gboulton

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Hey fellow RBAR fans...just some FYIs and heads ups, as it were.

US TV coverage of the 2009 season begins this weekend, with first air dates being Sun, 9/20. Fox Sports is again showing the races. FS South will be starting with the UAE race at 7:00pm CT tomorrow evening...other regional sports networks may, of course, have their own schedules.

Also...for those of you who haven't noticed it, Red Bull is now streaming the races LIVE on their website, for free. I had some friends over for last weekend's Porto race stream, and the video was extremely high quality, and lost nothing at full screen. It made for a fantastic way to spend a Sunday morning. Just hit http://www.redbullairrace.com and you'll see links to the upcoming stream for Barcelona, as well as a full replay of Porto.

Finally, don't overlook the twitter feed of Philippe Wyssen, the Interactive Manager at RBAR. You can find it at http://twitter.com/redbullairrace He tweets "live" qualifying/race times, results, photos, etc, for those times you can't watch the feed.

Lnewqban

Thank you!!!

A nice replay video of the Red Bull Air Race Porto, Portugal, 13th September can now be watched at:

http://www.redbullairrace.com/cs/Sat...=1238611393596

N1EDM

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Has it been found on any of the Networks?

Thanks for that link,

Bob

gboulton

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You won't find the Porto race on TV for a while. Any of the european networks won't still be broadcasting replays, and Fox in the US will show them roughly in "order"...so they won't get to porto for a couple months or so I'd guess.

Not sure which Fox RSN you'd have up there in Brockton, N1EDM, but I know there's half a dozen or so showing the UAE race tonight, and a bunch more tomorrow...so check your schedule.

gboulton

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More FYI:

San Diego, Race 2, will be on Fox Sports South Tuesday, 9/29, at 4:00 pm CST.

Be sure to look for me in the crowd!

gboulton

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If anyone's interested, Red Bull has posted the course layout for the finale in Spain.



All I can say is...

[X(][X(][X(]

That is a NASTY course, especially with the "natural challenges"...sure as heck, whoever wins there will have EARNED it.

A great conclusion to a close championship between Archa nd Bonhomee, I think.

[link=http://www.redbullairrace.com/cs/Satellite/en_air/Article/Barcelona-Track-Filled-With-Turns-And-Intriguing-021242781550421?CategoryName=Red+Bull+Air+Race&p=1238611393596]Full article is here[/link].

divergoff

Also the race replays are available on www.hulu.com. Just search for red bull air race

gboulton

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Good stuff, divergoff. I'd forgotten about hulu. Thanks!

gboulton

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Really enjoyed watching the SD race yesterday. Didn't get a chance to see myself though *heh*

The one thing I DID get, that I'd been hoping for, was some really good video and coverage of Arch's bird strike. After seeing that, I'm now more convinced than ever that the man not only should have forfeited any points he got there, but should lose his Super License and place in the series.

His decision to continue flying that airplane...loading it up with 9+ G's multiple times, and as a result putting himself, his airp[lane, every fan there, and indeed the entire series at risk was absolutely inexcusable in my opinion.

===============

Don't forget, this Sunday is the live stream of the final race from Barcelona. Bonhomme goes for his first title!!

Time is 8:20 am Central, at http://www.redbullairrace.com

gboulton

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Just a quick heads up:

Windosr race on Fox Sports South, 7PM CT Sun, 10/4
Budapest race on Fox Sports South, 7pm CT, Sun 10/11

gboulton

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Qualifying results from today in Barcelona:



ZOUNDS

That makes the gap between Arch and Bonhomme just 3 points, giving us a truckload of possible scenerios that leaves them tied. (Not, to be honest, sure WHAT happens then.)

And the questions this raises! Oh man.

Pretty clearly Arch was pushing as hard as he could today. He had to know the point today was HUGE. So I suspect we saw his best, or close to it.

But Bonhomme? Did he just concede the qualifying point, and figure to win it "when it counts" tomorrow? If so, he may well have held back, leaving Arch to wonder what he's up against tomorrow.

Or did Bonhomme figure the point today would have all but sealed the championship, and this WAS his best?

What about Arch's team tomorrow? They already proved they're willing to bend or outright break the rules for every advantage they can get this weekend...they showed up yesterday with too much compression, and had to completely rebuild the engine before qualifying today.

For that matter, could they even both finish off the podium?? Matt Hall is proving he's not a fluke, Kirby is BLINDINGLY fast (fastest of the day save for penalties), and clearly Ivanoff's got a shot. Heck, Besenyei's in the top 4 without his penalty, and despite his off season this year, i don't think ANYONE would ever bet against the old man of the series. Given all that, a final 4 that doesn't even see Arch or Bonhomme is entirely possible...Could this thing be decided in the semi-final round of 8 even???

