings: 54 Arch; 45 Bonhomme.

Photography: Markus Kucera (2)

London

Photography: Balazs Gardi (3), Daniel Grund, Markus Kucera, Joerg Mitter, Christian Pondella

It’s season four of the Red Bull Air Race World Championship and one name stands out: Hannes Arch. The former BASE-jumper grabs the title in only his second season. As incredible as this is, equally unbelievable is the déjà vu that strikes Paul Bonhomme.

The runner-up of 2007 is runner-up again in 2008. How can this be, after everything looked so promising for him in the first half of the season?

Bonhomme was racing like a rocket, winning three races out of four, almost unbeatable. But then his home race in London beckoned. A devastating pylon hit left him 7th. Third place in Budapest was followed by the disaster of Porto: 10th place and zero points for the former master of consistency.

The season’s talking point started in Qualifying 1. In the turning manoeuvre Bonhomme exceeded the 12G maximum load and was disqualified.

The consequence: last starting position in a degrading Point One session, where he passed an Air Gate at an incorrect level. A nightmare from which Paul found himself incapable of waking. “Losing is frustrating. I think the competitive element is brilliant – as long as you win.” Will he manage to do so this time?

FINAL STANDINGS 2008

Abu Dhabi, a blood-pumping premiere.

It’s a spin of the roulette wheel: will it be red or black? Or rather, will it be the Edge 540 or the MXS-R? With only six races, this season is the shortest ever. Whoever goes well here, has a big chance to be successful in the US and Canada, too. Abu Dhabi will provide answers to off-season questions. Especially for the teams who are trusting new planes. Hall, Rakhmanin and Besenyei have placed their bets on the MXS-R. They worked together at the manufacturer’s base in North Carolina during the winter break.

And Maclean’s plane was the subject of their attention. He and Lamb raced the MXS-R prototype in 2008 and what was then an overweight, petulant plane has now – rumour has it – been transformed into an agile panther.

The first signs that the MXS-R was getting stronger, sooner than expected were evident at the final race of 2008, Lamb taking second in Perth. He is the only MXS-R pilot who did his homework in England before coming to Abu Dhabi. Has he created the new silver bullet? Or will the combined ingenuity of the other four teams have the power? What about the rest of the field, racing the Edge 540? Will they laugh last and loudest? We’ll find out. Here and now.

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business

I’m involved with a company called Global Composite Solutions than manufactures parts for aircraft and aircraft themselves.

It’s an ongoing development thing. We’ve just built an aircraft that’s 20 per cent lighter than it’s predecessor: exactly the same in every other respect, but with improvements that allowed us to save 100kg. We build cargo parts, seats, radomes… and also the Slick aircraft. The idea of which was to create a low-cost, highperformance aerobatic plane that was able to compete with the best in the world, but at half the operating cost. I think we’re 90 per cent there.

I fly mostly planes from just prior, or just after WWII. Planes such as the J3 Cub, which was used for training in America; the Chipmunk, which was used for training the RAF; the Bücker Jungmann which was used for training the German Air Force. I fly the Tiger Moth as well, and many others. It’s a privilege to be able to fly them.

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I love food from all around the world. One of the few things I don’t like is salads – which of course is what I eat a lot of now because of the weight and health benefits. I’d like to eat as much as possible – and I would if I could, but weight is a factor. If you’re 1kg overweight and pulling 12G, that’s an extra 12kg you’re lugging around the sky. Guys are prepared to spend $10,000 shedding 3kg off their race plane, when they have 4kg sitting around their tummy.

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ows Hopefully in betw een the races I’ll get back to South Africa to fly in as many airshows as I can. It will be us eful to keep my G-tolerance up. It was a prob lem for me last year. Going somewhere like London, after ha ving not raced for a while you feel that yo u’re not as G-fit as you shou ld be. So I’ll do as much aerobatic flying as I can.

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Civil AviAtion

Everybody thinks I came to air racing from the South African Air Force, but I was in the SAAF for eight years between 1980 and 1987. From there I went to South African Airways. So I’ve been an airline pilot for 21 years – which is quite a bit more than my time in the military.

A Rookie last year, South African Glen Dell returns to the Red Bull Air Race a more experienced competitor – but his head is still definitely in the clouds.

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Photocredit

What’s in your head?

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Illustrations: Almut Becvar, Dietmar Kainrath

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VITO vs.WADE 2

1

LIFESTYLE 1 Peter Besenyei has a special training method before the race.

He surrounds himself with female energy 2 There are always plenty of goodlooking fans when Red Bull Air Race touches down in the city 3 That’s love!

At least partial. Hannes Arch is very attractive to the ladies 4 What’s the best thing to do before it’s your turn on Race Day? Well, lean back and relax.

Nicolas Ivanoff does that by watching TV 5 David Crosby enjoys the San Diego race action together with some friends 6 Le Mans legend Derek Bell feels every move made by the pilots who are fighting it out on the race track 7 You have to be a tough reporter to try your luck with Mike Mangold

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Photography: Daniel Grund, Markus Kucera (5), Joerg Mitter (2), www.wunschel.de

Vito Wyprächtiger, Hannes Arch’s technician, wants to find out what mods Wade Hammond, Paul Bonhomme’s technician made during the off-season. He asks, Wade answers.

I heard that you had some good help with the work on your plane...

Did you get some help with aerodynamics or was it just engine stuff?

Is this person that I’ve heard had helped you an aerodynamic guy?

Is he located in a desert?

How much flying have you done up till now?

To be more specific, how much time do you have on the engine?

New or old? How much? Percentage…

What do you think about the cooling of the engine this year in comparison with last year?

Are you confident that you’ll be able to keep up with us? Or even overtake us?

In which direction do you think we’re heading in the technical part of the Red Bull Air Race?

What are your expectations about the other guys? Pilots and planes...

Some great help. Thank you for asking!

We’ve had help with everything from the tailwheel through to the spinner and we’ve done some painting, too.

Actually, he won’t fly as he is not aerodynamic enough... if we bolted on some wings and an engine he might take-off at the correct speed.

No, he is in a hangar.

We’ve flown six hours.

Six hours since we arrived back in the States.

The six hours we’ve done were new hours before we flew, but now they are old hours.

We think the same... the air approaches, cools the engine and then leaves.

We’d like to thank the air for cooling our engine.

We’re confident that when we’re all in the hangar, we’ll be exactly level with you... when we leave the hangar, we’ll either be behind, in front or level with you.

It’ll all depend on the throttle settings (that’s the lever that controls the engine).

We think we’re heading in a direction which is in regard to the technical part... unless it’s lunchtime, when we would be heading to the restaurant part.

We think they will all fly around with a pilot in each plane. It is unlikely that they will win without a plane or a pilot.

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HERO

MAIL TO

MIKE

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in Thailand, but it was a very interesting experience. Going to Russia, seeing the country and meeting the people there was pleasantly surprising, because they are the same as everywhere else. Everybody is trying to put food on the table, to make a living and have a home. They are very warm people. We had a great time in Anapa. In Moscow, however, it was like in every big city, it’s just very fast, very impersonal, a lot of police around, everything is watched and governed.

Going to the country by the Black Sea was very nice for us. Vodka was just great. We don’t get real Russian Vodka where I live in the USA, it’s a totally different taste. It’s almost like a liquor or wine over there; in the States it’s like drinking cleaning fluid.

Peter Besenyei: Did you give any hints or tips to Tom Cruise when he starred in the Top Gun movie?

Mike: I met Tom Cruise one time, briefly, at the Apple Valley Airport. He was in and

out frequently in the last months of 2008, working on a flying movie out in the local deserts. I was busy working and flying my jet racer and could only wave as we crossed paths on the taxiway. My advice for him now: 1. Be careful who drives your aerobatic plane around the airport, because a deceased mutual friend, Randy Gagne, taxied Tom’s Pitts biplane into a fire hydrant a few years ago; 2. Regarding the Top Gun Military lifestyle – less volleyball, motorcycles, and women, more time studying the weapon systems, tactics, and the enemy!

Alejandro Maclean: Mike, what would you have done differently in your life if you had had the chance?

Mike: The list is so long, where do we start? Overall, I accept where I am right now. You can’t cry over spilled milk. You can’t turn back the hands of time. Sure we would like to, but that’s just life, that’s the way it is. I’m not living in the past. I will

Photography: Markus Kucera

Nicolas Ivanoff: Are you really sure that I will be faster than you this year?

Mike: Comment allez-vous? Parlez vous Français? For sure, Nicolas, you are always faster than me, especially when it comes to swimming. You are the fastest swimmer out there, so why not the fastest pilot? Seriously I am not sure, I don’t know which plane you are going to fly. Do you have your new Edge, and are you flying it, and which engine and which propeller, and do you know how to fly it?

Maybe I can help you learn how to fly the plane. But I am sure that one day you are going to be faster than me.

Sergey Rakhmanin: Mike, I heard that you took part in the world’s largest skydiving formation in 1996, in Anapa, Russia. Could you please tell us some more about it?

