Edge in New Zealand

After a long wait our race plane has arrived in NZ for flight tests and.....
Yoshi came in to late spring weather in Auckland from late Autumn in Japan and we assembled the plane and carried out test flights for 3 days. Now the hard work begins on some exciting ideas for next season. Watch this space!

Back in Japan

Photo: Taro Imahara

Photo: Taro Imahara

Photo: Taro Imahara


Amongst Yoshi's commitments in Japan was staging the 2009 Skyleisure Japan in Fukushima at his home airport, Fukushima Sky Park.

In the photo Yoshi introduces the TV Tokyo team to Mr Saito, the head of the Fukushima Sky Park Flying Club.

TV Tokyo together with many local Fukushima media reps were there to record and broadcast the 2 day event. The main atractions were Jurgis Kairys' and Yoshi' solo flights and the "Air Bandits" formation team of TC Robert Fry in lead with a Yak 50 and wing men Jurgis and Yoshi.

Not so Coveted award!

Yoshi receives Air Gators award! To the most deserving pilot of the season, the Air Gators present their special award each year! This season Yoshi was a narrow winner of the most Pylon hits (14) award for 2009. "This is the one trophy that we WON'T be trying for next year" says Yoshi and paid tribute to his coach Steve Jones for selling him his special pylon attractive aircraft.

Great Day!

Barcelona Wild Card, Top 12 and Super 8!

A fantastic result for Team Muroya on the final day of the Red Bull Air Race World Championship 2009.

Yoshi was at last able to find that consistent groove that he has been looking for. Long appraisal of yesterdays videos last night and a recheck of our recordings of other teams flights this morning confirmed a way that he could improve his lines through the track.

The hard work paid off and Yoshi finished top in the Wild Card round and then through into the Super 8. A clean run in the top eight left him with his best placing of 6th for the season.

An ecstatic Yoshi said; "I managed to meet my goals for this race placing 7th or better. I have been working on a plan of improving bit by bit and it has worked as planned. We now look forward to improving our plane over the off season and getting plenty of practice in as well to keep up my G tolerance to a high level".

Airgators and their job

There is a news article about the air gates and the men that keep them up on the Red Bull Air Race newsroom. It is very interesting for avid air race followers.

Pit Lane walk photos

Barcelona Qualifying

Go here for the news from Red Bull Air Race Newsroom

For Team Muroya:

Qualification Round 1.

A good time through the track but 3 penalties through 3 of the turning gates. Not exactly in the rules as we see but this has been clarified with the judges between rounds.

Qualification Round 2

Yoshi went into this round with the intention of getting a clean run but with an average time. He admitted to slightly misjudging the onshore wind while concentrating too hard on the next gate, the quadro and unfortunately took out the right hand start pylon.

Obviously room for improvement in consistency but the times through the track are ok considering our plane.

After racing the press and the enthusiastic Spanish fans are having a great time meeting the pilots in the pit lane at the Red Bull Air Race runway at Sabadell.

Barcelona Training

A mixed bag today for Team Muroya. 3rd Training was OK but the wind in 4th training was causing a few people problems. The southerly sea breeze came in and even with making an allowance for it, Yoshi's turn was a bit too loose causing him to take out two pylons in the quatro. We are studying the videos and looking for ways to improve the lines through the course and thereby the times in qualifying.

Training underway in Barcelona

The pilots are getting the feel for he track after 2 runs yesterday and now into the 3rd training flights.

Also yeasterday afternoon, Patrick Paris visited the Red Bull Air Race runway at Sabadell to say hello to his rookies from Red Bull Air Race training camps last year.
Patrick is the 1998 Aerobatics World Champion and is in charge of training any new Red Bull Air Race pilots.

Barcelona Live Raceblog

Join the fun live at Barcelona!
Send questions and interact with the race teams!

Red Bull Air Race Barcelona Liveblog

Barcelona finale kicks off

September 30.

The Red Bull Air Race Airport at Sabadell, Barcelona was officially opened today in front of a large gathering of Spanish and International press representatives.

The showdown looming between Reigning Champion Hannes Arch and this years Championship leader Paul Bonhomme is the main topic of conversation around RBAR circles here in Barcelona.

Last night two events were held in downtown Barcelona near the race track.

The first was the Pilot activation/autograph session at the beach restaurant "SHOKO".
Enthusiastic Red Bull Air Race fans were able to get up close and talk to the pilots and ask questions of them while getting their autographs.

The second was a party held for departing Teams Dell and Mangold. A traditional Spanish meal was enjoyed with a desert including chocolate pieces with the images of the pilots. A very nice touch to end a great night of comradeship amongst the teams.

