Red Bull Air Race
The latest round of the Red Bull Air Race was as spectacular as ever
The latest round of the spectacular Red Bull Air Race was held in London this weekend and it was as gripping as ever thanks to the fickle British weather playing a big part in proceedings, especially on Race Day, when competitors took hit a record number of pylons during the day. Held along a course over the river Thames alongside the O2 Dome, the event is superbly displayed to spectators via massive screens fed by numerous cameras located on the planes themselves, on helicopters that track the competitors and fixed cameras trained along the course so there’s no chance of missing the action. But it was the gusting winds that topped 50km/h on race day that caused real havoc on the day with some of the big names losing out badly. Series leader going into this event was Brit Paul Bonhomme but during his first run he hit a pylon with his tail fin thanks to a sudden gust of wind which caused his plane to dramatically alter course. He took the immediate decision to abort his run as he thought the situation was potentially life threatening and put the plane into a vertical climb and out of the competition.
Another competitor, Mike Mangold, caught a pylon with his starboard wing, causing the plane to dip dangerously towards the water until the debris un-snagged itself and the pilot regained control just four foot above the river. In the end it was the American Kirby Chambliss who made the best of the tricky conditions and came out on top but it was the 40,000 strong crowd alongside the Thames who were the biggest winners. The Red Bull Air Race is one of those events you must see at least once in your lifetime as the sheer speed of the manoeuvres needs to be seen to be believed. These planes only weigh around 550 kilos and can ‘spin’ along their axis 420degrees every second. Check out this video on Red Bull’s website and you’ll see what we mean...
