Red Bull Air Race World Series - Budapest, Hungary

The celebration of Hungary's National Day August 20th is a very special day in Budapest since 2003. There is an aerobatic air-race in the heart of Budapest's city centre. The race takes place in front of the Parliament house between the Chain Bridge and Margaret Bridge above the River Danube. The race attracted one-half million spectators this year who lined the banks of Budapest’s Danube River to witness the event. This number is interesting considering that Budapest has 1.7 million citizens. The air-race is exciting for the viewers because most of the action is kept directly in front of the crowd rather than several miles away. The pilots are flying very low in front of their eyes.
The Red Bull Air Race World Series is Formula One Air Racing. Budapest is to the Red Bull Air Race World Series what Monaco is to the Formula 1 Grand Prix and what Wimbledon is to tennis.
Pilots maneuver through a slalom-style course between 15 inflatable "gates" moored in the river. The gates between the rubber cones vary from 33 to 45 feet The Red Bull Air Race was created and developed by the Hungarian three-times World Aerobatics Champion Peter Bessenyei. He flew upside down under the Chain Bridge in Budapest in 2002. After this maneuver, Red Bull asked him to help them work on a race like today Red Bull Air Race. Today each run starts and finishes with a fly-by underneath the Chain Bridge. The inverted flat spin and the knife-edge spin are also his creations.
The Red Bull Race started with two events (Austria and Hungary) in 2003 and involved 6 pilots. In 2007, 13 Red Bull Air Race pilots competed in 10 places around the world [Abu Dhabi(UAE), Rio de Janeiro(BRA), Monument Valley(USA), Istanbul (TUR), Interlaken (SUI), London (GBR), Budapest (HUN), Porto (POR), San Diego (USA), Perth (AUS)].
The roots of the Air Racing are from the United States where air races were held since 1909 and where the race is about speed. The Red Bull Air Race brought new dimensions to the rivalry: the skills. The pilots fly close to the river (or some places to the land) and in the meantime they do aerobic maneuvers sometimes with the speed of up to 400 km/hr. At the same time the pilots are flying against the clock in a very tight space. These require very special skills, what just a handful of pilots can do. In the Red Bull Air Race the winner who is the fastest pilot also the best at aerobatics and has the strongest nerves.
Red Bull races are a cross between high-G, low-level, air-show maneuvers and conventional, closed-course pylon racing. They’re required to execute specific maneuvers during the flight, such as aerobatic challenges between obstacles in the knife-edge position, half and full rolls, also in the vertical upward flight, and a touch and go landing on a specified section of adjacent runway. The pilots then fly under the Chain Bridge to reach their goal.









Unfortunately this year there was no Hungarian flag up; Peter Bessenyei (HUN/ Team Red Bull) got the 4th place. American Mike Mangold ((USA /Team Cobra) won the first place beating Kirby Chambliss (USA/Team Red Bull) and Paul Bonhomme (GBR, Team Matador).





The crew




The fabolous 5



My favorite image of the day