Pictures from Porto

A great selection of pictures from Porto

Barcelona Live internet streaming

Watch the Barcelona action live here.
Unfortunately due to broadcast partner commitments the stream can not be seen from the following countries:
* Spain
* Germany
* United Kingdom
* Australia
* New Zealand
* Taiwan
* Malta

Meet Yoshi, Pilot Activation/Autograph session Barcelona

Hi Everybody, Please take the chance to meet Yoshi and other Pilots:
Tuesday; 29 September 2009: Pilot Activation / Autograph Session from 20.30 - 21.00 @

Shoko Restaurant & Club
Paseo Marítino de la Barceloneta, 36. Barcelona

Muroya vs Coulthard

September 21 saw a special event at Yoshi's homebase airport Fukushima Sky Park in Fukushima Japan. David Coulthard's Formula 1 car vs Yoshi Muroya's Extra 300S.

We are not sure who won but from the Video and pictures they had a great time showing off their "rides"!!

It was a great opportunity for two World top level motor sports racers to compare notes on their respective race codes and machinery. Yoshi was sorry that he did not have his real race plane there to show off!

Roll on Barcelona

For the latest on the Barcelona Finale buildup go to:

The Red Bull Airrace Newsroom

See you all in Barcelona!

Next stop Barcelona

The Rookies line up to depart the Porto TRW together enroute to Barcelona while the teams depart to all corners of the globe. In 2 weeks time we will all gather again in Bacelona for the final race of the season. It is sure to be a fascinating race. The front runners vying for top spot and the rookies out to prove themselves to the fans.
Exciting drama will unfold no doubt!

Porto 10

The pilot interviews after today's racing give a great insight into how their day went. Take a look:
www.redbullairracenewsroom.com

Porto 9

A beautiful day in Porto for the final day of racing. Team Moroya had a reasonable day in that our time through the track was quite good and would have had us in 5th place into the super 8. However it was not to be with a 2 sec penalty finishing the day for us.

All in all not a bad effort and we look forward to Barcelona knowning we are getting stronger race by race.

The crowd at the TRW could only be described as extremely enthusiastic as they welcomed the 5 - 15 placed pilots to the autograph session on the far side of the runway.

Porto 8

Onboard Video of Qualifying:
First Quali flight

Porto 7

Pilot interviews from Qualifying can be found here: Quali Interviews





Photos from Qualifying day:
Photos by Taro Imahara

Porto 6

Well, quite a good day for Team Muroya. Everyone is very pleased especially Yoshi. After a mediocre practice in the box Yoshi was not happy with a small modification on the ailerons that we had tested and so we went back to the original settings for the Quali runs. Yoshi is now feeling the courses better and after his good run in the wild cards in Budapest is starting to feel he has the coordination to start to find the potential of the plane. A great run in first Quali and a follow on, although 1 second slower, was smooth and consistent. This is the first time we have achieved 2 consecutive runs with no penalties and is a big step forward for the team.

We hope the weather will allow us to compete in a full day of racing tomorrow. The more racing the better even if we would be 4th if the weather is bad!

Photo: The planes line up for the quali's out of Maia Airport. We had to move there because of the lingering fog at the TRW.

Porto 5

The second practice day ended with no practice again. Although not getting to fly is the same for everyone, it is actually harder on the rookies but I guess we just have to live with it and hope for good weather for the next 2 days.

The official Red Bull Air Race news bulletin about the weather is here:

Red Bull Air Race newsroom

Porto 4

It is now 14:00 and still no training flights. The sea fog is sticking to the coast like glue. The frustrating thing is that the race track is clear and we can see this on our TV screens in the hanger. The RB helicopter has just taken off with Paul Bonhomme on board to check if it is safe to take off and land from the TRW.

Photos:

The TRW as we arrived this morning and Steve Jones describes the way the planes turn at the end of the track for the TV cameras.

Porto 3

It is now 16:20 and we can still hear the foghorns blowing down the coast towards the river and race course. Race training has just been cancelled for the day because of the sea fog remaining in the area all day! Beaten out of valuable training time in the box by the weather. Again.