Mike: What we did in 1996 was a record.

They’ve gone bigger now, they got 350 skydivers together to make the formation

Photography: Markus Kucera

The 14 other pilots were given the chance to put their trickiest questions to twice Red Bull Air Race World Champion (2005 and 2007) Mike Mangold.

These are his answers…

certainly learn from my mistakes and not have those occur again, but I’d take the same path and be right here again.

Hannes Arch: Mike, would you like to ask me a question?

Mike: Let’s see if I can come up with a good philosophical question for you. What is the most important aspect or member of a Red Bull Air Race World Champion team? I’ll provide some choices: is it the pilot, the technician, the plane or the sponsor? What really is crucial for one to become a world champion?

Paul Bonhomme: … when are you going to come up with a new hand signal for the start of each race?

Mike: I have a new one for 2009, but I won’t reveal it yet. It has to develop. It has to have meaning, it has to have a history.

I will have it. But I won’t reveal it before the championship starts, it’s a secret.

Kirby Chambliss: Mike Mangold, what did you do to your engine in 2007 that made the plane so strong?

Mike: In 2007? You know what I did. Ask Mike Moore. You are asking the wrong guy, Kirby. It’s a secret, we can’t tell you what we did. But I can tell you that we took it to Avworks.

Pete McLeod: What car do you drive?

Mike: This is going to sound bad... I have two cars. But they are old cars. I have a Ford truck and an Infinity.

Glen Dell: What percentage would you consider is luck, skill and aircraft performance in the winning of a race?

Mike: I reckon it’s 60 per cent aircraft, 20 per cent pilot, 20 per cent luck.

Matthias Dolderer: What do you think of us four Rookies, any worries or suggestions for us?

Mike: Yeah! Stay alive!! We are all very concerned, because we have all been there and we all know what it’s like to see other pilots flying the track. Other pilots you think don’t have the skills that you have, other pilots you think you are better than. But it’s about experience, it’s about having tricks in your bag when something goes wrong. So we are all very worried, because we don’t want to see anything happen to you guys. I think the number one attitude is, as a Rookie, not to try to win a race, not to go as fast as you can, you just have to tell yourself, “I am just going to stay alive, I am not going to hit anything and I am not going to kill myself.” Do a few races like that and then get your fangs out and then go for it.

Nigel Lamb: I’ve read an article in which you say you would challenge any pilot to a fitness test. So how confident are you on aerobic endurance?

Mike: A lot of people put words in my mouth that I’ve never said. But I don’t care, it sells the magazines, or whatever!

Here’s what I would say… I’m not saying that I’m the fittest, I’m not saying that I could beat everybody in any test, I’m just saying that physical fitness is a priority in my life and I think that I am not the worst nor am I the best, but I am above average for my age. As for aerobic endurance, I’d go as far as my body would allow me, but I know my limitations. The problem is that the body doesn’t allow me to do what it used to, but I would stack-up with anybody of my age with no problem.

Michael Goulian: Were you born ugly or did you just get that way over time :-)?

Mike: It comes with time! All babies are

cute, but then over time the face droops – that’s all the Gs and that’s happening to you, too. It catches up with all of us pilots.

Everything droops.

Matt Hall: Do you find the apex at the leading-edge wing root on your Edge effective?

Mike: The winglets? That’s a one-word answer: No. Yoshihide Muroya: Do you have a special technique from your Top Gun experience?

Mike: Yes, that is part of what allowed me to win every time out on the track at my first race in 2004. I posted the fastest times over the others, in practice and during all the race heats. I flew like my life depended on every manoeuvre, it was a ‘style’ the other pilots did not embrace or understand. This style carried on to my full Rookie season in 2005, when I won the World Championship. I flew like a Top Gun pilot.

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Hannes arcH tHe man to beat portrait

Words: Matt Youson

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Photography: Julian Broad

P Photography: Julian Broad hotography: Julian Broad

Hannes Arch, reigning Red Bull Air Race World Champion, comes to Abu Dhabi fresh from a training camp in South Africa.

In between workouts and overseeing the preparation of his 2009 race plane he found time to discuss his swift ascent from Rookie to World Champion.

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portrait With mental preparation as important as physical, Arch doesn’t leave his state of mind to chance: staying positive is part of the workload.

annes Arch is quite open in saying he doesn’t pay much attention to interview questions during his media slots on race weekends. He is, he says, much too busy concentrating on racing; anything else simply goes in one ear and out the other.

But here, sat on the veranda of the Kiyuku Game ranch, outside the South African city of Pretoria, he has a little more time for reflection. With his plane undergoing modifications and grounded for the foreseeable future, and his physical fitness regime on track, he has time on his hands and is happy to share.

For those who watched last year, Hannes’ eventual triumph was somewhat anti-climatic. The combination of victory for Arch and the disqualification of title favourite Paul Bonhomme at the penultimate round in Portugal left the Austrian pilot needing a solitary point from the final race in Perth: a point he virtually guaranteed by qualifying in the top eight. On race day he simply needed to show up and avoid disqualification.

From the outside it looked like a walk in the park; from Hannes’ perspective the

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experience was rather different.

“The lead-up to the race was difficult; mentally, it was the hardest time of the whole year. Before the race in Porto I never thought about winning the championship, I wasn’t losing sleep turning over possible scenarios. I was simply doing my job and was really very happy just to be near the top. There wasn’t any pressure on me at all. Then after Porto I was suddenly in the lead.”

“The worst part of it all was people congratulating me, as though I’d already won the Championship. Every time that happened it reminded me how easy it would be to screw the whole thing up.

People were making positive comments, but in my head they were only provoking negative thoughts – and this went on for six weeks in between the races! The only way to cope was to actively fight it; to think positively: imagine myself flying well; imagine my technician preparing a fast plane.”

It’s an attitude that Hannes hopes will serve him well again this year in his title defence, though the new Championship

will offer different challenges to the old.

Gone are the head-to-head battles, in their place a simpler, probably more equitable series of timed runs will decide the winner from those qualified to compete on Race Day. As is the case in most sports, the reigning World Champion has arguably the most to lose from any change. In this instance, however, Hannes Arch enthuses about the new system.

“The problem of racing head-to-head was that your time was only valid for that one confrontation. It meant the overall champion wasn’t necessarily the pilot with the fastest time on the day.

In Perth, I remember flying against Alejandro [Maclean] and setting comfortably the fastest time on Race Day in a battle to decide third place. It was a little bit disappointing. I think the rules should honour the fastest pilot, and the new format will take better care of that.

It should improve things for spectators and TV also, because the results are immediate: the fastest guy wins and it will be clear to everyone. Ultimately, I

Photography: Julian Broad

“If you’re trying to beat the man rather than the time, then you’re racing for pride. If you’re too proud you can’t learn.”

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PORTRAIT

…meanwhile Arch waits pensively, keen to get into the air and begin his G-force acclimatisation process in readiness for the start of the 2009 Red Bull Air Race World Championship.

think that’s better for the sport.”

Arch’s dislike of the head-to-head element perhaps stems from his background. Unlike the rest of the field, all of whom have defined their careers in powered aviation, Hannes made a name for himself as an extreme sports polymath, a professional in the fields of hang gliding, paragliding, mountaineering and BASE jumping.

When compared to air racing they are, he concedes, a very different set of experiences.

“Until the Red Bull Air Race, I didn’t know if I was a good competitor… good at competing against other people. My other sports have an element of togetherness. I’d try to perform at my best, but it was never me versus the other guy. In climbing, for example, if the other guy needs help, you help.

Equally if he felt he needed to be first to the top, I’d let him get up there first. In extreme sports you really are there for each other. There’s competition, of course, but usually it’s to do something no one else has done; to succeed where

alive. Ultimately it’s about learning to be fast, because at the start you really don’t know anything. You think you do, but actually you don’t.

At the beginning of the 2007 season I had high hopes. I was European Aerobatics Champion and I entered the Red Bull Air Race World Championship thinking ‘OK guys, here I come.’ The reality in that first race was I struggled to fly the course using the right line. And so from that moment onwards I totally changed my mindset. I told myself to forget about winning and to forget about the rankings and to simply observe. And that’s what I did all year. I watched everyone else, probably more than they knew. I watched how they treated their technicians, how they worked on their planes and on their tactics.

“At the end of the year I was able to put all of that experience into a pot, and add a few ingredients of my own: from my experience as an athlete I was able to add a lot of mental preparation. I think for some of the other guys mental preparation is about thinking ‘I’m a good

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others have failed. It isn’t to beat anybody. The Red Bull Air Race is totally different. It’s like running a 100m race: you line up alongside the other guy and you simply have to be faster than him.

Until I did this I never knew if I had that sort of competitive nature.”

