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.

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 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.

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 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!

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.

Windsor race getting closer!

Red Bull Air Race Team Muroya report.

For those who might wonder, "how do these high tech race planes get from race to race". Well, sometimes disassembled and flown in a jumbo jet or in a container over the ocean and sometimes they fly there. Between San Diego and Windsor the planes have gone mostly to some place to have modifications and will all converge on Windsor by June 7th.

Race 31 is typical. Some work has been done which we hope will improve our team results in the coming races. Now the plane is being flown from California to Windsor by TC Robert. Yesterday he stopped at Chandler near Phoenix for the night and was looked after by Team Chambliss. Today he has flown as far as Guthrie, Oklahoma and Race 31 is hangered at the Zivko factory, home of the Zivko Edge, together with Hannes Arch's plane. Hannes' plane was trucked there for repair from San Diego following his bird strike incident.

In a day or two Race 31 should be in Windsor after the 1900 nautical mile flight from California.

Robs self portrait at 7,500ft doing 200knots and Wind Power farm, on a farm, new Amarillo.