Porto 2

An interesting news article here about the front runners expectations for Porto as we move into training today (which is delayed due to foggy weather just now)
Arch Bonhomme

Porto 1

Time is flying by here in Porto as we prepare for the racing. Here the TRW for the racing is on a carpark down near the beach on the coast. The race track is a few kilometers away on the river valley with high hills along the side and high bridges at either end of the course. Prior the raceplanes arriving today at the TRW, they were based at Maia, a General Aviation airport some 20 km away. The last 2 days have been spent there preparing the planes after their ferry flights from Budapest

Yesterday afternoon Yoshi had Rob drove down to the race area to recce the course which curves around with the river. It is unique in that you can't see one end from the other and due to the width constraints, there are no horizontal turns or quads.
Check out the course at: Porto

The photos show some of the barges already set up on the river but without the pylons and some of the old buildings around this famous old port city. One can imagine the sailing ships of yesteryear tied up to the banks near the mouth of the river loading the Port wine for which the area is famous. For a brief history of Porto go here: History

Last night there was a public autograph session at the Sao Bento Railway Station which is considered amongst the most beautiful in Europe.

Today the race planes flew into the TRW from Maia and the TRW was officially opened by the Mayor of Porto Mr. Rui Rio and CEO of Red Bull Air Race GMBH., Mr. Bernd Loidl.

Each of the pilots was introduced to the Mayor. See photos.

The road to Porto

TC Robert here sitting in Gatwick waiting for my flight to Porto. It is 30hours now since I left home in Auckland. Yoshi is somewhere enroute from Tokyo via Paris and Tech Takashi is on his way from LA.

We are looking forward to the first race for Team Muroya in Porto and to improving our standings in the Red Bull Air Race World Championship 09.

For those that want to meet Yoshi in person there is a Pilot Activation/Autograph session to be held at:
São Bento Station
Praça Almeida Garret, 4000-069 Porto
On 8th Sept. at 20:00 to 21:00

See you in Porto!

Wild Card and Top 12

Yoshi made a creditable time in the wildcard and although 2 of the wild carders were DSQed we felt we deserved our place in the 12s. The next flight was a different story though as we had difficulty with our engine start which might have upset the rythm for the flight. Anyway, a pylon hit and a level flight penalty finished us for the Budapest races. The time through the track was encouraging though. We look forward to the next races in Porto!

Qualifying

We did well in the track today but almost everyone else did better!
It will be an interesting wild card race tomorrow for sure. Hopefully we can make use of the second chance the wildcard brings.

Budapest Training 3 and 4

Training 3 and 4 and compensation training today was a mixed bag for the team.

Times through the track were not too bad however some small errors resulting in penalties in each of the runs are holding back our race time and qualification start rankings. However we were not the only ones with no less than 4 disqualifications for various rule infractions and 2 did not starts due to equipment problems.

Tomorrow will be a better day!

Picture by Taro Imahara: Yoshi waits his turn to fly.

Live timing on internet

You can follow the timing action live here:

http://www.redbullairrace.com/infosystem

Tokol sushi

Last night Team Muroya had a special treat when Hannes invited us over to his hanger for sushi. On the TRW there is no alcohol so Red Bull was substituted for the traditional sake or cold Asahi Superdry beer!

Photo shows Pete, Hannes and Yoshi discussing the days practice session over sushi and Red Bull in Hannes' hanger.

Budapest 6

Practice flight

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K43Npm98Bn8

Budapest 5

17:00
First day of training on the course in Budapest went well considering it was the first time under a real bridge for Yoshi! Race 31 is performing well and we look forward to improving our times bit by bit over the next 3 days.

Well done Team Maclean and Team Sergei now having their aircraft back flying after some long hours work changing equipment. In the case of Sergei they had to change the whole engine and they are in the air testing the plane as I write.

Hoping to post a video of our 2nd practice run later this evening.

Budapest 4

Today was "under bridge" training day and calibration flights. The calibration flights involve flying each aircraft over head the airfield to test and calibrate the on board cameras and flight data telemetry downlinks. The rookie pilots also conducted training flights involving flying under a rope suspended between two race pylons at the same height as the bottom of the Chain bridge to the river below. Veteran retired RBAR pilot Klaus Schrot coached the pilots on under bridge flying. The pylons were on Tokol airport and will later be used (without the rope!) for media promotion flights in the RB Extra300L.

After the flights were completed, Yoshi and Rob headed for the Compound area where we, together with most of the new people, were given a tour of all the operations areas controlling the races on the race track. Of course the race tower is the most conspicuous of the structures that make up the compound however there are a lot more things going on in the surrounding temporary buildings erected there for the event.

Some photos attached.