Even now, as World Champion, Arch chooses not to see himself competing against other pilots, only against other times. It’s a subtle distinction, but one that come out of a very definite philosophy of racing. “I look at the numbers, not the people. ‘Was the time faster than my time? Where was it faster? What can I learn from studying it?’ If you’re trying to beat the man rather than the time, then you’re racing for pride, and I think if you’re too proud you can’t learn: you become caged, unable to see the positives in other people. If you want to go further, you have to look around and see the qualities in the people around you.

“It isn’t an attitude that makes me uncompetitive. Actually, I think it is what enables me to compete – because I don’t

see myself flying against enemies. I’m surrounded by pilots I can look up to.

I know I’m not the best, most skilful pilot out there. There are plenty who have been flying far longer than me and have skills and experience that I can learn from.”

The final standings of the 2008 Red Bull Air Race World Championship would suggest that Arch is being unduly modest. He explains away the inconsistency with the assertion that racing isn’t solely won in the air. “It really isn’t all about flying skills. There’s tactics and preparation and attitude and teamwork. I think I won last year because I did my homework better than anyone else – basically I think my advantage was that I’m a workaholic.”

Much of the groundwork for Hannes’ eventual success in 2008 was laid down during his Rookie campaign the previous year. It was, he says, a time to watch and learn. “This isn’t like racing cars. The first year is only about learning. It’s like being thrown into cold water: you have to figure out how to swim; how to stay

Photography: Julian Broad

The wrapper comes off: Arch’s modified Edge 540 nears completion in the hangar at Wonderboom Airport near Pretoria…

“I watched everyone else, probably more than they knew. I watched how they treated their technicians.”

pilot.’ For me, in the off-season it’s the opposite: my attitude is always to think ‘I’m not good – I have to improve.’ And so I used the winter to prepare mentally as well as physically and technically. I have a mental trainer who helps me, but I also needed to get my environment right. That included little things like having team clothes that felt good, but also big things like hiring an excellent, young technician [Vito Wyprächtiger]

who approaches the plane with an open mind.”

Hannes entered the 2008 season confident that his preparations had given him a fast plane and a good chance of improving his end-of-year ranking. What he didn’t expect, so he claims, is to find himself flying in the first final, here in Abu Dhabi. “And I just wasn’t ready for it. My expectations were that I could break into the midfield; if I could finish RED BULL AIR RACE MAGAZINE

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PORTRAIT

the season in the middle of the pack that would be great. Of course I intended to get to the top, but I really thought it would take longer, because this is a serious business and success doesn’t come easily. And because I wasn’t expecting to compete in the final, I screwed it up.”

It was a trait that would continue throughout the first half of the season.

Arch was never out of the top four, but never able to stand on the top step of the podium either. His own evaluation was that he risked too much in the latter stages of each event, lacking the discipline needed to win. “I was getting ready to win in the first half of the season, but mentally I wasn’t quite there,” he explains.

Success finally arrived in August, Arch beating Steve Jones above the Danube in front of a massive crowd in Budapest, Hungary. “Before the race I was thinking ‘Budapest could be my race.’ I wasn’t entirely happy thinking like that, I didn’t believe I should be reaching out in that way. But at the same time I believed I

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had the power to do it. When I won, that convinced me that the difference really was all in the head.”

It meant Hannes Arch and world championship favourite Paul Bonhomme went to the penultimate race neck-andneck in the standings. Arch says, despite having taken his maiden Red Bull Air Race victory, he still felt like the apprentice rather than the master, and ultimately that worked to his advantage.

“I think because I was still fairly new to the race, I never treated qualifying as a lesser session. I was always afraid of being kicked out. I wasn’t necessarily trying to win races, but I did think that I could at least make the final four – and I was always conscious of qualifying being really important. I think Paul – who has been racing a couple of years longer than me – treated qualifying as a piece of cake. He didn’t think about it seriously and just went out to set a fast time. He was disqualified for pulling more than 12G. And it wasn’t necessary: he was flying so well he could have cruised through the course and qualified

easily. My mindset on the other hand was more along the lines of ‘don’t screw-up, don’t screw-up, don’t race on the limit, just qualify. I qualified OK, I went on to win the race and suddenly I was nine points ahead with only the race in Perth left.”

And despite his doubts Arch did score the point he needed in the Western Australian capital. In fact, he scored seven points, finishing third and maintaining his record of having reached at least the semi-finals in every round of the 2008 Championship.

And now, for Arch, the situation has changed. Having been Rookie and underdog, he now has to cope with being the man to beat. In this, as in everything else, he’s philosophical. “I’ve been working out ways to deal with the pressure, and I’ve come to the conclusion that you can’t fight against it. I can’t run away, I can’t avoid it, so I’ve got to use it. I’ve got to use all of that energy and make myself even stronger – because this year the competition is going to be tougher than ever.”

Photography: Julian Broad

“I’ve been working out ways to deal with pressure, and I’ve come to the conclusion that you can’t fight against it.”

report I know what you did last weekend: Mäx Stöckl back at the Red Bull Air Race after a weekend on the downhill track (check out the cast).

S He builds things up at the Red Bull Air Race, but in private he’s going downhill fast: 35-year-old Mäx Stöckl’s day job is team captain of the set-up crew; as a sideline he owns MS Racing, one of the world’s most professional mountainbike downhill teams.

Words: Werner Jessner

Photography: Markus Kucera

Mäx Power

ummer, mid-1990s, on an ordinary Saturday somewhere in the mountains of Austria. A VW bus works its way into the paddock at the Austria Extreme Cup, the national mountain bike downhill series.

Downhill is still in its infancy here and the country can only hope the sport’s phenomenal development worldwide, with huge factory teams like VolvoCannondale, Sunn-Chipie and Trek VW, live TV broadcasts and thousands of spectators lining the course, will be replicated here. The scene is informal; people help each other out with equipment, sit together at the barbecue in the evening and sleep in tents. Where else? The race tracks are basic; only the best have decent facilities. When the then national champion, Markus Frühwirth, appears with a suspension fork featuring incredible 10cm spring, he causes the same stir a World Rally car would in a supermarket car park. The Tyrolean in the VW bus stands out in three ways: he doesn’t have a hairstyle, just a lot of hair on his head. He’s always the last into the paddock. And his bike is still covered in last weekend’s dirt.

Once on his bike, Markus, who’s known as Mäx, embodies the mad-dog Tyrolean. In downhill racing, it’s essential to find hidden lines and to red bull air race magazine

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REPORT

“Mäx lives off his job at the Red Bull Air Race. The bike team is his expensive hobby.”

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benefit race for a fellow rider who’d been in an accident. He has always held onto the spirit of the paddock, which marks him out among the racers. Opponents on the track they may be, but before and after the race they are friends.

On a trip to Aspen in America (Mäx was there advising racers Axel Naglich and Christopher Reindl) he came across Intense, a cult US bike brand and began to think about forming his own MS Racing outfit. The team has grown and Mäx has employed big names in the scene, developed a keen sense for emerging brands, grown, invested… and all this in addition to his minimum of 40 hours a week at the Red Bull Air Race.

And he has never given up riding; the hard work during a race week is his

weight training. “At the start of the season, you’re still torturing yourself with 80kg weights and in the autumn you’re piling them high yourself,” he says, demonstrating how he’s earned his bearlike physique.

His World Cup team keeps getting bigger. Stöckl has turned MS Racing into the definitive team – alongside Intense – in the worlds of downhill, 4 Cross and Dirt Jump, at least as far as professionalism and performance are concerned. Chris Kovarik, Anneke Beerten, Mio Suemasa, Darren Pokoj are all huge names on the scene. Base camp is a reconfigured red and black doubledecker bus, the awning of which is as big again. It gives MS Racing an aura of polished expertise, firmly establishing

Photography: Tom Hauke

A super-stylish promotion folder for the start of MS Evil Bikes: “Hear no... see no... speak no evil.” Messrs Polc, Smith (below at work) and Lehikoinen are the big names in the scene.

The MS team stand sets standards in the World (centre left). Above: Mäx at the Austrian National Championship on the Semmering.

That’s where he acquired the cast (see previous page).

Photography: Ian Hylads

know the exact speed each section will tolerate. Which is hard when you’ve just arrived and have to go out on your seeding run straight away. Given his lack of preparation, we’ve got to admit that Mäx was very quick. But he’s more spectacular than fast; that’s what stands out when you think of Mäx and downhill.

As he puts it himself, “I wasn’t fast for long: 30 seconds max.” But at least he makes the most of the chance for a juicy stunt. Limited preparation is a fact of life when you need to balance work and play: Mäx goes racing to relax; but he has a professional life also.

As time has gone on the races have got tougher; at the Red Bull Hill Thrill in Engelberg, a 24-hour downhill race, Mäx rode 24 hours nonstop, unheard of back then. He also took up speed-biking: in 1998, he set a world record for standard mountain bikes of 187.4kph and won a race on the ice tube at Cortina, in Italy.

Mäx is always at the forefront of any fooling around.

