AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2015 - 42

PILOT BRIEFING
RED BULL AIR RACES

The fast and furious
Heart-stopping entertainment in Las Vegas
B Y J U L I E S U M M E R S WA L K E R

VIDEO EXTRA

See the pilots
battle gusty
conditions and
continue rivalries
in Las Vegas.
MICHAEL GOULIAN (above) prepar-

ing for the race. Las Vegas winner
Matt Hall (right).

42 | AOPA PILOT December 2015

one-thousandths of a second. It was Australian Matt Hall in first,
Great Britain's Paul Bonhomme second, and Germany's Matthias
Dolderer third.
DISAPPOINTMENT

His face said it all-and the commentator watching Kirby
Chambliss' reaction via the onboard Garmin VIRB called it his
"ugly face"-the races were over for number 10 in the first round.
Chambliss has raced in every season of the Red Bull Air Race since
its inception in 2003.
Highly competitive, Chambliss appeared to be the U.S. favorite this year in the training rounds. The addition of winglets to his
Edge 540 V3 added speed and he was fifth in the training round. But
it was not to be. Head to head against Czech racer Martin Sonka,
Chambliss was slightly slower than the decorated former Czech air
force pilot. Disappointingly, the day of the race was his birthday.
CHAMPIONSHIP

Red Bull Air races are cumulative; points earned throughout the
race season qualify the pilot to win the World Championship.
Bonhomme-with his second place finish-won the 2015 championship, his third. He breaks the three-way tie of two championships
with Americans Mike Mangold and Chambliss.
In a poignant end to the 2015 season, Hungarian pilot Peter
Besenyei-known as "The Godfather"-announced his retirement.
Two days later, so did Bonhomme. Dates and locations for 2016 will
be announced in March.
EMAIL julie.walker@aopa.org

MIKE SHORE

THE FINAL RED BULL Air Race of 2015 was the second on U.S.
soil and the American race pilots-Michael Goulian and Kirby
Chambliss-might not have made it to the podium, but they provided heart-stopping entertainment nonetheless.
Goulian-who seemed to be an underdog in the Training Master
Class (the 14 Master pilots fly the race course in trials on the first day
of the two-day race)-ended up as the "fastest loser," which might
sound like a bad thing but is actually a good thing. Racers vie for the
fastest time on the course in two laps of 3.7 miles each, horizontally
through three air gates (82-foot-high pylons), and straight and level
through the Chicane-a
series of single pylons
positioned in a line.
230 MPH
They race head to
The Red Bull Air Race is the fastest
head based on their
motorsport series in the world.
times, which meant
that Goulian's losing
Las Vegas race results
1 Matt Hall, Australia
time in his head-to2 Paul Bonhomme, Great Britain
head with Austria's
3 Matthias Dolderer, Germany
Hannes Arch was the
4 Yoshihide Muroya, Japan
fastest of those who
5 Hannes Arch, Austria
lost their heat. In the
6 Michael Goulian, USA
7 Nicolas Ivanoff, France
round of 8, Goulian was
8 Martin Sonka, Czech Republic
pitted against Japan's
9 Juan Velarde, Spain
Yoshihide Muroya.
10 Nigel Lamb, Great Britain
Goulian and
11 Pete McLeod, Canada
Muroya clocked im12 Kirby Chambliss, USA
13 Peter Besenyei, Hungary
pressive times, but this
14 Francois Le Vot, France
race comes down to

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2015