BUDAPEST, Hungary - The 2009 Red Bull Air Race Budapest track is very similar to the track in 2008, except that gates 3/15 and 7/11 are ordinary knife edge gates in front of the parliament building. Last year the quadro was used for knife edge flying. These will key challenges of the track since according to this year’s new regulations the pilots will have to roll through the level before proceeding to the next gate. Negative pushes are not allowed and will be penalized. This means that the pilots will have to adjust their line early enough to make it correctly through the gates.
Two other interesting manoeuvres will be the vertical turning manoeuvres at the north and south sides. The important rule for the Budapest track forces the pilots to pull up 45° or more in order to keep the vector away from the buildings, which means they have to adjust their bank-angle and the G-force in order to not lose too much time in those sections of the race track.
As usual in the Budapest race, the plan is to fly underneath the Chain Bridge, but this is dependent on water levels*. There will be no change in timing since the race starts when passing gate 1 after the bridge.
Update: if the water level allows starting underneath the bridge, timing starts at the bridge. Otherwise the race starts at gate 1.
Facts about the track
Estimated average speed: 295 km/h
Track length: 6600 m
Estimated average time: 81 seconds
Budapest race track overview
Start the race under the bridge* --> first lap
Gate 1: horizontal
Gate 2: horizontal
Gate 3: right knife edge
Gate 4: horizontal
Gate 5: horizontal
Vertical turning manoeuvre
Gate 6: horizontal
Gate 7: right knife edge
Gate 8: horizontal
Gate 9: horizontal
Vertical turning manoeuvre --> second lap
Gate 10: horizontal
Gate 11: left knife edge
Gate 12: horizontal
Gate 13: horizontal
Vertical turning manoeuvre
Gate 14: horizontal
Gate 15: left knife edge
Gate 16: horizontal
Gate 17: horizontal
Terminate the race under the bridge*
Interactive Budapest Map
View Red Bull Air Race Budapest in a larger map
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