Race Team News - Training 1, Windsor
Paul Bonhomme (1st) made an early charge for the top in the first day of training, posting the fastest time of the day (1:11:97). “It’s a nice track and we’ve been laughing as it’s similar to last year so it’s easy to think ‘I’ll just strap on the aeroplane and go whistling through’,” said the defending champ, who saw his lead reduced to just 4 points after two back-to-back third place finishes. “Of course what we’ve forgotten is that last year we had 4 training sessions and 2 race days to get used to it. We’re starting close to the beginning again as it’s not quite the same. On that last 270-degree turn, the second knife-edge is further north than the quadro was last year so you’ve got to get across 40 or 50 metres to the next gate and then the chicane. That’s a major factor. If you get it wrong that’ll be embarrassing – I did that on my first run but it was fine the second time.”
Hannes Arch (2nd) may have picked up a single penalty point for insufficient smoke but his raw time would have been faster than Bonhomme’s. “We don’t carry enough smoke for three runs so it’s not a big issue. I would say Paul, Nigel and I were really close,” said Arch, after flying a 1:12:69. “It’s now about who is better at improving over the next few days. I don’t see myself as better than Paul, that’s too dangerous and you can feel too confident. Windsor is important for me and I have to get smoother tomorrow, that’s the most important thing. I’m aiming for smooth and clean flying. That track is so narrow and the chance of making mistakes is high.”
Matt Hall (3rd) used his training runs to refine his race line after planning for a ‘nil-wind’ track in training to put his data analysis to good use. “The flight wasn’t as nice as normal but it’s partly due to this new data system I’m using,” explained the Australian pilot. “I drew what I thought was the perfect line but I discovered that was too tight for my first run in the track. The first run was getting a bit crazy and on the next one I hit two more pylons so I backed off even more for the third run and got through reasonably cleanly. It’s just experimenting with what I do before I get in the track with the first run. I’m now able to predict my turn radius and best line. It’s now just a case of me being able to fly what I forecast.”
Nigel Lamb (4th) maintained his position among the top four teams in training but was irritated with his “ragged flying” and struggled to find the right line in the track for tackling the chicane. “The conditions were excellent with a gentle south westerly wind, but the track was challenging enough,” said Lamb who laid down a 1:14:87 with 3 seconds in penalties. “I was planning to hit a gate to find an acute angle, but I didn't hit the one planned and just accidentally hit an easy one. But hey it's still only training."
Michael Goulian (5th) had an encouraging result in training after a huge setback with his engine a day earlier. The American pilot was lucky to be able to train and thanked his team for working tirelessly to get him back in the air. “We put nine months into the hopes of a super powerful, awesome motor… which we had for about four hours,” said Goulian, who managed a 1:15 with two seconds in penalties. “It made it through Rio but we don’t know what happened yesterday. It was malfunctioning in a pretty big way and we had to go back to the old engine.”
Matthias Dolderer (6th) was feeling jaded today during training but still flew well to finish in the top half of the table. The German pilot was analytical as ever about where he could improve and said: “I know the track and I didn’t deviate. I feel comfortable and I know where I can gain time. I just need to fly clean and I hope to just get the tiniest fractions of seconds from this machine – it’s the last race I will fly with my red rocket.” Dolderer will commence test flying of his new V3 Edge in the week after the Windsor race but says rather than getting carried away about the new machine, he’s totally focused on the job in hand. “Of course I’m excited about it but I’m not thinking too much about it yet,” he added.
Kirby Chambliss (7th) certainly gets the prize for working his technician the hardest after yet another engine swap in the ongoing saga. Due to complications with fellow American Michael Goulian’s engine yesterday – which has common parts with Chambliss’ – it was decided that the engine should be taken out as a precaution and replaced with the team’s spare. Tech Jason Resop had to pull yet another all-nighter to replace the engine but the effort paid off and Chambliss was able to fly in the training session. “Kirby was happy that the old engine felt good but so did the new one!” said Resop from behind his shades, keeping the visible signs of tiredness under wraps. “We were keeping a real close eye on it but I definitely prefer to err on the side of caution when it comes to safety. We’ll have the new engine back in for New York though.”
