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.