The speed-loving wild child is far removed from the other side of Mäx Stöckl: now a manager and events organiser. He has organised an Austria Extreme Cup in St Gilgen on a track that was tougher than tough, exactly to his liking, in other words, and a 24-hour

the professional nature of downhill racing is a way that harks back to that enjoyed by the top teams during the sport’s explosive heyday of the late1990s. But it has to be, “How can I convince a sponsor that he should give me money when I’m there in the paddock with a clapped-out old tent and a rusty bus?” says Mäx. There’s that famous hospitality which he has managed to transfer seamlessly from his early days in the Austrian forest to the professional circus.

As far as the sport was concerned, Mäx had just one piece of unfinished business: he wanted to reclaim the speed record for Austria; it having been previously taken by a French rider. There was a track in La Parva, Chile. In 2007 Mäx borrowed

Kovarik’s bike, pulled on a helmet, squeezed himself into a plastic suit and hit a speed of 210.4kph. “The wind pressure was so high I thought my nose would break,” reveals Mäx. A year later he had swapped prima donna downhill legend Chris Kovarik for the captivating and charismatic Finn Matti Lehikoinen, he also managed to injure his arm at the Austrian championships of Semmering.

But the cast didn’t get in the way of his work for the Red Bull Air Race. Although observers do claim to have noticed rapid wear and tear to the cast when bear-like Stöckl occasionally had to put pressure on his injured left arm at work. But not going to work was never an option.

The MS-Intense partnership appeared to be something like McLaren and

Mercedes in Formula One. Once Mäx had realised that things could, indeed had to get better, he produced a new set-up for 2009. He has provided Matti Lehikoinen with two new team-mates: Canadian Stevie Smith and Slovak champion Filip Polc. There is the brand new Evil Bikes, behind which lies the genius of Dave Weagle, who helped Australia’s Sam Hill become a downhill world champion and mountain bike legend.

In all these years Mäx has earned nothing from his team. Quite the contrary, in fact: he finances it from the work he does at the Red Bull Air Race.

So why do you do it, Mäx? “Because downhill is a great sport. And I’m trying, in my own way, to help it along a bit.”

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FEATURE

A PORTRAIT OF ABU DHABI

WORDS OF WELCOME

The host to the first round of the 2009 season, Abu Dhabi provides a stunning backdrop for the Red Bull Air Race. But there’s much more to this fascinating, city than simply a love of motorsport.

On behalf of the emirate of Abu Dhabi, it gives me great pleasure to welcome the pilots, teams and officials to the UAE capital for the opening round of the 2009 Red Bull Air Race World Championship.

Photography: Daniel Grund, Imago/Andreas Beil (3)

WORDS: ALAN EWENS, DALAL HARB, RANA MOUAWAD

Abu Dhabi is hosting the Red Bull Air Race World Championship for the fifth consecutive year.

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With a name that literally means ‘Father of the Gazelle’, Abu Dhabi is the capital of the United Arab Emirates, home to many of the world’s biggest oilproducing companies and a modern, fast-paced city rapidly becoming a firm favourite with discerning holidaymakers.

Year-round sunshine is an obvious plus for those looking for a relaxing break and racing adventures and the portfolio of world-class sporting occasions that play out on Abu Dhabi’s roads, skies and fairways is getting more and more impressive.

The first FIA Formula One Abu Dhabi Grand Prix will see the names of Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa, McLaren and Ferrari battle at the final race of the 2009 season. As well as a world-class race track, the 2,500-hectare Yas Island will boast signature hotels, a Ferrari theme park, a water park, a 300,000sq m retail area, golf courses, lagoon hotels, marinas and polo clubs to underline the city’s claim to be the motorsport hub of the region.

Add in the thrills and spills of the Red Bull Air Race World Championship, played out under the gaze of the stunning seven-star uber-luxurious Emirates Palace Hotel, as well as the eagles and birdies regularly on display at the European Tour’s Abu Dhabi Golf Championship and it’s plain to see when it comes to sporting occasions few reach the heights of the magnificent city of Abu Dhabi.

Following the outstanding success of the previous four Red Bull Air Races staged in the United Arab Emirates’ capital, the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority

The Abu Dhabi F1 circuit boasts an average speed of 198kph. The distinctive design that allows yachts to berth alongside the track is unique.

and the Red Bull Air Race have joined forces to confirm that the opening round of this unique world championship will be staged in the emirate for the next three years.

By committing to host round one for 2009, 2010 and 2011, the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority is yet again throwing its considerable weight behind a race that draws fans to the famed Corniche in their tens of thousands, while broadcasting the sights and sounds of the city to more than 100 million TV viewers worldwide.

But while the city’s own race gives a one-off slice of global exposure, the name of Abu Dhabi will continue to fly high throughout the 2009 season and at every race venue thanks to a partnership agreement between the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority and reigning Red Bull Air Race World Champion Hannes Arch, who as agreed to defend his title in an Abu Dhabi-branded plane.

With three-year event sponsorship in place and season-long support for Arch and his Edge 540 aircraft, the name of Abu Dhabi will remain a prominent fixture on the Red Bull Air Race calendar and cement its position as a true supporter and partner of one of the world’s truly innovative sporting brands.

It seems hard to believe this is the fifth time we have hosted what is without question one of the most exciting, demanding and entertaining motorsport events in the world. Every year it just gets bigger and better as Abu Dhabi continues to underline its position as an international venue for the biggest sporting events on the calendar.

This year we have more pilots and more aircraft than ever before as we celebrate a golden year for the Red Bull Air Race World Championship. It is fitting that this is a special edition of the series as 2009 is also the first time a Formula One Grand Prix will be staged here in Abu Dhabi.

Like in all the leading global motorsport championships, the Red Bull Air Race pilots help deliver television images of this great city into households from America to Australia, while providing a unique occasion for those of us fortunate enough to be here in person.

Both also play their part in the ongoing promotion of Abu Dhabi as a modern and vibrant tourist destination, so I am delighted the Red Bull Air Race World Championship and the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority have signed a three-year contract to confirm that the UAE capital will continue to host the opening round of this exciting championship in both 2010 and 2011.

All that remains for me is to wish you all a wonderful weekend of exciting competition. I trust our visitors will have a safe and enjoyable time and take away with them fond memories of Abu Dhabi – a city we are proud to call home.

HH Sheikh Hazza Bin Zayed Al Nayhan RED BULL AIR RACE MAGAZINE

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Halfway through Qualification Camp: Strict jury member Peter Besenyei observes the flight-line taken by prospective race pilot Matthias Dolderer.

P

ete McLeod, 25, Matt Hall, 37, Yoshihide Muroya, 36, and Matthias Dolderer, 38, have all trained meticulously to achieve their dream. They all knew exactly what they had to do to become race pilots: fly an astonishing number of hours, follow and analyse every single Red Bull Air Race, score points in the unlimited category at aerobatic championships, and get their bodies and minds in the best possible shape. Then it was as if the glorious highpoint of all this hardcore preparation happened by itself. Well, almost.

Anyone who wants to be a race pilot at the top of the sport has to be extraordinarily good. He either gets discovered by the people who run the World Championship or he applies. If he meets all the requirements, he will be invited to the Qualification Camp. In this ultimate test, any potential race pilot has to demonstrate physical and mental fitness but, more importantly, prove that he can fly through a complex race track both safely and dynamically. If he can convince the highly critical jury members, he’ll be given a Super Licence.

The certificate confirms that you’re a race pilot, but you’re still a long way from being a Rookie.

Only the world’s best pilots are invited to the Red Bull Air Race Qualification Camp. At the most recent session there were six of them: Canadian Pete McLeod, Matt Hall from Australia, Japan’s Yoshihide Muroya, the Finn Sami Kontio, François Le Vot from France and Matthias Dolderer from Germany. In September 2008, they took their final exam in Casarrubios del Monte, in Spain. The decision-making committee,

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A NEW WIND BLOWING

Four new guys are joining the pilot line-up this year. They’re the next generation. Young, tough and super talented. They look good and their flying’s not too bad, either. ˇ WORDS: NADJA ZELE

consisting of race director Drew Searle, director of aviation Heinz Möller, former race pilot Klaus Schrodt and Red Bull Air Race pilot Peter Besenyei watched the candidates like hawks. “They are all extremely talented and have years of experience in a variety of flying disciplines. Many of them trained for weeks for this with aerobatic ace Patrick Paris. I am amazed by their

performance,” explains Peter Besenyei.

He would gladly have issued a favourable report card to all six candidates, but Sami Kontio gambled away his chances by flying too low in the last, all-decisive round. For the uncompromising jury, such a mistake could have only one possible outcome. “Safety comes first for us. Our pilots have to fly extremely safely and be 100 per cent in control of their

Photography: Markus Kucera

ROOKIES

planes,” explains aviation director Heinz Möller, by way of justification.

Five pilots were given a Super Licence in 2008, but only four are now racing in the World Championship. “The Super Licence confirms that the pilot is on standby and could be ready to race within weeks,” Möller continues. This currently applies to François Le Vot. The 38-year-old Frenchman is the only one to

have received a Super Licence but not a cockpit. All he can do is hope that someone drops out of the championship early on.