Nicolas Ivanoff (8th) was fighting off a cold in the hangar and said his training runs had been disappointing but he only had himself to blame. “It’s down to me,” he said, head in hands while watching his video footage. “The first lap was more or less OK but the second one is more complicated. The second knife-edge is really hard and the gate after into the chicane. Today it was impossible for me to fly well even though the weather conditions were good. At the end of the track I tried to do the last three gates well but I felt some big vibrations from the turbulence from the buildings. The river is really wide so you get a lot of wind and it can be disturbed further by the buildings. You can have smooth air and bumpy air in the track. I have been feeling sick and can feel a cold coming which isn’t helping.”
Sergey Rakhmanin (9th) felt his result was bittersweet today in training and said that he expected others to do much better tomorrow. “The track was difficult and I couldn’t fly without mistakes,” said the Russian pilot. “I hope I’ll have time to work out why I made those mistakes. It’s not such great news that I am in 9th place as a lot of pilots were disqualified today for trying new things and tomorrow they will be faster. Today was better weather conditions compared to yesterday’s calibration flights. The second part of the track is the part I have trouble with, when I come into the chicane for the second time. It’s hard enough with calm conditions, let alone with wind.”
Pete McLeod (10th) finished with a DSQ but was insistent that he was just trying new tactics in the track. “The track is interesting with the wind and I was struggling with my lines,” admitted McLeod, who has changed his team set-up for Canada. “I didn’t put down a complete run, which I would have liked. Losing training 2 because of a baseball game probably isn’t the best for us either. We’ve got some work to do before race day for sure. The 270 turn and the gates in and out of the chicane are the areas I need to look at. There’s mechanical turbulence but I didn’t feel too much out in the track. I did feel one bump which might have been washout (wake) from me but yesterday was really turbulent. It’s just unstable weather moving through – this is pretty standard for May/June.”
Peter Besenyei (11th) saw another twist in the tale of his new aircraft after the team had to install the engine from the MXS-R into the new Corvus. The Hungarian-built race plane has already seen one engine swap this week during test flying as the original European motor was not approved by the Red Bull Air Race technical team. “The plane handles really nicely but we have problems with the engine,” said Besenyei, who was DQ’d in training. “I want to fly with a good engine and we are trying to sort it. The other engine was lovely and it is really reliable. Hopefully it will be certified in the future for the championship. We’re now changing to the Lycon engine from the MXS-R.”
Alejandro Maclean (12th) was in good spirits as his tech repaired some minor problems with the MXS-R. “The plan is the same as always – doing the best we can,” said Maclean, who was given a DQ in the training session today. “We’re trying to recover from the disastrous start to the season and trying to catch up on points. How we do it is very complicated to explain and I’m not going to say any more. If you look at the first training run you’ll see I have zero penalties so I don’t think there’s too much of a problem. I’m just being careful out there.”
Martin Sonka (13th) said his Edge 540 was in good health for the Canadian race and that he had a good feeling here. “The engine is fixed and we made some small modifications to the cooling of the engine. Some of the cylinder temperatures were too high but they are OK now,” explained Sonka. “It’s running well and the track is very technical, but not as fast as in Rio. I like tracks like this as it’s not just about the engine. It’s more about the pilot and I feel I can play with the track more, find the correct way. I saw the results and I’m quite happy, surprised actually. I have big hopes for the future.”
Yoshi Muroya (14th) was forced to find a replacement airplane after his Edge 540 suffered slight damage when the canopy came unlatched on its first test flight at the Race Airport shortly after being reassembled. “The canopy just came off -- it unlatched somehow and was gone,” Muroya said. The incident happened in the 'shake down' test or the 'post-assembly check flight', according to Race Director Drew Searle. Muroya’s team was unable to repair the damage on the horizontal stabilizer in time for Thursday’s training session. They decided to borrow the Edge 540 that Hannes Arch used during the 2009 season. They traveled to Oklahoma to pick it up. “I will be in Windsor tomorrow,” Muroya said.”
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