Out in the rain

After working late on the aircraft last night to improve the performance we were looking forward to a good day and a chance to claw our way back into the running.

The wild card round went reasonably well with a good net time (without penalties) showing the plane is now back running well again. The 4 seconds of penalties were unfortunate but we managed to squeeze into the top 12 after Sergei hit a pylon while pushing the lines aggressively.

As light rain started to fall we were first up in the final 12 round. The start was good and everything going well to the 270 turn where Yoshi was called by the judges for "descending in the gate" resulting in a disqualification. Yoshi after reviewing the video felt it was not deserved however the judges call is final.

Shortly after, the rain started more heavily and after the first 4 Pilots completed their runs racing has been postponed for a while.

But for Team Muroya, the racing in Rio is over. Tomorrow we disassemble the aircraft and on the 16th May we reassemble in Windsor, Canada then fly the plane to a small airport near Detroit for some modification work prior to the next race in Windsor.

Photo by Taro Imahara

Rio de Janeiro qualification report and results

Japanese Pilot Yoshihide Muroya qualified 13th today at the Rio de Janeiro round of the 2010 Red Bull Air Race World Championship. Hannes Arch took the bonus qualifying point with Nigel Lamb 2nd and Paul Bonhomme in 3rd.

After 2 clean rounds it is evident that Muroya’s plane is not performing as powerfully as the others and although admitting to be able to close up a second or two through better lines through the course, a thorough check of the engine settings is in progress to find out where the difference in engine performance could be.

Team Muroya will now compete in the Wild Card round going into the final day of racing and is looking forward to the opportunity to advance into the top 12 and then subsequent rounds.

 
Final will be live streamed on  http://www.redbullairrace.com/  9/May 24:51 Japan time.
Please keep an eye on Yoshi’s Performance on high speed track at Rio de Janeiro.

Team MUROYA official site　http://yoshi-muroya.jp

Red Bull Air Race official site  http://www.redbullairrace.com/

Photo by Taro Imahara/TIPP

Posted by Team Muroya Racing

Training flights at Rio

Two days of 4 training flights were to be held however we only got one flight yesterday. 2 Flights today plus 2 compensation runs through the track. The Rio track is proving to be less technical than Perth so outright speed (power) is proving to be important. Our result in T4 was 11th and this determines our start order position tomorrow for the qualification rounds. Our flights were quite clean with one penalty for an early pull up but looking at our times against the other pilots (disregarding the penalty) our speed does not seem very good. We will be looking to make some engine adjustments and pilot Yoshi is studying the course again to try and find some shortcuts!


However the weather forecast is not looking very good and rain might cut the racing short. Lets hope that it doesn't and we can ge some good racing in and a good result!

New Sponsor for 2010!!

Team Muroya is proud to announce Aqualine Ltd., a Japanese water supplier as an official
partner for the remaining races of the 2010 Red Bull Air Race World Championship. Aqualine
Ltd. will be providing its best quality water and their support to Team Muroya from Rio de
Janeiro onwards.

Fans will see the Aqualine logos on Yoshi's aircraft and his flight suit. 
Aqualine is renowned for their high quality water products in Japan for both consumers and
companies. The natural bottled water “aqua-aqua” is their main brand and the water is carefully
chosen from a spring in the Tachikawa mountains, rated one of the best natural water sources in
the world.


"Team Muroya is delighted to the have the valuable support of  Aqualine in our quest for
success in the 2010 seasonsponsorship”, said Muroya.

The Red Bull Air Race World Championship is a motorsports competition rapidly gaining on
popularity and as an exciting test of physical and mental endurance in race aircrafts  flown by
the world's best race pilots. The high speed, low-level races are held on demanding courses in
cities around the globe.


Photo by Taro Imahara/TIPP
Posted by Team Muroya Racing

At the COPA! The girl from Ipanema goes walking.....

 But for us serious air racers it is time to get down to business and today the Race Airport was officially opened by Red Bull Air Race GMBH CEO Bernd Loidl. The Race Airport is on regional airport and calibration flights got under way after a small delay. However, just before Yoshi was about to taxi out a time out has been called and we are "waiting for updates".
Hopefully the flying in and out of this busy airport will go smoother when full training in the track starts tomorrow.