Red Bull Air Race Question?

[n5lp]

I've watched a few more of these races in the last few days. I continue to be amazed with the skill level and excitement of these races. I find one thing baffling though.

Very often the aircraft go slightly inverted in the turns. This would seem to be a huge waste of energy as this usually happens when they go slightly high, using power to climb, then go inverted to get back to altitude. This is all occurring at around 50 feet or so of altitude, so I am amazed but from 7th grade physics I know that there is always a loss. It would seem to be much more efficient to fly slightly less aggressively and not have to go inverted.

Since these guys are way better than me, I wonder what I am missing?

[Baja_Traveler]

Part of the rules of the race - not only do they have to be within the pylons, they also have to be on edge or have wings parallel to the ground - depending on the color of the pylon they are passing through. Go through a pylon flat when you were supposed to be on edge and you get docked time and vice-versa.

[AntiGravity]

I think I read somewhere once that by pulling high and coming over the top you can significantly reduce the radius of the turn. The loss of energy of the way up is mostly regained on the way back down again. I think it is a manoeuver fighter pilots use to turn inside their enermy when chasing them; also helps keep them in sight. I'm sure some fighter jocks out there can tell me if that's true or not.

On another note: I just watched the Rio round earlier today (took a nice break from drilling the upper longerons) and was amazed to see Kirby hit the brakes and prop plant his Extra. Ouch! Does that require the engine to be stripped down and checked for damaged as well? He did not have a good day today. But Pauly did and since I'm British, I gotta be happy with that!

Cheers,

[rgbewley]

After the Rio race incident, Kirby installed his new engine that we built for him in February. The old engine has a little less than 500 hours on it and will be torn down, inspected and "freshened" up to use as a spare.

Kirby flies a Zivko Edge built here in OK. It uses the parallel head 540 like the RV-10, where the Extra uses the angle head 540 or a 580. The Extra weighs quite a bit more than the Edge.