The world’s fastest pilots return to Hungary – Red Bull Air Race

As the Red Bull Air Race series is being held for the 11^th time in Hungary this weekend, mediapiac.com has prepared a collection of what the most important persons have to say about the event.

Zsolt Gyulay, president and chief executive of Hungaroring Sport Zrt.

“We are very proud to be hosting the Air Race again, since this part of the race is truly one of the most spectacular of all, as it takes place in the heart of our capital and the number of spectators can be traced easily from the piers. The contestants and the organisers both love Budapest, not just because it is a beautiful city, but mostly because the organisation is excellent. We are especially thankful to Péter Besenyei, who contributed a lot to the continuing development of the race. I hope that the weather will be nice so that everyone will enjoy the competition.”

Clemes Jaeger, director on series on flights and sports at Red Bull Air Race

“It is always pleasant to return to Budapest, we look forward to coming back here each year. Budapest is one of the most iconic points in the race, always offering a new challenge to the competitors. We’re at midway during the race, with Martin Sonka and Joshi Muroja at a tie, so I think we’re going to have an exciting weekend.”

Martin Sonka, competitor

“It’s hard to describe exactly what we feel when we’re competing in Hungary, but nothing compares to that moment when you fly underneath the Chain Bridge. It’s magical. I almost feel at home, when I’m here, as a lot of supporters come from the Czech Republic to cheer for me. I try to do my best so that I won’t let them down. Last year’s round at Budapest was a disappointment for me, as I made a mistake in the last seconds, but I hope that I’ll do better this year.”

Péter Besenyei, ex-competitor, organiser

“It’s wonderful to see that the series comes back to Budapest for the 11^th time, where it actually started in 2003. It all started when I asked Red Bull to organise a trick-flying world competition, but Mr Mateschitz suggested we do something like a Formula-1 competition, only in the air. I returned to Mr Mateschitz with my ideas and we started working on them. We started off with a group of six, and the whole thing became clear within a half year. We tested a lot of things, but mostly the gates, as it wasn’t clear back then whether we should use balloons, water jets, lasers, or steam: the gates must be easy to see, but they should not damage the aircraft. In the end, we decided to use pylons filled with air, the first one was sausage-shaped, fixed with thousands of strings, but it improved year-by-year. The test run took place in Zeltweg, but the first actual race was held in Tököl, Hungary.

Péter Besenyei is going to present the field with a test run and an air show, but there are many interesting programmes, like the extreme bicycle shows, and concerts on the Ludwig boat. The Red Bull Ari Race Budapest run starts at 11 am both on Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday, free and time checked runs are taking place, on Sunday the Masters and Challenge categories.

featured photo: the 2015 race, https://www.facebook.com/undiscoveredhungary

Ce: bm

Source: mediapiac.com