Dolderer upgrades to new plane for New York Red Bull Air Race

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Dolderer upgrades to new plane for New York Red Bull Air Race

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Dolderer upgrades to new plane for New York Red Bull Air Race

by Kirsten Corrigan, Jun 6, 2010

WINDSOR, Ontario – The queue for the Edge 540 V3 is getting longer by the day as the teams continue in their quest for aerodynamic supremacy and raw power in the track. The rumour mill was already working overtime at the start of the 2010 Red Bull Air Race World Championship season about who was in line for the new machine but as the second model rolls off the production line in Oklahama, USA, rumours are turning to reality.

Austria’s Hannes Arch was the first pilot to take delivery of the much-hyped machine at the start of 2010 but it was rookie pilot Matthias Dolderer who took the biggest gamble, placing his order in 2009 after only two races in his debut season. He has received confirmation that test flying will commence immediately after the Windsor round this weekend and more importantly, in time for a grand unveiling in New York on 19 and 20 June. The German pilot is understandably excited but the anticipation of the new lighter and slicker machine is tempered with a slight wave of nostalgia as he races the current ‘red rocket’ Edge 540 for the last time in Canada today.

Straight off the production line

“So I’ve got a new girlfriend and am switching from a redhead to a blonde,” jokes the pilot about his freshly-painted, all-white new V3. “Everything is ready. We need a few days to adjust everything and to get all the race equipment in there. I don’t want to stress it too much and I want to be sure it works. That’s one of the reasons we haven’t assembled the plane yet. We’ll take the current plane to Oklahoma and if I have any problems I’ll have this one ready to go. It’s definitely a big moment to fly a plane for the first time straight off the production line.”

With the Zivko Aeronautics factory producing around four race planes each year, the wait for a new model can be lengthy. Pete McLeod is next in line to receive the new generation model while American pilot Kirby Chambliss has also buckled under the pressure and ordered one after watching Arch’s times improve further this season.

“I trust in these aeroplanes,” says Dolderer, who has also recently formed a partnership with German car manufacturer Volkswagen. “The V3 has more aerodynamic fairings than the current one and is also better for disassembling. It’s very similar but with subtle changes designed for racing. There are a lot of practical changes, which make it a nicer aeroplane to race. It’s also much lighter, which is of course an advantage. You can alter the centre of gravity in the new aeroplane and this can affect the flight characteristics quite a lot. If the plane is light, you can move the weight around. My plane is heavier than Hannes’ because I am having a counter-weighted prop. This is a back-up system in case the oil pressure fails and makes the rpm increase. It’s about an additional 5kg on the weight of the plane.”

Three engines to choose from

Dolderer will also add a third engine to his growing stockpile, ensuring he always has a back-up option if anything should go wrong. This flexibility also allows for new developments to be tested on the spare while the other engines are travelling the world with the team.

“I have one engine in each plane and the luxury of a test plane,” explains Dolderer. “We have other guys around the globe testing things for us for the future. Whoever comes up with a new idea has to wait for it to be built and then you have to test it. There’s not a way to just come up with a new part and put it in the plane for the race, that doesn’t work. You have to test it and it has to be proven and safe.
The Lycon engines have not had any major problems but if we find anything then we’ll still have a spare engine to fly with. They are all the same but built at different times so we have a contingency.”

The German team also hints at possible telemetry equipment for the new race plane and can confirm that different wingtips and wheelpans will be used on Dolderer’s V3. One of the reasons for stumping up the cash for the new machine was the fact that it was designed with racing in mind and won’t need an upgraded canopy or turtledeck – at least not in the immediate future – as the standard components are already optimised for the job in hand. “The next thing would be to redesign the wing,” ponders Dolderer, before glancing across to the new Corvus flown by Peter Besenyei. “And we’ve seen how long it can take to build a new race plane. I’d rather stay focused with one plane and learn how to fly it properly so I can be safe.”

World class partnership with VW

With a focus on precision and enhancing the sporting pedigree of the team, Dolderer’s union with German car manufacturer Volkswagen symbolises the team’s strategic development moving into the second half of the 2010 season. The company from the famous car-producing city of Wolfsburg has also announced a global sponsorship deal with the Red Bull Air Race World Championship, commencing in Windsor. Talking about the official partnership, Volkswagen’s head of experience marketing Jörn Hinrichs said: “Motorsports, both on land and in the air, stand for sports competition and technological innovation alike. Precisely these attributes also apply to our sports models.”