For their first season, the four Rookies will do a lot of observing and try to put pressure on the more experienced race pilots, because you can’t become World Champion overnight. Or can you? The exceptions to that rule are Mike Mangold

and Hannes Arch. Mangold took the crown in his Rookie year in 2005, Arch reached the pinnacle of the sport in 2008, his second season. “Hannes showed that you don’t need 30,000 hours at the controls of an airliner to succeed,” Pete McLeod asserts. “My goal is to finish on the podium regularly in my second season and to win the title in three to five years.”

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ROOKIES

PETE MCLEOD

matthias dolderer

is 25: by far the youngest race pilot in the line-up. His first touch-down on terra firma was at the age of 16; before that he charged through the Canadian bush in floatplanes.

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flying nine years ago, he was ambitious from the beginning. “I like to compete, to have a goal, train for it and get the chance to show my skills. I am just so passionate about flying. I put all my energy into it and I’m happy.”

At 16 he was a pilot; at 18 he was teaching aerobatics and flying at aerobatic championships and airshows.

Since graduating three years ago, he has put all his efforts into becoming a part of the Red Bull Air Race World Championship. “The first time I saw the race on TV I knew without a doubt it was something I wanted to compete in. I enjoy freestyle aerobatics, but it lacks the competitive aspect that the race has.” He has prepared well for his debut in Abu Dhabi: flying, working out in the gym, eating healthily, sleeping and no skiing or ice hockey.

m

Photography: Markus Kucera

when we’re racing over water. It is a different skill-set that you have to develop,” explains the youngest pilot in the history of the Red Bull Air Race.

If McLeod hadn’t become a race pilot, he’d probably be an ice hockey pro by now. But he gave that up when he was 14. “It was a choice of priorities. I had to make the decision whether to stay and play the leagues or move away from home to join the higher leagues and become professional.” McLeod took hockey very seriously, but education was slightly more important, so he went to university and got a degree in economics.

“I still enjoy ice hockey, the game, but it’s kind of tough, because I was so serious before. It’s hard for me just to play for fun. I have high expectations of myself.”

Everything McLeod does he tackles full-on. When he committed to aerobatic

Photography: Markus Kucera

P

ete McLeod first came into contact with flying at the tender age of six weeks. His father gave him a bird’seye view of things and he’s happily been taking to the air ever since. “There are lots of lakes around my home, so it was just normal for me to start out float flying. You can get from A to B more easily in a plane than in a car where I live,” reveals McLeod.

As a teenager, McLeod earned pocket money by taking tourists on trips over Red Lake and the surrounding area, which, in his opinion, was perfect preparation for being a race pilot. “Bush flying is demanding. The environment is very dynamic, it always changes. You take off from your home-base, but the visibility, the light, the wind, boats and swimmers are always different. It is very similar to what we have to deal with

once dreamed of becoming a professional skier. Then he wanted to show Boris Becker how to play tennis properly. But then his hobby – flying – became his passion.

atthias grew up at an airport.

No, he didn’t have to cycle to get there, he lived right in the airport, surrounded by planes, a controltower, hangars and runways. “In 1993, my sister, Verena, and I took over our parents’ business. We started organising an ultralight fly-in on day one. To start with we had 10 planes, but there were more and more every year.” The ‘Undercover Ultralight Fly-In’ has become known as Tannkosh, the European equivalent of the EAA AirVenture Oshkosh in the US. In 2008, 1,300 planes landed at this otherwise largely unknown place. A 30-tonne Transall C-160 was just one of the aircraft parked on the grass at Tannheim Airport in Germany. This year the selection will be even bigger. Since Matthias Dolderer became German

aerobatic champion and a Red Bull Air Race Rookie, interest in the Dolderers’ flying school has soared. Everyone wants to be taught by him. But he has no time to give flying lessons now.

He hoped to get a place in this season’s World Championship, but didn’t think he was going to make it up in the air until the moment he was granted a Super Licence by the jury at the Red Bull Air Race Qualification Camp. He felt no pressure or nerves at any point during the extremely tough test in Spain. “When I flew through the track for the first time, I knew I’d done what I had to. All within a year! It’s proof that you can achieve anything when you want it enough and work hard for it,” he explains. But there wasn’t much time for him to celebrate his triumph. “A whole host of new

challenges suddenly presented themselves on top of the regular flight and fitness training: medical checks, team-building, taking care of branding and marketing, making sure the plane’s ready, devising strategies.”

When Matthias Dolderer cranks up the 540cc engine on his freshly-polished Edge for the race in Abu Dhabi and tears through the course, there’s one thing he doesn’t want, and that’s to come last.

Being there to make up the numbers is not what he’s about – and he’s been a spectator long enough. “I’ve flown side acts at Red Bull Air Races before. I was already thinking about how to get into the sport back in 2003, just as it was starting out.” His plan has succeeded.

OK, so Matthias Dolderer may not be a skiing or tennis star, but who cares really? His new job is far cooler. red bull air race magazine

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ROOKIES

YOSHIHIDE MUROYA

MATT HALL

is a rarity in Japan.

There are pilots, of course, but none quite like him. His desire to join the aviation elite seemed to come from nowhere, but that hasn’t held him back.

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Rakhmanin (0) and Dell (0). But in spite of his high expectations Muroya’s initial goal is still, “…to fly safely. For the first few races I’ll be concentrating on getting through the track cleanly.

After that, the goal will be the Super 8.”

Is Yoshihide Muroya typically Japanese – traditional, correct and cultured? “Yes, I probably am. At least I prefer to eat Japanese food as I don’t like anything else,” he explains with a laugh. He grew up in Tokyo and was a typical teenager – until he started going up in gliders, that is. How would he describe himself? “I put lots of energy into the things I want to do. It is important to have a goal and to pursue it relentlessly. I am living for fun, and I am just doing things I like.” In that respect he has something in common with World Champion Hannes Arch.

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Photography: Markus Kucera

ambitious. He spent two months of the year in America just so he could fly. He continued to devote time spent at home to gliding. In the meantime he also studied long-distance flight techniques in Australia. In the end, all his efforts paid off and Muroya became a race pilot, which means he’s even more of a rarity in Japan than he was before.

He has had his heart set on being part of the Red Bull Air Race since 2006.

Now, in his first season he wants to finish in the top eight twice and score at least eight championship points. If he manages that, it would be a fantastic start for a Rookie and he’ll be following in the footsteps of Mike Mangold and Michael Goulian. Mangold won the title in his first-ever season, Goulian scored 11 points, more than any other newcomer to date – Arch (3),

Photography: Markus Kucera

A

muro Ray, the 14-year-old hero of the Japanese animated series Mobile Suit Gundam, made Yoshihide want to fly when he was young. Like Amuro, he too wanted to fly around the universe in a mobile suit.

Around the same time, he had the opportunity to sit in the cockpit of a real plane. He was fascinated by the view, the instrument panel, the wings and the ability to fly all around the world. He knew instantly that this was his dream job and set about making it reality.

When he was 18 he took to the skies in a glider: not because he found proper planes uninteresting, but just because gliders were the cheaper alternative. A little later, now aged 20, he packed his bags, travelled to the USA and got himself a pilot’s licence. From that point on, Muroya became ever more

prefers to fly upside down – not. It’s an all-too-obvious joke. Until recently, the Australian was still a Royal Australian Air Force fighter pilot, now he wants to attack the midfield as quickly as possible.

ith over 1500 flight hours in a Hornet to his name, Hall has decided to take leave of the Air Force. He left his job as an RAAF Fighter Combat (Top Gun) Instructor in January to be a full-time race pilot. It was the end of an 18-year military career, but how did he get involved with flying in the first place? As his grandfather and father before him had both been pilots, it was not unusual for Matt Hall to spend a lot of time talking about planes and to spend time in them too. “My father was a private pilot. Ever since I can remember I was sitting next to him, flying, looking out of the window. I’ve been doing aerobatics with my dad since I was fairly young, of course not competition aerobatics, but loops and rolls.” And he only felt vaguely sick once: in a glider. “We were going round

and round and round and I couldn’t see out of the window because I was too small. But I wasn’t physically sick,” he remembers. His first solo flight was in a glider when he was 15; at 18 he gained his aircraft pilot’s licence. Matt has been flying aerobatics for many years, becoming more serious about competition and display aerobatics while on his US exchange. Many people know that Hall is a distinguished pilot, but what they probably don’t know is that flying’s gain is music’s loss. “I played trumpet and drums and guitar when I was younger. Not very well, though,” says Hall, who likes to listen to classical music in the evenings, rock music in the daytime and jazz on special occasions.

