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