Red Bull Air Races

ScottSchmidt · #1 07-09-2007, 02:39 PM

Red Bull - Monument Valley 2007

This report is a little late but my brother took some great shots with his Nikon that I thought I would share with you. His fisheye really makes for some nice in-flight shots. We took off Friday afternoon from Salt Lake City and headed for Vernal UT. to meet up with another friend and his new 206. From Vernal we flew to Bluff UT. where we stayed for the night and then took a free shuttle the next day. This was a first class operation. The money they spend to put these races on is incredible considering they only sold 5000 seats. I was very impressed. I will try to make the San Diego race if schedule permits.

Bluff UT. is a great flying destination to get away from it all. The San Juan River runs right through the town. There are only a couple of hotels/motels. Since we had 8 of us and I called for rooms on short notice we stayed at the Recapture Lodge www.recapturelodge.com and the Desert Rose Inn www.desertroseinn.com . Both were great, the Desert Rose is a little newer.

ScottSchmidt · #2 07-09-2007, 02:44 PM

Next morning, we walked across the street to the funniest little outdoor shack where we ate breakfast burritos. It was definitely one those peace and love kinda places, then onto the 30 minute shuttle ride. We arrived to the races where you just picked out a spot on the side of the sandy hill and set up your chairs or blankets. They did a great job keeping the action going between the races and the Red Bull skydiving team.

ScottSchmidt · #3 07-09-2007, 02:49 PM

Here is a sequence of this guys most terrifying moments in a plane (I hope). He barely missed the ground, and then went almost straight through the pylon. Look as his left wheel pant is ripped off. He was then pointed straight at the crowd but was able to pull up and miss everyone. He was DQed. In a post race interview he said he looked down for one second to check his propeller control. He felt it surging. Hitting the ground would have been a bigger surge.

All photos were taken by Todd Schmidt

ScottSchmidt · #4 07-09-2007, 02:52 PM

Pretty incredible how tight they turn these planes at 200+mph.

We made it out of the races easy thanks to the shuttle bus. Hopped back in the plane and headed for home. 1.5 hour flight across 80% of Utah and we were home and back into bed Saturday night.

ScottSchmidt · #5 07-09-2007, 03:19 PM

So who won?
My buddy's 206 of course! Next time I'll race the RV-10.

Ironflight · #6 07-09-2007, 03:57 PM

Incredible shots Scott! Man, Louise wants us to eventually live farther west than Texas, and with pictures like you post, I'm not going to take much convincing!

Paul

ScottSchmidt · #7 07-09-2007, 04:08 PM

I take no credit for these pictures. Luckily my brother Todd Schmidt joined us for this trip and he took all these shots.

He will be coming to Oshkosh this year too so I will have some great shots to post. He has the Nikon D100 with lots of lenses.

DeltaRomeo · #8 07-09-2007, 04:08 PM

Awesome, Scott! Awesome!

Thanks so much for sharing.

b,
d

N908RV · #9 07-09-2007, 04:20 PM

Some seriously incredible shots - thanks for sharing.

ScottSchmidt · #10 07-09-2007, 04:26 PM

Soaking up the sun and watching some planes.