Hall hopes to shatter the notion that in the Red Bull Air Race, Rookies have

virtually no chance of challenging for the podium. He would like to be in the middle of the pack by the end of his first year. “My specific target for the 2009 season is to finish in the top 10 for at least half the races and to make it to the Final 4 at least once. Using my background as a fighter pilot, I think I have the chance to show a different style of flying on the track.” Matt’s motto is: “Never assume that you are the best at anything because the person you are talking to may be better than you. That reduces arrogance.” He’s also learned that in flying you achieve 80 per cent of what you set out to through mental preparation and visualisation.

“You can achieve as much in training by closing your eyes and visualising.”

Maybe it’ll help him reach the top, not just the midfield, quicker than he thinks.

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PROFILES

THE PILOTS Speed, precision and skill are the attributes needed by every Red Bull Air Race pilot if they’re going to be successful in this highly demanding royal league of aviation. Here they are, the fifteen heroes of the World Championship.

HANNES ARCH AUSTRIA, EDGE 540

KIRBY CHAMBLISS USA, EDGE 540

DATE OF BIRTH: September 22, 1967 BIRTHPLACE: Leoben, Styria, Austria HOME: Salzburg, Austria HOBBIES: mountaineering, climbing, music WEBSITE: www.hannesarch.com

DATE OF BIRTH: October 18, 1959 BIRTHPLACE: Corpus Christi, Texas, USA HOME: Flying Crown Ranch, Arizona, USA HOBBIES: skidiving, running, motocross WEBSITE: www.kirbychambliss.com CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: 2008: Red Bull Air Race World Championship, 3rd 2007: Red Bull Air Race World Championship, 4th 2006: Red Bull Air Race World Champion 2005: Red Bull Air Race World Championship, 3rd FAI World Aerobatic Championships, 3rd (solo and team) 2003: FAI World Aerobatic Championships, 2nd and 3rd 2000: Free Programme World Champion 1998: FAI World Aerobatic Championships, 2nd and 3rd 1997: International Aerobatic Champion 1979: First solo flight

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: 2008: Red Bull Air Race World Champion 2007: Red Bull Air Race World Championship, 10th 2006: European Champion in Freestyle Aerobatics 2005: Red Bull Air Race Race Director 2003: BASE jump, Matterhorn (SUI) 2000: BASE jump, Eiger North Face (SUI) 1991: Ascent of Mount Balrog and Mount London (Alaska) 1983: First solo flight WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2008: 1ST

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2008: 3RD

PAUL BONHOMME ENGLAND, EDGE 540 DATE OF BIRTH: September 22, 1964 BIRTHPLACE: Buckinghamshire, England HOME: Cambridgeshire, England HOBBIES: motorcycling, mountain-biking WEBSITE: www.teambonhomme.com

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: 2008: Red Bull Air Race World Championship, 5th 2007: Red Bull Air Race World Championship, 3rd 2006: Red Bull Air Race World Championship, 2nd 2005: Red Bull Air Race World Championship, 2nd FAI World Grand Prix, 1st 2001: FAI World Grand Prix, 1st 2000: Freestyle Aerobatics World Champion, Unlimited 1998: FAI World Grand Prix, 1st 1995: European Champion of the Compulsory Programme Freestyle Aerobatics European Champion, Unlimited 1994: Compulsory Programme World Champion 1972: First solo flight

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: 2008: Red Bull Air Race World Championship, 2nd 2007 : Red Bull Air Race World Championship, 2nd 2006: Red Bull Air Race World Championship, 4th 2005: Red Bull Air Race World Championship, 5th All FAI World Grand Prix results in the formation team category as the Sukhoi Duo/Matadors: FAI World Grand Prix SUI, 1st FAI World Grand Prix UAE, 3rd 2004: FAI World Grand Prix UAE, 1st 2002: FAI World Grand Prix CZE, 2nd FAI World Grand Prix JPN, 1st 2001: FAI World Grand Prix JPN, 2nd 2000: FAI World Grand Prix JPN, 1st 1981: First solo flight

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2008: 5TH

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2008: 2ND

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DATE OF BIRTH: September 15, 1970 BIRTHPLACE: Ochsenhausen, Germany HOME: Tannheim, Germany HOBBIES: tennis, skiing, cycling WEBSITE: www.matthiasdolderer.com

Photography: Daniel Grund

DATE OF BIRTH: June 8, 1956 BIRTHPLACE: Körmend, Hungary HOME: Herceghalom, Hungary HOBBIES: fishing, parachuting, photography, car racing WEBSITE: www.besenyeipeter.hu

MATTHIAS DOLDERER GERMANY, EDGE 540

Photography: Daniel Grund

PETER BESENYEI HUNGARY, MXS-R

GLEN DELL SOUTH AFRICA, EDGE 540 DATE OF BIRTH: April 9, 1962 BIRTHPLACE: Johannesburg, South Africa HOME: Kyalami, South Africa HOBBIES: vintage aircraft, helicopters WEBSITE: www.glendellaerobatics.com CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: Eight times South African National Aerobatic Champion (Advanced) 2008: Red Bull Air Race World Championship, 12th 2004 : FAI Advanced World Aerobatic Champion 2002: FAI Advanced World Aerobatic Championships, 10th 2000: FAI Advanced World Aerobatic Championships, 20th 1999: FAI Advanced World Aerobatic Championships, 5th 1995: FAI Advanced World Aerobatic Championships, 13th 1978: First solo flight WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2008: 12TH

MICHAEL GOULIAN USA, EDGE 540 DATE OF BIRTH: September 4, 1968 BIRTHPLACE: Winthrop, Massachusetts, USA HOME: Maynard, Massachusetts, USA HOBBIES: ice hockey, skiing, golf WEBSITE: www.mikegoulian.com

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: 2008 : Red Bull Air Race Qualification Camp, Super Licence German Aerobatic Championships – Freestyle, 2nd German Aerobatic Champion – Unlimited World Aerobatics Cup – Unlimited, 2nd European Aerobatic Championships – Unlimited, 19th 2007: World Aerobatic Championships – Unlimited 2006: German Aerobatic Championships – Advanced 1991: Microlight European Championships, German Champion 1990: Microlight World Championships 1988: Microlight European Championships 1988-1991: Microlight German Championships 1984: First solo flight

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: 2008: Red Bull Air Race World Championship, 10th 2007 : Red Bull Air Race World Championship, 8th Art Scholl Award for Airshow Showmanship, International Council of Airshows 2006: Red Bull Air Race World Championship, 5th 1998: Member of the US Aerobatics Team 1997: Member of the US Aerobatics Team 1996: Member of the US Aerobatics Team 1995: US Unlimited Champion Member of the US Aerobatics Team 1994: Member of the US Aerobatics Team 1991: Fond du Lac Cup, Winner 1990: US Advanced Champion 1984: First solo flight

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2009: Rookie

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2008: 10TH

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PROFILES MATT HALL AUSTRALIA, MXS-R

NICOLAS IVANOFF FRANCE, EDGE 540

MIKE MANGOLD USA, EDGE 540

DATE OF BIRTH: September 16, 1971 BIRTHPLACE: Scone, NSW, Australia HOME: Merewether, NSW, Australia HOBBIES: flying, exercise WEBSITE: www.matthallracing.com

DATE OF BIRTH: July 4, 1967 BIRTHPLACE: Paris, France HOME: Ajaccio, Corsica, France HOBBIES: flying, travelling, music WEBSITE: www.nicolasivanoff.com

DATE OF BIRTH: October 10, 1955 BIRTHPLACE: Cincinnati, Ohio, USA HOME: Victorville, California, USA HOBBIES: skydiving, racing jets, family WEBSITE: www.mikemangold.us

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: 2008 : Red Bull Air Race Qualification Camp, Super Licence 2006: Australian Aerobatic Champion – Advanced 2004: USAF F15E Exchange 2003: East Coast Aerobatic Championship – Sportsman, 1st USAF F15E Exchange 2002: USAF F15E Exchange 1999: Dux Fighter Combat Instructor (Top Gun) 1997: Fighter Pilot of the Year 1992: Military Wings 1986: First solo flight

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: 2008: Red Bull Air Race World Championship, 9th 2007 : Red Bull Air Race World Championship, 7th French Aerobatic Championships, 2nd 2006: Red Bull Air Race World Championship, 8th 2005: Red Bull Air Race World Championship, 7th 2004: French Aerobatic Championships, 2nd 2000: World Aerobatic Championships, 1st (team) 1988: Microlight European Championships 1983: First solo flight

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: 2008 : Red Bull Air Race World Championship, 4th Reno Air Races, 2nd Jet Class 2007 : Red Bull Air Race World Champion 2006: Red Bull Air Race World Championship, 3rd 2005: Red Bull Air Race World Champion 2004: World Air Games, 3rd (team) 2002: US Unlimited Aerobatics Point Series Champion World Air Games, 3rd (team) 2001: World Air Games, 3rd (team) 1977: First solo flight

