RED BULL AIR RACE ACE WELCOMED TO AIR TATTOO
The Royal International Air Tattoo is famous for its long history of fast and furious displays from the world's greatest pilots and this annual aviation extravaganza is a showcase of the skills needed to fly modern and historic aircraft. It is with great pleasure that Air Tattoo organisers welcome the 2009 Red Bull Air Race World Champions, Team Bonhomme to this summer's airshow.
The Red Bull Air Race Championships were established in 2003 as an international series of air races in which competitors have to navigate a challenging obstacle course in the fastest time. In these races, pilots fly their aircraft against the clock around a slalom course completing tight turns and loops to pass through a series of pylons referred to as "Air Gates". This race in the sky is the world's fastest and arguably most exciting motorsport pitting pilot against pilot in a thrilling display of flying precision and expertise.
The current reigning champions are British based Team Bonhomme. Team owner and race pilot Paul Bonhomme enjoys all types of flying and describes himself as "not too bad" at Air Racing. This is some modest statement considering that Paul has achieved an unsurpassed record of 30 podium finishes out of 44 races including 11 race wins. The championship winning aircraft is a Zivko Edge 540 which propels Paul around the Red Bull slalom course at breakneck speeds of up to 265mph. The speed of the aircraft combined with the twists and turns involved in negotiating the course means that Paul can be under the pressure of up to 12 g during the display.
Paul and his team will be attending RIAT 2010 on Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 July to conduct a meet and greet with airshow visitors and introduce them to their Zivko Edge 540.
