BEIJING,May 19 (Xinhuanet) -- It's the fastest motorsport series on earth. The Red Bull Air Race world championships, and its ultra-manoeuvrable airplanes, touched down in Malaysia on the weekend and produced a race that long-time observers say was one of the most thrilling ever.
Malaysia’s administrative capital, Putrajaya, is a young city with spectacular bridges criss crossing artificial lakes, the biggest of which became an aerial race track on the weekend.
This is the first time the Red Bull Air Race tour has made a stop anywhere in Asia outside of the Middle East. But aside from destinations in Abu Dhabi and now Malaysia, China will host the last stop of the tour this year in early December.
New rules this season mean all teams now use the same propellor and propulsion systems, putting full focus on the ability of the pilots. But in Malaysia there was the added challenge of how the pilots and their planes would hold up to the oppressive heat and humidity.
“The heat here has a big effect on the airplane. Because of the heat, the engine produces less power. If you put less air into the engine you get less power out. It’s as simple as that. And likewise the wing doesn’t turn quite so well.” Formula race pilot Steve Jones said.
Right through the weekend, joint world championship leader, Austria’s Hannes Arch, looked by far the fastest. And the odds of his extending his series lead grew when his co-leader failed to make the Final 4. But there were plenty of twists left. Another top challenger was disqualified for flying through the start gate a mere one knot over the speed limit. Then a British pilot who’d competed in 43 races without ever winning posted the fastest time of the weekend to snatch the race from Arch.
"Every race today, you had to really go for it. But I left a little bit in the tank for the final race and took a little bit more risk and it paid off.” Putrajaya race winner Nigel Lamb said.
"Surprisingly, I could deal really good with the heat here. I’m from Austria where it’s cold with mountains and stuff. And from that point of view I was really happy with Malaysia and to be honest it was one of my favourite stops so farm and I definitely want to come back to Malaysia.” Series leader Hannes Arch said.
Second place gave Arch a five point lead in the world championship as the pilots head to Poland for the season’s fourth leg.
(Source:cntv.cn)
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