SALZBURG, Austria - Hannes Arch admits it is sometimes hard to keep on an even keel amid all the pressure during the Red Bull Air Race season and especially while in the glare of the media spotlight during race weekends. But the Austrian said in a wide-ranging radio interview he tries to keep himself grounded with the help of the right music, the right friends and the right attitude.
Arch, the 2008 world champion and the runner-up in the 2009 season that ended last month, also revealed in the unusually candid interview with German radio station Bayern3 that he hopes the days of his single lifestyle are gradually coming to a close and that he can find the right partner to start a family with.
“I’ve started to use music to concentrate at races,” Arch said. “I like listening to pretty much everything, from classic to house music. I’ve found the music really helps. It has a soothing effect on me. But it’s got to be the right kind. If I’m too aggressive, I make mistakes in the track, I fly to stiffly and lose time. If I’m too relaxed, then I also lose time in the track. So if I’m too aggressive I’ll listen to classical music to bring me down and if it’s the other way around, I’ll listen to something with a strong rhythm like house music to get me up to the right level. It’s worked extremely well.”
Losing touch with reality
Arch, 42, talked at length about the last 20 years he has spent in extreme sports, everything from mountain climbing to hang gliding, and the last three as a pilot in the Red Bull Air Race. Arch said he will sometimes climb or hike up a mountain between races to stay in touch with nature and make sure his bearings are in the right direction after all the commotion of race weekends, where there might be up to 600,000 spectators watching.
“I think in the environment of the air race, where there is so much media and parties and so much going on, that it’s possible to lose touch with reality without realising it’s even happening,” Arch said. “I can’t say if that happens to me or not. But I think when you’re in the spotlight that it’s important to keep your feet on the ground and not lose touch. I know where my values are. I think you've got to be conscious of what they are all the time.”
Arch, looking forward to his fourth season in the Red Bull Air Race World Championship next year, said that there is one thing that he never wants to be: normal.
“I’m an extreme sportsman and adrenaline junkie,” he said. “I know I might come across as semi-insane to some people. But I don’t want to be normal. For me that sounds almost like an insult.”
Looking for Mrs. Right
Arch, who has shaken up the hierarchy of the Red Bull Air Race more than any other pilot with his rapid rise to the top, has been a driving force behind many of the innovations of the last two years. He and his great rival Paul Bonhomme of Britain have won 10 of the last 14 races over the last two years and dominated the championship.
But even though his success has not been limited to the track, Arch said he is ready to give up the unofficial title as the ‘most eligible bachelor’ of the Red Bull Air Race.
“Yes, that’s right,” Arch said when asked if he were really serious about wanting to start a family. “It takes a bit of imagination to see me with a family but my life can’t go on forever like it has. I’ve believe there is a flow to life and the moment will come when I’ll settle down. I feel that I’m closer to that point than 15 years ago. If someone asked me 15 years ago if I’d would ever have a family and children, I’d have said ‘no way’. But now I would say, yes definitely, if the right woman comes along.”
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