Former Red Bull Air Race Pilots plan to revive Air Racing
Reigning 2019 Red Bull Air Race champion Matt Hall, along with 2 other race winning former Red Bull pilots Yoshi Muroya and Pete McLeod, announced that they are attempting to re-launch a world air racing championship. This latest reincarnation and variation of the popular Red Bull Air Race championship will simply be called: Air Race X. The announced format will be unique, mixing events of “real”and “digital” air races, with the goal of launching the first race in October of 2023. Currently there are three separate organizations attempting to re-launch a global air racing series: The FAI-backed World Championship Air Race based in Hong Kong, which has previously announced the goal of holding it’s first air race event in 2023, but does not have any known race pilots or expertise in the air racing sphere. The second project is the British-Austrian AIR RACE company, made up of former Red Bull organizers and suppliers, which is currently searching for a title sponsor. The latest project, Air Race X, is unique in that it is the only pilot driven project of the three competing air racing ventures.
The philosophy behind Air Race X is simple, the pilots have patiently waited for a new air race series to arise via an external party, but so far nothing has materialized and their rallying cry is that pilots and teams should: “unite and take action to restart a new air race series in their own hands.”
Of course the global economical and logistical climate at the moment is “not easy”, thus contributing to the logic behind the alternate and unique format of Air Race X. Japanese star pilot and fan favorite, Yoshi Muroya, described the concept of the digital race format: “The race trace will be distributed (by) the race officials to the teams, then the teams will set up the track at the their own airport-exactly the same track for everyone, set by ground markings or small pylons. We can measure the aircraft’s inflight information really precisely. The flight recording is sent to the race officials. The race officials verify if the flight data is valid-if there’s a penalty it will be deleted-and the date will be displayed on a leaderboard on the website.” The digital races will be flown over a period of about one week, the results will be kept secret and allow time for the organizers to produce a 45 minute edited program that can be broadcasted on race day. An additional feature that is being proposed is Augmented Reality, which can be used to allow a group of air race fans to watch the races live in a specific host city and air race venue. Further details about the digital races and the various broadcasting formats will be released in August, according to organizers. Of course, nothing can fully compare to the sight, sound and emotions of watching an air race live. When asked about this sentiment, Yoshi Muroya sympathetically replied: “I think some fans who have experienced the frenzy of air racing live, may feel that digital is not enough for them. I understand this, and we will stop at nothing to bring them the best possible experience. We will continue to evolve step by step, and we hope you will support us.” Following their first digital race in October of 2023, the plan is to hold a two-race, dual aircraft format series in 2024 and eventually reaching the status of a World Championship Air Race by 2025. All of us at the IARF sincerely wish our colleagues at Air Race X the very best success and perseverance as they seek to realize their ambitious plans.
www.airrace-x.com
Reigning 2019 Red Bull Air Race champion Matt Hall, along with 2 other race winning former Red Bull pilots Yoshi Muroya and Pete McLeod, announced that they are attempting to re-launch a world air racing championship. This latest reincarnation and variation of the popular Red Bull Air Race championship will simply be called: Air Race X. The announced format will be unique, mixing events of “real”and “digital” air races, with the goal of launching the first race in October of 2023. Currently there are three separate organizations attempting to re-launch a global air racing series: The FAI-backed World Championship Air Race based in Hong Kong, which has previously announced the goal of holding it’s first air race event in 2023, but does not have any known race pilots or expertise in the air racing sphere. The second project is the British-Austrian AIR RACE company, made up of former Red Bull organizers and suppliers, which is currently searching for a title sponsor. The latest project, Air Race X, is unique in that it is the only pilot driven project of the three competing air racing ventures.
The philosophy behind Air Race X is simple, the pilots have patiently waited for a new air race series to arise via an external party, but so far nothing has materialized and their rallying cry is that pilots and teams should: “unite and take action to restart a new air race series in their own hands.”
Of course the global economical and logistical climate at the moment is “not easy”, thus contributing to the logic behind the alternate and unique format of Air Race X. Japanese star pilot and fan favorite, Yoshi Muroya, described the concept of the digital race format: “The race trace will be distributed (by) the race officials to the teams, then the teams will set up the track at the their own airport-exactly the same track for everyone, set by ground markings or small pylons. We can measure the aircraft’s inflight information really precisely. The flight recording is sent to the race officials. The race officials verify if the flight data is valid-if there’s a penalty it will be deleted-and the date will be displayed on a leaderboard on the website.” The digital races will be flown over a period of about one week, the results will be kept secret and allow time for the organizers to produce a 45 minute edited program that can be broadcasted on race day. An additional feature that is being proposed is Augmented Reality, which can be used to allow a group of air race fans to watch the races live in a specific host city and air race venue. Further details about the digital races and the various broadcasting formats will be released in August, according to organizers. Of course, nothing can fully compare to the sight, sound and emotions of watching an air race live. When asked about this sentiment, Yoshi Muroya sympathetically replied: “I think some fans who have experienced the frenzy of air racing live, may feel that digital is not enough for them. I understand this, and we will stop at nothing to bring them the best possible experience. We will continue to evolve step by step, and we hope you will support us.” Following their first digital race in October of 2023, the plan is to hold a two-race, dual aircraft format series in 2024 and eventually reaching the status of a World Championship Air Race by 2025. All of us at the IARF sincerely wish our colleagues at Air Race X the very best success and perseverance as they seek to realize their ambitious plans.
www.airrace-x.com