Trio of new engines for pilots in Perth round of Red Bull Air Race

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Trio of new engines for pilots in Perth round of Red Bull Air Race

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Trio of new engines for pilots in Perth round of Red Bull Air Race

by Kirsten Corrigan, Apr 16, 2010

With the growing emphasis on the importance of squeezing the most power from the six-cylinder Lycoming engines, three teams have worked solidly since Abu Dhabi to install new powerplants. Hungarian pilot Peter Besenyei, Australian home favourite Matt Hall and Sergey Rakhmanin from Russia are all flying with upgraded versions.

Besenyei is flying his 2009 MXS-R and is eagerly awaiting the arrival of his Hungarian-designed and built Corvus Racer. In the meantime his two technicians have installed an improved race-tuned engine to bridge the gap in an effort to build upon Besenyei’s success in Abu Dhabi where he finished in third place.

“It’s a Lycon engine and hopefully a couple of kilos lighter than the old one,” said Besenyei, who admits holding back from flying at full rpm until race day. “We’ll have to wait until we weigh the plane to see if that’s true. I really hope it is a little bit stronger but I couldn’t feel whether it is yet. I need to break it in and I still cannot lean it yet because of the temperatures. It needs a couple of hours for the engine to run well… it’s hard to say how long it will need as this depends on the engine… but hopefully soon.”

Matt Hall has also switched from his “safe spare” to his superior race engine in time for his home race in Perth and it’s believed he may have an additional 25hp under the cowling of his custom fit MXS-R as a result. After a disappointing outcome in Abu Dhabi where he failed to start in the Super 8 round, Hall’s technician Lenny Rulason headed straight to Perth to begin the engine replacement. He also remedied the issues with the electrical power supply that had hindered the team in the season opener. “It was a difficult job to swap from one to the other and I was here by myself,” admitted Rulason. “It took three days but fortunately I had some of the local guys I could ask for physical help. The engine has got some racing bits that aren’t in the other one – it’s got different pistons and a few other things that make it better. This one is assembled better for the racing application whereas the other one is more of a long-term engine and will last hundreds of hours. This one might only last the year.”

Russian pilot Sergey Rakhmanin also has a new engine but had difficulty starting the new powerplant during the day’s initial training session. His technician was working to improve the situation in time for the second flight of the day. Those who have heard the engine in action, which also has a new camshaft, describe it as sounding like “a dragster”.