Man, tomorrow is gonna be FUN to watch.

Here's the race format, with points for each position, for keeping up with what Arch and Bonhomme have to do.

gboulton

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[X(]

[link=http://www.redbullairrace.com/cs/Satellite/en_air/Article/Two-Times-World-Champion-Bows-Out-At-The-Top-021242782762565?CategoryName=Red+Bull+Air+Race&p=1238611393596]Mangold to retire from RBAR after today's race.[/link]

gboulton

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gboulton

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Well, suffice to say, if you've been watching the coverage, Windsor showed everyone why Paul Bonhomme won the championship this year. Captain Glass was at it again, flying the ONLY error free runs of the entire weekend. The guy is simply a joy to watch.

Don't forget, the final race from Barcelona airs this Sunday evening, on Fox Sports, at 7 PM.

===========

Also of note : [link=http://www.redbullairrace.com/cs/Satellite/en_air/Generic/Tickets-and-Hospitality-021242756456959?CategoryName=Red+Bull+Air+Race&p=1238611393596]Red Bull's Ticketing and Hospitality page[/link] has recently been updated, to include a link for ticket info for next season. You can sign up to be e-mailed as soon as ticket info is available for any selected region. Particularly exciting is the "North America" choice, indicating at least some likelihood of a NA race next year.

One would presume at a minimum Windsor/Detroit will be back on the schedule, as RB usually signs 3 year contracts with cities, and 2010 would be the 3rd year for that race. Whether or not San Diego gets the race again remains to be seen...'09 was their 3rd year, and there's been no word on whether they even bid for another contract. Red Bull's pretty obsessive about keeping that information under wraps though, so who knows.

The US HAS had a race every season but the first, however...so one would expect them to have one in 2010. Of course, Detroit/Windsor might count, if they base the race airport on the US side if the river like they did in '08.

A few things we know...or at least can be nearly certain about:

1) Perth WILL have a race in 2010.

Perth was SUPPOSED to have a 2009 race. However, RBAR wanted to move their race from late season to early season...and the turnaround time from last race of 08 to first race of 09 just wasn't enough...so perth took a year off, and will be prepared to host an early 2010 race...as well as races in 2011 and 2012. [link=http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/red-bull-air-race-secured-for-another-three-years-20081026-58ua.html]This is already confirmed.[/link]

2) It's a near certainty Budapest will remain on the schedule.

Budapest is the only city to have hosted a race every year of the series' existence. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that this is related to Besenyei's "founding father" role in the series. About the only question is whether it'll return there once he retires...but that doesn't seem to be happening any time soon, so it's probably a safe bet it'll be back at least in 2010.

3) One has to think UAE will get a race. They've been the first race on the schedule for 5 straight seasons now, pack in massive crowds, and indeed sponsor last year's champion and this year's runner up, Hannes Arch. One would presume that if you sponsor one of the most successful teams in the series, you probably get a race.

4) There has been no secret made on twitter, facebook, etc, that RB wants to expand the schedule again, back to more than 6 races. Only the first two seasons had fewer than 7 races until this year, with 2007 having no less than 12 races. 6 probably isn't enough to justify continuing the series to be honest. We can, imo, probably expect 9 or so in 201, I think.

5) Both Mangold and Glenn Dell have announced their retirement from RBAR. One presumes then that we'll have at least 2 rookies next year. In both announcements, RB mentioned that "The full pilot line up for the 2010 Red Bull Air Race World Championship season will be announced in October." so it appears that we won't have long to wait to see who they are.

====================

In any event, the presence of that updated ticketing page lets us know that it probably won't be much longer before the 2010 schedule is out, and we can start making travel plans.

gboulton

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Some 2010 schedule news

First, Red Bull has now [link=http://www.redbullairrace.com/cs/Satellite/en_air/Article/The-Red-Bull-Air-Race-Returns-To-PerthAustralia-021242788159208?CategoryName=Red+Bull+Air+Race&p=1238611393596]confirmed on their website[/link] that the race will return to perth on 17-18 april next year. They do not indicate which race of the season this will be, but with that date, it's almost GOT to be race #1 or #2.

Also, Red Bull has released the [link=http://cutover.redbull.com/cs/BlobServer?blobcol=urldata&blobtable=MungoBlobs&blobkey=id&blobwhere=1242784594937&blobheader=application%2Fpdf&blobnocache=true]air race hospitality promotional brochure (PDF)[/link] which says, in part:

"Touching down in eight cities worldwide..." (Page 2)

So this confirms the number of races WILL increase for next year.

gboulton

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More 2010 Schedule news:

"[link=http://www.worldeventsguide.com/event/4249/London-United-Kingdom/Red-Bull-Air-Race.html]World Events Guide[/link]" lists a Red Bull Air Race in London, England some time in August, saying "Date to be confirmed"

No idea how reliable that source is, or where they got their info.