Budapest 3

Race day -5
Yesterday evening we were able to do a test and training flight. The engine is running well and seems to have more power in line with our expectations. This morning Yoshi and Rob checked out the race course area on the Danube River. We walked over the famous Chain Bridge which is now the "traditional start/finish" for the Budapest leg of the Red Bull Air Race World Championship. Late afternoon training saw Team Sergei suffer an over speed of the engine/propeller and it looks like they are in for some late nights to rectify the problem. Same applies for Team Maclean. Their hanger door remained closed all day today while some serious work is taking place on their engine to enable it to pass scrutineering after modification work during the break between races. For race 31 we had another training flight and Yoshi is happy with the plane and got some secret practice inflying under the bridge!

Budapest 2

Race day -6.
For our fans in Japan, Fuji TV will be on site in Budapest to record the entire event as part of their 3 part 3 hour TV programming featuring Yoshi and the Red Bull Air Race World Championship 2009. We will be looking forward to seeing the Red Bull Air Race Fuji TV programs in Japan!

Fuji TV is well known for its coverage in Japan of Formula 1 motor racing and other major sporting events.

In Budapest

All three team members arrived in Budapest yesterday (12th August)
Yoshi arrived from Japan, Takashi from Los Angeles and Robert from Auckland all via Frankfurt.
Today assembly of the plane is progressing smoothly. All the european teams have had their aircraft assembled, flying and under modification since around 21st July. Teams Bonnhome, Ivanoff and Lamb had their planes shipped directly to the UK and are due to fly in to Tokol airport, the race runway, today via a promotion photoshoot in France.

Team Dolder arrived early from Germany and have their engine covered with a white cloth hiding what is rumoured to be a new engine (with a Californian aroma) installed no doubt with all the latest go fast goodies (light weight pistons, cylinders, tapered inlet tubes, lightweight exhaust etc)installed as they play equipment catch up with the experienced teams. Closed hanger doors shield their plane from curious eyes.... Enthusiastic German fans will be arriving in droves by chartered 737 to cheer Mattias on in Budapest.

Photos show Race 31 wing repair waiting for a coat of paint and partly assembled plane front into the hanger to keep our engine work out of easy view.

Towards Budapest

A quick update from TC Rob here in Japan, as we move in to the last 30 days prior to the next Red Bull Air Race in Budapest and the first there for Team Muroya 31.

Race 31 is repaired and in the shipping container on its way to Budapest. The wing damage was confirmed to be not serious but it was better to err on the side of safety and not race. While we had the chance with the plane at the Zivko Edge factory, we did some further changes that should help the overall performance of the aircraft.

The air tickets to Budapest are booked and Yoshi is raring to go! See you all in Hungary where, the talk has it, Peter is test flying a new Hungarian built race plane.... Will we see it in the races??? Time will tell....

Red Bull Air Race Windsor 5

Photos from Windsor
Taro Imahara/TIPP

Red Bull Air Race Windsor 4

Very disappointed team at the moment due to a technical problem with the aircraft that precludes us continuing racing at Windsor. The plane is now disassembled ready to move to the repair facility. We will work on the plane and be ready for Budapest.

Good luck to the other teams!

Red Bull Air Race Windsor 3

Attached photos by Taro Imahara at the TRW before todays 1st training flight.
Yoshi's reaction from the 1st time in the box at Windsor was that the course is tight but the mods we have done have improved the feel of the plane!

Photos:Taro IMAHARA/TIPP

Windsor Race Report 2

First training day was not to be. We set off to the airport with anticipation but by the time the first 5 planes had flown the rain was coming down and those were to be the only flights of the day. Yoshi and I decided to head back but Yoshi was hungry and a bit cold so we stopped at a Chinese restaurant near the airport for some hot noodles. After this afternoon snack the weather had become a bit better so we asked for a test flight to make sure the plane was running as we expected and to keep Yoshi's G tolerance up. We quickly went back to the TRW and Yoshi went for a quick flight. The engine data from the flight is downloaded and analysed and is looking good. Tomorrow should be fine!

Photo shows a wet TRW pit area as it was around 14:00 today.

Windsor Race Report 1

Things are starting to heat up. The TRW is open. The planes are in their respective hangers. One thing noticeable is the top 3 are being more "open" with their cowlings, literally. Few covers or closed door work on the planes. It seems that most people have figured out what the others are doing so it is not worh going to the trouble of hiding things anymore. If you haven't "got it" now, catching up is going to be difficult seems to be the attitude at the top. Further down though especially in the Americam camps, work seems a bit more frenzied. There are a lot of mid group and bottom group teams including Team Muroya, working to grab some points from the top guys and stamp their mark on the rest of the season!

All is looking good for some great racing here at Windsor.

Picture: All looks quite but inside the hangers, teams are preparing their race planes for first training tomorrow.