Perth arrival

April 9th is the date all Technicians and Team Coordinators were to be in Perth. Work started on re-assembling the aircraft and today, April 10th now at 5pm, most planes are nearly complete.
The picture shows the scene in the Fighter Combat International hanger at Jandakot Airport, Perth. The aircraft are to be all assembled and test flown here through Tuesday, April 13th. On Wednesday all will then fly in to the Race Airport situated on a park in downtown Perth adjacent to the Race Course.

Abu Dhabi 10th place

WOW what an exciting day at the Red Bull Air races!
4 Disqualifications for dangerous flying for Rakmanin, Arch, Dolderer and Chambliss!
3 Did not starts for MaClean, Hall and Goulian!

The DNS for Hall and Goulian were on the start grid. They could not get their engines started to go for the next flight.

Paul Bonhomme won with a very good final time considering the heat of 41 deg C in the race track. The fact that Besenyei took out 3rd place with a time 7 seconds slower showed how consistency in the final rounds is so important.

Team Muroya wants to take this lesson to Perth. Our plane seems closer to beingcompetitive. Even so we still need to improve the plane to reach the final 4.

The start to the season has shown the effects of the new rules about weight limits for planes and pilots.
The planes are held in Parc Ferme from 2 hours before the racing starts and can be spot checked for weight at any time. Team Maclean were unlucky to be found 3kg light in a spot check and were therefore disqualified from the qualification rounds. Such small discrepancys can occurr just by the difference in temperature of the fuel when it was put in the plane and when the plane is weighed possibly the next day. Teams have to be very careful that the fuel loads and any compensation weights are correct prior to the 2 hour Parc Ferme time. The pilots are weighed together with their compensation weights immediately after landing and must exceed the minimum Pilot weight of 82kg or else the will be disqualified.

For Team Muroya the 10th place and 2 points is not too bad a start. We know where our improvements can be made an look forward to the next round in Perth.
photos by Taro Imahara/TIPP

Qualifying in Abu Dhabi

Todays qualifying rounds were quite exciting for Team Muroya placing 6th in the 1st round but dropping to 8th overall after the 2 rounds were completed.

The new engine is running well considering the heat here and is becoming progressively better.

We look forward to some great racing in the finals tomorrow and a great finish for the Team.
Photo by Taro Imahara / TIPP

Abu Dhabi photo shoot

Race 31 over head the Emirates Palace Abu Dhabi (7star Hotel)

Photo: Mike Hewett/Getty Images

Abu Dhabi - Let the racing begin!

Today the Red Bull Air Race Runway was officially opened in Abu Dhabi. Here we see the official ceremony with media, organisers, spomsors being welcomed and introduced to the Pilots.
Also parked at the ceremony was the modified Ivanoff Edge with 3 into 1 pipes out the side.

Abu Dhabi Flying at last!

Race 31 is assembled and flying. After long hours of work over the last 3 days, we started test flying today. The plane and engine are working well. The new engine seems a definite improvement! You will notice the new lines of the plane now with modified top sections and sleek canopy. Less drag and more power! Yeah!

Test flying of the other planes is underway too. Now, the new planes and modifications are out in the open for all to see. Most notable is Nigel Lambs new wing tip fins! His plane now looks like 2 sharks swimming in formation! Or a bit like a mini 737! Look out for the pictures. Hannes Arch has the new V3 Edge which is much lighter so he has more equipment and also ballast to bring it to the minimum weight. The advantage of this is the weight is closer to the center of the aircraft which should make the energy required to make manouevres less which of course turns into more speed around the track. Paul Bonhommes Edge has some improvements which are difficult to see but we know for sure he has a new engine similar to ours which should give him more power than last season, and has lost some weight out of the plane too. Interesting addition to his plane are the cowl flaps under the bottom of the cowling. This allows him to keep his engine really cool before retracting them going into the track for less drag and full power in the minute or so of the track run.

WOW!!

Technician testing winglet covers while Pilot tests winglets!

Abu Dhabi 2

The plane reassembly is progressing but there is much work to be done. There is a new telemetry system being fitted to all the aircraft involving new HD camera live broadcasting of the cockpit and tail cameras that requires more power than the existing 8amp alternators can produce so, we have to fit new 20amp alternators and revise the wiring on the aircraft. Then there is new wiring for the cameras and systems so everyone is very busy completing these modifications before we can get down to actually racing.
Here we see Yoshi and Takashi talking about the new GPS antennas before they fit it to the race plane.
Oops date is wrong again. 20th here in Abu Dhabi.