Post by corsair67 on Nov 20, 2006 13:57:25 GMT 12
Certainly sounds like it was a sucessfully run event.
Roll on 2007!
International air race gives the state wings
Jo Prichard
November 20, 2006.
AN estimated 250,000 people lined the banks of Perth's Swan River yesterday for a daredevil air race that ended with a Hungarian pilot beating 10 rivals in a spectacular contest lasting less than three minutes.
Peter Besenyei, 49, won the Perth leg, the final of the 2006 global Red Bull air race series, after streaking through an obstacle course on the river with a combined time of 2mins, 39.78secs.
However, US pilot Kirby Chambliss took out overall first place for this year's series after coming third yesterday, behind British pilot Paul Bonhomme, with a combined time of 2:42.24 for his two laps.
Planes flying at speeds of 400km/h darted through 20m-high air-filled pylons as they completed a 1.4km course yesterday marked out over the Swan.
The pilots' death-defying aerial acrobatics have drawn massive crowds in Abu Dhabi, Barcelona, Berlin, St Petersburg, Istanbul, Budapest and San Francisco this year ahead of yesterday's final leg of the series.
Chambliss, 47, was the youngest ever pilot, at 24, and youngest ever captain, at 28, of an American commercial airliner.
He is married to another pilot and owns a house in the Arizona desert with its own hangar and runway.
His main rivals were last year's champion Mike Mangold, a former US Air Force "Top Gun" pilot who once had to eject from a burning jet, and Besenyei.
At the race, 55-year-old Lindsay Danes was looking for inspiration to dream up plans for a faster prototype of his beloved aircraft.
"All of this sort of thing is effectively home-built aircraft," Mr Danes said, pointing to the Red Bull fleet of Edge 540 and Extra 300 planes.
"What they've got here is the closest thing to spectacle plus speed."
The Edge and Extras are purpose-built for the international event, the Formula One of aerobatics and sky racing.
West Australian Tourism Minister Sheila McHale presented the trophies, telling the crowd the event would be "even more fantastic" when it returns next year and in 2008.
Additional reporting: AAP
Roll on 2007!
International air race gives the state wings
Jo Prichard
November 20, 2006.
AN estimated 250,000 people lined the banks of Perth's Swan River yesterday for a daredevil air race that ended with a Hungarian pilot beating 10 rivals in a spectacular contest lasting less than three minutes.
Peter Besenyei, 49, won the Perth leg, the final of the 2006 global Red Bull air race series, after streaking through an obstacle course on the river with a combined time of 2mins, 39.78secs.
However, US pilot Kirby Chambliss took out overall first place for this year's series after coming third yesterday, behind British pilot Paul Bonhomme, with a combined time of 2:42.24 for his two laps.
Planes flying at speeds of 400km/h darted through 20m-high air-filled pylons as they completed a 1.4km course yesterday marked out over the Swan.
The pilots' death-defying aerial acrobatics have drawn massive crowds in Abu Dhabi, Barcelona, Berlin, St Petersburg, Istanbul, Budapest and San Francisco this year ahead of yesterday's final leg of the series.
Chambliss, 47, was the youngest ever pilot, at 24, and youngest ever captain, at 28, of an American commercial airliner.
He is married to another pilot and owns a house in the Arizona desert with its own hangar and runway.
His main rivals were last year's champion Mike Mangold, a former US Air Force "Top Gun" pilot who once had to eject from a burning jet, and Besenyei.
At the race, 55-year-old Lindsay Danes was looking for inspiration to dream up plans for a faster prototype of his beloved aircraft.
"All of this sort of thing is effectively home-built aircraft," Mr Danes said, pointing to the Red Bull fleet of Edge 540 and Extra 300 planes.
"What they've got here is the closest thing to spectacle plus speed."
The Edge and Extras are purpose-built for the international event, the Formula One of aerobatics and sky racing.
West Australian Tourism Minister Sheila McHale presented the trophies, telling the crowd the event would be "even more fantastic" when it returns next year and in 2008.
Additional reporting: AAP