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2009: Rookie

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2008: 4TH

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2008: 9TH

PETE MCLEOD CANADA, EDGE 540 DATE OF BIRTH: February 23, 1984 BIRTHPLACE: Kapuskasing, Ontario, Canada HOME: London, Ontario, Canada HOBBIES: ice hockey, outdoor sports WEBSITE: petemcleodaerosports.com CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: 2008 : Red Bull Air Race Qualification Camp, Super Licence European Aerobatic Championships, 12th 2007: Youngest unrestricted surface level display pilot 2006: US National Aerobatic Championships, 2nd BF Goodrich Award, Youngest Canadian Airshow performer 2004: North American Collegiate Aerobatic Champion Mid-America Series Champion Undefeated in 2004 with five 1st place finishes Four times winner of the Highest Scoring Pitts Award 2000: First solo flight WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2009: Rookie

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: Eight times British Unlimited Aerobatic Champion Four times British Freestyle Champion Member of the British team: Three World Aerobatic Championships Two European Championships 2008: Red Bull Air Race World Championship, 7th 2007: Red Bull Air Race World Championship, 9th 2006: Red Bull Air Race World Championship, 10th 2005: Red Bull Air Race World Championship, 10th 2000-2003: Breitling Fighters Display Team, manager and pilot 1994-1999: Golden Dreams Aerobatic Team Leader 1989-1993: Toyota Aerobatic Team Leader 1989: Masters of Aerobatics SA, 2nd 1985-1988: Marlboro Aerobatic Team Leader 1976: First solo flight WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2008: 7TH

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YOSHIHIDE MUROYA JAPAN, EDGE 540

SERGEY RAKHMANIN RUSSIA, MXS-R

DATE OF BIRTH: August 6, 1969 BIRTHPLACE: Madrid, Spain HOME: Pozuelo de Alarcon, Spain HOBBIES: skydiving, films, helicopters WEBSITE: www.teammaclean.com

DATE OF BIRTH: January 27, 1973 BIRTHPLACE: Nara, Japan HOME: Fukushima, Japan HOBBIES: flying, snowboarding, zazen WEBSITE: www.yoshi-muroya.jp

DATE OF BIRTH: October 18, 1961 BIRTHPLACE: Chemnitz, Germany HOME: St Petersburg, Russia HOBBIES: flying, travelling, skiing WEBSITE: www.sergeyrakhmanin.com

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: Twice Spanish Aerobatics Champion, 2nd 11 times 2008: Red Bull Air Race World Championship, 8th 2007: Red Bull Air Race World Championship, 6th 2006: Red Bull Air Race World Championship, 9th 2005: Red Bull Air Race World Championship, 9th Captain of the Spanish Aerobatic Team 2001: World Aerobatic Championships, 10th 1998: Lithuania Aerobatic Championships, 1st 1987: First solo flight

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: 2008 : Red Bull Air Race Qualification Camp, Super Licence FAI World Grand Prix Haute Voltige Montegi, 6th 2007: FAI World Grand Prix Haute Voltige Montegi, 5th 2006: FAI Al Ain Aerobatics Championships, 5th 1995: Japan Glider Competition, 3rd 1991: First solo flight

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: 2008: Red Bull Air Race World Championship, 11th 2007 : Red Bull Air Race World Championship, 12th 2005: World Aerobatic Champion World Grand Prix of Aerobatics, 3rd 2004: European Aerobatic Championships, 2nd 2003: World Aerobatic Champion Russian Aerobatic Champion 2002: Russian Aerobatic Champion European Aerobatic Championships, 2nd 2000: Tchakolov Cup, 1st 1999: European Aerobatic Champion Russian Aerobatic Champion 1995: Russian Aerobatic Champion World Glider Aerobatics Championships, 3rd 1991: USSR Aerobatic Champion 1980: First solo flight

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2009: Rookie

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2008: 8TH Photography: Daniel Grund

DATE OF BIRTH: August 17, 1956 BIRTHPLACE: Zimbabwe, Africa HOME: Oxfordshire, England HOBBIES: skiing, scuba-diving, racquetball WEBSITE: www.nigellamb.com

ALEJANDRO MACLEAN SPAIN, MXS-R

Photography: Daniel Grund

NIGEL LAMB ENGLAND, MXS-R

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2008: 11TH

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THE PLANE

LENGTH WING SPAN WEIGHT POWER TOP SPEED ROLL RATE MAX G ENGINE WING DESIGN

EDGE 540 (ZIVKO AERONAUTICS, USA) 6.30m (20.7ft) 7.43m (24.4ft) 540kg (1190lbs) 340hp 426kph (265mph) 420°/sec +/-12G AEIO 540 EXP Symmetric, carbon fibre

MXS (MX AIRCRAFT, USA) 6.28m (20.6ft) 7.31m (23.9ft) 540kg (1190lbs) 350hp 426kph (265mph) 450°/sec +/-12G AEIO 540 EXP Symmetric, carbon fibre

PROPELLER

Hartzell Claw MT-PROB

Hartzell Claw MT-PROB

PILOTS FLYING IT

Arch, Bonhomme, Chambliss, Dell, Dolderer, Goulian, Ivanoff, Mangold, McLeod, Muroya

Besenyei, Hall, Lamb, Maclean, Rakhmanin

AXIS AND ROTATIONS PITCH

ROLL

Two types of plane are used in the Red Bull Air Race, the Edge 540 and the MXS-R. Check out Nigel Lamb’s MXS-R, a power package with more than 300hp.

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ELEVATOR. The elevator is used to move the nose up or down. It is mounted on the back edge of the horizontal stabiliser on each side of the fin in the tail. When the pilot pulls the stick backwards, the elevator goes up. Pushing the stick forwards causes the elevator to go down.

ENGINE. Race engines are six-cylinder boxer engines. These 540 cubic inch engines are fuel-injected. Race plane engines have between 320 and 350hp.

FUSELAGE. The fuselage can be manufactured from different materials.

Some are carbon fibre, others steel tube. The main target is to achieve a lightweight, strong structure.

PROPELLER. The most widely used propellers in the Red Bull Air Race are three-blade variable-pitch propellers. The hub is aluminium and the blades are made of natural composite with a fibre-reinforced epoxy cover or carbon fibre. The maximum diameter is 203cm, with a weight of 25kg. The maximum propeller rotation is 2700rpm.

RUDDER. The pilot uses his feet to control the rudder, which is mounted on the back edge of the fin in the tail assembly. The rudder allows the pilot to turn the plane around its vertical axis.

SAFETY EQUIPMENT. Pilots are strapped into their seats with five-point safety harnesses similar to the ones used in car racing. Every competitor has a parachute onboard. Due to the low-level flying and to avoid extra weight, race planes have no ejection seat.

SPADES. It is almost impossible to overcome the amount of drag without spades. They grab air that pushes them down or up and this reduces stick forces when rolling the plane.

UNDERCARRIAGE. The undercarriage consists of two bigger wheels at the front and one fairly small wheel at the back of the plane. They cannot be pulled in while in the air. On the ground, the rear wheel is steered by the rudder pedals. The main carriage is covered by carbon-fibre bodywork and equipped with small disc brakes.

WINGS. The wings are 100 per cent carbon fibre for minimum inertia, high performance and agility. They also contain fuel tanks for longdistance flights, which are always empty in race trim to reduce overall weight.

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Illustration: Seso Media Group

RACE PLANE CLOSE-UP

AILERONS. The ailerons are used to let the aircraft roll around its longitudinal axis. They are mounted on the trailing edge of each wing and move in opposite directions. When the pilot moves the stick left, the left aileron goes up and the right aileron goes down simultaneously.

YAW

THE COCKPIT

PILOT’S VIEW Find out about the features of Peter Besenyei’s brand new MXS-R race plane.

AIRSPEED INDICATOR. This shows the plane’s speed (in knots) relative to the air. It works by measuring the ram-air pressure in the plane’s pitot tube.

ALTIMETER. Indicates the aircraft’s altitude (in feet) above a reference level by measuring the static air pressure. It is adjustable for local barometric pressure. They must observe their assigned altitudes in holdings and routes from and to the Red Bull Air Race Airport.

AVI. The switch that turns on all the electronics.

BREAKERS. These are there to protect various electrical components.

EFIS. This race device gives the pilot information about his run. He can use the touch-screen facility to switch between different display modes. It also sends speed or G info to the Race Tower.

ENGINE ANALYSER. A high-tech device that records engine data. After a flight the engineers download the info for analysis. The little switch on top of it is the voice alarm for engine parameter.

It warns the pilot in case of any system’s failure or fluctuations in engine performance.

FUEL PUMP SWITCH. Used by the pilot to switch between all three fuel tanks: right wing, left wing and main tank. During the race only the main tank contains fuel. Race planes run on Aviation Gasoline (AvGas), a 100 octane low-lead fuel. In race trim, 50 litres are aboard. Around 2 litres are burnt per minute.

FUEL SWITCH. This is the electric boost pump that’s used when starting the plane and when switching fuel tanks.