==============

[link=http://www.budapestinfo.hu/en/calendar_of_events/august_20_and_red_bull_air_race_2010]The Budapest Tourism Office[/link] makes mention of a race on Aug 19-20. No shock there, Budapest has had one every year....probably, as we mentioned earlier, owing to Mr. Besenyei.

==============

[link=http://twitter.com/RedBullAirrace]Philippe Wyssen[/link], the interactive manager for Red Bull who runs their twitter feed, acknowledged this morning that "We are currently finalizing the 2010 calendar." This was in response to the question "When is the race in San Diego?". No idea whether it's significant that he didn't confirm or deny the EXISTENCE of a SD race this year.

EDIT : [link=http://www.sandiegohotels.com/events/redbull.html]SanDiegoHotels.com[/link] has a "Red Bull Air Race 2010" event listed, with no dates.

gboulton

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And, apparently, we know [link=http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/Singapore/Story/A1Story20091105-177937.html]Singapore will NOT host a 2010 race[/link].

gboulton

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Within the last couple of days, Philippe Wyssen said on the Red Bull Air Race twitter feed that they are "aiming for December" to release the 2010 schedule.

gboulton

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Well...we're getting closer.

We can now confirm the "regions" for all 8 races next year, and the locations and dates for some of them. According to [link=http://www.redbullairrace.com/cs/Satellite/en_air/Generic/Tickets-and-Hospitality-021242756456959?CategoryName=Red+Bull+Air+Race&p=1238611393596]Red Bull's Ticketing/Hospitality page[/link], they are as follows:

Abu Dabi March 25/26 MARCH! The 2010 season is ONLY FOUR MONTHS AWAY!!!
Perth April 17/18
South America TBA
Canada TBA
USA TBA
France TBA
Germany TBA
Budapest August 19/20
Portugal TBA

===============

Seeing Canada and the US up there is exciting as heck for me. I'm guessing it's nearly CERTAIN that the Canadian race is Windsor, and there's really almost NOWHERE in the US that isn't either a cheap flight on SWA or a decent drive away.

gboulton

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Well, we now know about the Portugal race:

[link=http://www.redbullairrace.com/cs/Satellite/en_air/Article/Lisbon,-Portugal-signs-contract-to-host-Red-Bull-021242805913188?p=1238611393596]Lisbon, Portugal signs contract to host Red Bull Air Race for 2010[/link]

September 4/5

So, the schedule now looks like:

Abu Dabi March March 25/26
Perth April 17/18
South America TBA
Canada TBA
USA TBA
France TBA
Germany TBA
Budapest August 19/20
Lisbon September 4/5

gboulton

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[link=http://www.redbullairrace.com/cs/Satellite/en_air/Article/Two-new-pilots-for-2010-Red-Bull-Air-Race-season-021242806739411?p=1238611393596]Two new pilots announced[/link]

That brings the total number of pilots back to 15, with the retirement of Dell and Mangold after last season.

One side note...at the bottom of that article it mentions that "The full race calendar will be announced in the New Year."

gboulton

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Hey neat...according to his FAI World Air Games profile, one of Sonka's hobbies is RC Airplanes. [8D]

http://www.worldairgames.org/2009/at...ofile?id=20368

gboulton

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Several comments on various "blogg-ish" sites, like Twitter, Facebook, etc, suggest that the Candian race is, indeed, Windsor, and will be on June 5-6, 2010.

Nothing official yet...still digging.

gboulton

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US Dates and location confirmed...

[link=http://www.redbullairrace.com/cs/Satellite/en_air/Article/New-York-City-to-host-Red-Bull-Air-Race-in-2010-021242809131161?p=1238611393596]New York City to host Red Bull Air Race in 2010[/link]

June 19-20, over the Hudson river.

That ought to be an AWESOME spectacle, particularly with that skyline as a backdrop. And, like Windosr/Detroit, they should be able to support quality viewing sites from both sides of the river.

Bit pricier to travel there than some of the other possible US destinations, but probably wrth it. Certainly going to give it a shot myself.

gboulton

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For the first time ever, [link=http://www.redbullairrace.com/cs/Satellite/en_air/Article/Red-Bull-Air-Race-returns-to-Germany-with-race-at-021242809248865?p=1238611393596]Red Bull will race over an auto race circuit[/link].

EuroSpeedway Lausitz will host the 7th stop of the 2010 series on August 7-8.