As I sit here, a stone’s throw away from a fleet of nine World War II P-51 Mustangs, Bear Cats and Sea Fury warbirds rumbling past at 500mph just feet above the ground, I think to myself...
Because nothing spoken out loud would be heard over the highly-modified souped up Rolls-Royce Merlin engines... “Everyone in the world should witness this sport!”
I’m sitting in Reno, Nevada at the Reno Races, a classic air racing event held for many decades in the American desert. For those of us who manage to make the long trip to Reno, it can be a spiritual experience which will change your perspective on what real motorsport is. For the rest of the world, who don’t find themselves in the Western US desert very often, there is the Aero GP.
The Aero GP, based in Europe, is a global air racing series with a newer, tighter and media-friendly format, which has just seen its third major annual grand prix air race competition. This year’s major event was held a few weeks ago in Constanta, Romania over the Black Sea just a hundred metres off the sun-kissed sandy beach – with over 150,000 spectators each day. The success of this air race – which also includes other disciplines like air-to-air combat, target bombing and incredible stunts – is a result of the increased demand in the sporting world for new challenges, combined with the heritage of 100 years of air racing history.
The Aero GP is the only international air racing series with multiple aircraft competing at the same time, often referred to as “pylon racing.” I should know – I’m its founder, and, as a private pilot with little chance of winning a real competition myself, I was so often disheartened by the media’s complete oversight of air sports in general. Despite being the worlds’ biggest sports pitch, the sky is completely un-commercialised. Even the world championship level events are customarily neglected by the TV industry and usually relegated to remote farms and fields between a dusty B-road and two cows.
However, that is changing. And it’s changing through the perseverance of organisations like the FAI (Federation Aeronautique International, the world air sports federation) and a few hopeful individuals not unlike like myself who have put all their personal finances, time and health into developing this segment of the sporting world. The Aero GP was designed with the modern media and the demanding video-game generation appetites in mind as the leading edge in the new revolution that will make air sports more accessible to everyone.
The recent Aero GP event, which was called “The Constanta Challenge” (in anticipation of a larger Aero GP Grand Prix of Romania next year), was a success all around, attracting such spectator celebrities as Bruce Dickinson (lead singer of Iron Maiden) and Roxana Ciuhulescu (Playboy model – and officially the tallest woman in Romania). The local media coverage was unsurpassed by any other sports event in recent Romanian memory and the public was treated to a dramatic and thrilling sports contest, sprinkled with the finest European aerial entertainment, such as stunt sky-diving and the first-ever race between AN-2s, gigantic Russian-built bi-planes.
Despite the blistering 40°C heat, the competition itself was very close. The two leaders, frequently meeting at the top of the podium, were Peter “Maximum G” Podlunsek from Slovenia and Zoltan “Red Phantom” Veres of Hungary, who barely edged ahead of Peter by gaining points for the fastest lap (42.0 seconds around the 4 kilometre oval circuit) in the final race of the five-day event.
Andy “Horsepower” Bickmore of the UK, who was unable to fly his new Midget Mustang aircraft (while the CAA was figuring out how to categorise the unusual high-power experimental plane), also had a shot at victory in his beefy radial-engine Sukhoi-29, but lost in the dogfight to the more manoeuvrable Yak-52 flown by the local hero, Ioun “Lucky” Postalache of Romania.
On the Friday, after the day’s training round, the pilots needed some more action so they decided to challenge themselves to a flight under a bridge, to hone their reflexes. Under the close supervision of the very respected and helpful (if a bit over-stressed) Department of Civil Aviation, the pilots took turns diving down a canal and careening under the span – which was full of bewildered rush hour auto traffic. Then, of course, they had to try it again – upside down!
“The pilots took turns diving down a canal and careening under the span – which was full of bewildered rush hour auto traffic. Then, of course, they had to try it again – upside down!”
The Constanta Challenge was full of surprises and awesome flying all week by some of the world’s best pilots. It takes a rare breed of pilot to compete in the Aero GP. Each pilot has to be highly experienced in aerobatics at an elite level that would render a common land-lubber unconscious, as well as formation flying, a rare skill practiced mostly by the likes of the Red Arrows – but adapted to a random unpredictable flight like an air race! Furthermore – and most importantly – these pilots need personality. Not professional wrestling personality, but true character and poise. The right stuff that molded a generation of pilots from the dawn of aviation through to the air battles of the 1940s. This is not to take any limelight away from the iron-bellied official photographers that occasionally ride shot-gun searching dizzily through the camera cross-hairs for the next bogey.
Yet the pursuit of improvement and perfection is never finished. The Romanian event was also used to test new rules, safety procedures and to train new pilots as the development of the series progresses. In fact, in 2008, Aero GP is planning to launch its first proper world tour with 6 venues across the globe playing host to the world’s fastest motorsport series. The time is not quite right for us to announce exactly which locations have won the bids, but keep an eye on the website for an announcement soon. However, I can say that we will soon unveil events in Asia, Middle East, North America and Europe, with a possibility of Latin America as well. This is obviously an ambitious undertaking, but then again we do aim high!
With the launch of this 2008 world series, we are stepping up our efforts to form 8 new team franchises to be sold to anyone with a flair for excitement and an interest in managing a motorsports team (under the supportive guidance of Aero GP management). A new format change and business model has led to a significant drop in the startup costs for a new team to enter the series. And with the sport’s dedicated international TV coverage and the help of the internal Aero GP marketing team, sponsorship opportunities for team owners are rife – not to mention the prospect of getting your creative juices flowing in deciding what cool design to paint on the freshly christened airframe.
If you prefer to watch the race rather than manage it, you can see Aero GP featured on Sky Sports in the UK (and other channels worldwide) and can catch it in features in such programmes as the Gadget Show on Channel 5 in November as well as the newly launched air sports TV series, called “Air Sports World,” focusing on the official world championships, which will also be on Sky Sports in the UK. Needless to say, many other press (not all as illustrious as Lusso) across the various genres have taken notice of the Aero GP for its novel, intense and awe-inspiring nature.
As I sit here, basking in adrenaline, I begin to contemplate the future of motorsport – and indeed it’s on the climb....up to about 10 feet off the deck.
Jeff Zaltman is the founder of the Aero GP series and a regular contributor to Lusso Magazine. There are a number of opportunities linked in with the Aero GP air race series (aero-gp.com)
