Wesaw an advertisement saying that the Red Bull Air Race was going to be held in Rotterdam. With lots of exciting plane action set to take place we decided to go and check it out!. The race is held out over the water, with spectators along the waters edge.
The weather was a bit grey, but it was still o.k for flying. We caught a tram down to the waterfront from the main train station, then walked to the ticket booth to get some tickets.
The marina is pretty, and there were lots of nice boats.
Red Bull were sponsoring the event (hence the name - Red Bull Air Race), so the PR machine was out in force. Above is a H1 hummer, the original ridiculous size one.
Red Bull Minis are a bit better, though as expected Toolman suggests they should have got the Sport model.
The ticket sales were at one end of the track, and the entrance in the middle. We had to walk back and forth to get into our 'premium' area. Hrmph!
The show goes out live, and the crew have some neat booms in the area we hung out in.
Some nice crowdshots
We grabbed a drink and took a spot where we could see the jumbo TV...
and also the water.
We were close to the chicane in the middle of the course, so the planes came past doing some tricky maneuvers.
The pilots are released into the timing beams with the command "Smoke ON!", and the pilot turns his smoke trail on.
That plane is flying sideways, and it's not in trouble, thats the smoke trail!
Did you notice the helicopter in the left? its got a gyro camera and does some cool chase-camera shots.
At both ends of the course, the pilots do a loop, and barrel roll to go up and down the course twice.
Red Bull plane, no doubt.
They sound great as they speed past.
The half time show included skydivers. The jumbo TV followed them down, and they started their own smoke trail in Orange, presumably because its the Dutch national color.
They need to be careful, as they were all landing on a small section of docks...
but with some precision and control ...
They made it! The jumbo TV also gave some great real time pilotcams, with G force meters and speedos.
This guy on the jumbo TV isn't pulling many G, but during the loops they were pulling up to 11G !
Rotterdams' bridge at the top end of the course was an interesting design.
A plane is hiding somewhere in this picture.
After it was over, we went for a little look around the waterfront area.
Midget golf, guess Toolman can't play?
Rotterdam has a tower (which is almost as cool as the skytower ;) )
And a few other interesting buildings.
All in all it was a great day!
a quickr pickr pos
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