Seeing Red

The Red Bull Air Race is the fastest Motorsport series on the planet.  In the inaugural season in 2005, ten hand-picked pilots took part in seven races around the world.  A decade later, twelve pros are going head to head in a series of eight international races, and it all started in Abu Dhabi this weekend.  We were there to watch.

The competition sees pilots race around an aerial track around 5km long, through 25m high inflated pylons called air gates.  This year there are two categories: Master Class - which features 12 pro pilots - and Challenger Cup - which gives a younger generation of pilots the chance to compete in a less-pressured environment.  We watched some round of both, and the Master Class were noticeable faster.  And cooler.  Fast planes are pretty cool.

A Challenger.

After this first race the season heads to Chiba, Japan; Sochi, Russia; Budapest, Hungary; Ascot, England; Spielberg. Austria and Fort Worth, Texas before culminating in Las Vegas, Nevada in October.  No two races are the same as the extreme heat, shifting wind and storms all affect flying conditions.

A Master at work.

Actually, as we were watching I made the comment to the Don "do you really think it's that hard? 'Cos they make it look easy", but only when you watch closely do you see when the pilots actually hit the air gates, and in fact, one plane sliced the top right off one.  When they brush a gate they are given a time penalty and as explained by pretty good commentators when you bothered to listen, its very easy for that to happen: when they are on their side before the gate the wind can shift, or just shift them more than they anticipate, so when they flatten off to go through the gates they aren't in the position they planned to be in.

On race day, the pilots compete in heats based on their qualifying times.  The six winners of each heat, plus the two fastest losers, move forward in to the Super 8.  The fastest four will then advance in to the Final 4, and complete for podium glory.  The winner is the pilot who places first in the final flying session.  For every win, pilots earn 12 points, 9 points for second place, 7 for third and 5 for fourth and so on.  The Red Bull Air Race Champion is the pilot with the highest accumulated points throughout the season.  Perhaps we'll even take some interest in it as the season progresses...

Despite the 'not allowed in the water' rule, which certain security men were incredibly strict about but to which other lifeguards turned more of a blind eye towards (and allowed our kids to paddle and fill up their water cans), we managed to while away a good three to four hours down at the Corniche.  But boy are we glad we took our sun shade!!