G-METER. Shows the pilot how many G he is pulling or pushing. Competitors must not exceed 12G in sharp and quick corners, where gravitational forces are the highest.

MIXTURE. Controls the air/fuel mixture that is delivered to the engine. The pilot adjusts the fuel flow with this control.

OIL PRESSURE. This is a backup device for measuring the oil pressure. If the engine analyser has an electrical failure the pilot is still able to find out the oil pressure.

PEDALS. The rudder pedals are mechanically wired to the plane’s rudder. Before take-off and after landing the pilot uses his feet to turn the plane left or right on the ground. During flight, pushing the pedals causes the plane to turn around the vertical axis (yaw).

PROP CONTROL. This is there to adjust the pitch of the propeller blades.

RADIO COMMUNICATION. Connects the pilot with the Race Director and the control tower.

SMK. The switch that arms the smoke system.

SMOKE ON/OFF. Just before the pilot gets into the track he has to turn the smoke on. White smoke emerges when paraffin oil is added to the exhaust pipes. It makes the plane’s flight path more visible.

START BUTTON. Used to actuate the race plane.

STICK. This is the steering wheel of the plane.

Pushing it left or right causes the plane to roll.

Pushing it forwards or backwards causes the nose to pitch up or down. The red button on top of the stick is the radio push-to-talk button.

Photography: Markus Kucera

THROTTLE CONTROL. By pushing the throttle control forward or backwards the pilot changes the speed of the engine. It can be compared with the accelerator pedal of a car.

TRANSPONDER. Transmits information to the tower concerning the plane’s position and altitude.

TRIM. Adjusts the stick pressure in pitch.

VERTICAL CARD COMPASS. An instrument that indicates the plane’s heading.

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CALENDAR

RED BULL AIR RACE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

2009

The Red Bull Air Race touches down on three continents this season: Asia, North America and Europe.

Six unique spots will provide the backdrop for the premier aviation league.

CC

M M

YY

CM CM

1

APRIL 17 & 18 ABU DHABI, UAE

2

MAY 9 & 10 SAN DIEGO, USA

3

MY MY

JUNE 13 & 14 WINDSOR – ONTARIO, CAN

CY CY

CMY CMY

4

AUGUST 19 & 20 BUDAPEST, HUN

Population: 1.7 million Location: Hungary Time zone: UTC +1 hour Race history: races in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008; first races in 2003 and 2004

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Population: 1.3 million Location: California, USA Time zone: UTC -7 hours Race history: races in 2007 and 2008

5

SEPTEMBER 12 & 13 PORTO, POR

Population: 240,000 Location: Portugal Time zone: UTC +0 Race history: races in 2007 and 2008

Population: 220,000 Location: Ontario, Canada Time zone: UTC -4 hours Race history: new location

6

OCTOBER 3 & 4 BARCELONA, ESP

Population: 1.6 million Location: Catalonia, Spain Time zone: UTC +1 hour Race history: race in 2006

Photocredit

Population: 950,000 Location: United Arab Emirates Time zone: UTC +4 hours Race history: races in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008

Photography: Daniel Grund, Markus Kucera (2), Christian Pondella, Dean Treml, www.picturedesk.com

KK

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the rules

about the race

RULES

The Red Bull Air Race World Championship is supervised by the FAI (Fédération Aéronautique Internationale).

The FAI oversees safety at each race.

As part of the natural progression of the sport as it enters its fifth championship season, race organisers have also decided to make some aDjustments to the scoring system. Pilots can gain points at each race and the one with the most points at the end of the World Championship becomes the Red Bull Air Race World Champion.

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KNIFE FLYING Air Gates marked in red must be passed in a vertical position.

TURNING MANOEUVRE The turning manoeuvre at the end of the course can either describe a horizontal turn or a climbing (tilted) turn up to a pure vertical flight path including roll. It has to be flown inside the safety area.

QualiFying 1

QUALIFYING QualiFying 2

WILD WilD CARD carD

Two flying sessions. BesT Time counTs. winner receives one poinT

FASTEST TWO PILOTS ADVANCE TO TOP 12*

pilot 01

pilot 01

pilot 02

INCORRECT KNIFE FLYING The racer deviates from vertical flight by more than 20° or tilts his plane to the wrong side.

Penalty 2 seconds FLYING TOO HIGH The competitor passes the Air Gate or chicane too high.

Penalty 2 seconds

DANGEROUS FLYING Dangerous flying includes flying too low, crossing the crowd line, exceeding start speed limit (370kph) or maximum G (12G).

Disqualification!

TOUCHING AN AIR GATE The competitor touches a pylon with the wing or propeller.

Penalty 6 seconds

DAY Day 2 / RACE race DAY Day

1 pt

TOP 12 FASTEST EIGHT PILOTS ADVANCE TO SUPER 8*

SUPER 8 FASTEST FOUR PILOTS ADVANCE TO FINAL 4*

FINAL 4

POINTS

FOUR PILOTS COMPETE FOR VICTORY*

PILOT 15

WILD CARD

PILOT 08

PILOT 04

1ST

12

pilot 02

PILOT 14

WILD CARD

PILOT 07

PILOT 03

2ND

10

pilot 03

pilot 03

PILOT 13

PILOT 10

PILOT 06

PILOT 02

3RD

9

pilot 04

pilot 04

PILOT 12

PILOT 09

PILOT 05

PILOT 01

4TH

8

pilot 05

pilot 05

PILOT 11

PILOT 08

PILOT 04

5TH

7

pilot 06

pilot 06

PILOT 07

PILOT 03

6TH

6

pilot 07

pilot 07

PILOT 06

PILOT 02

7TH

5

pilot 08

pilot 08

PILOT 05

PILOT 01

8TH

4

pilot 09

pilot 09

PILOT 04

9TH

3

pilot 10

pilot 10

PILOT 03

10TH

2

pilot 11

pilot 11

PILOT 02

11TH

1

pilot 12

pilot 12

PILOT 01

12-15TH

0

pilot 13

pilot 13

pilot 14

pilot 14

pilot 15

pilot 15

Illustration: Seso Media Group

A WilD carD session will open Race Day with the five slowest from Qualifying getting a second chance by battling it out for the final two spots in the Top 12. The fastest eight from the Top 12 advance to the super 8 and the four fastest go all-out against the clock in the Final 4 – with the fastest pilot being declared the winner.

THE QUADRO The Quadro is made up of four pylons positioned in a square. It must be passed in knife flight.

DAY Day 1 / QUALIFYING QualiFying DAY Day

Directly aDvance to top 12

From 12 to 15. The largest expansion of the starting field in the history of the Red Bull Air Race made it necessary to revamp this season’s race format. It features a QualiFying Day with all pilots racing to be one of the 10 fastest to take them directly through to the Top 12 session on Race Day. For the first time ever, Qualifying will also be a race for one championship point, which will be awarded to the pilot with the best time in Qualifying.

LEVEL FLYING The Air Gates marked in blue must be passed in a horizontal position.

CHICANE The Chicane consists of three single pylons which must be passed in slalom flight.

race For WilD carD

race format

INCORRECT LEVEL FLYING The pilot deviates from level flight by 10° or more.

Penalty 2 seconds

The Red Bull Air Race World Championship is an international series of races with the objective to navigate an aerial race track featuring air-filled pylons, known as Air Gates, in the fastest possible time incurring as few penalties as possible. The total length of the race track is approximately 5km.

* STARTING ORDER FOR ALL SESSIONS ON RACE DAY IS DETERMINED BY THE RESULTS IN QUALIFYING. THE SLOWEST FROM QUALIFYING FLIES FIRST RED BULL AIR RACE MAGAZINE

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location

AreA MAp

Abu Dhabi

The race in Abu Dhabi takes place at the Corniche.

Check out the viewing areas and the challenging race track.

07 15

1st round

START

2nd round

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RACE CLUB

06/0814/16 age

RACE CLUB PARKING HIGH FLYER’ S LOUNGE HIGH FLYER’ S PARKING PUBLIC TICK ET ZONE

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Abu DhAbi – rAce WeekenD ScheDule

Friday, april 17 – QualiFying day 11:00 Doors Open 13:00 Pre Show & Entertainment 14:00 Qualifying 1 15:00 Qualifying 2 17:30 Public Pitlane Walk at Red Bull Air Race Airport: Port Zayed (This is your chance to meet the pilots and see their race planes up close.)

18:00 Doors Close * The schedule is subject to change.

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Saturday, april 18 – race day 11:00 Doors Open 12:00 Pre Show & Entertainment 13:00 Race Starts 13:00 Wild Card Session 14:00 Top 12 14:45 Super 8 15:15 Final 4 15:55 Award Ceremony 18:00 Doors Close

Illustration: Seso Media Group

For more inFormation visit www.redbullairrace.com

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Pure performance Absolute precision

W W W. B R E I TLI N G .C O M

Chrono-Matic

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A tribute to the first ever selfwinding chronograph (1969), bearing the Breitling signature. Officially chronometer-certified by the COSC.