Air Racing
Top Trumps: The fastest motorsports in the world
We see how Red Bull Air Race measures up to the other top motorsports
With the first stop of the 2014 Red Bull Air Race Championship fast approaching, we see how those magnificent men in their flying machines compare to the world’s most extreme motor powered sports.
3 min
Red Bull Air Race 2014 season preview
Preview of the returning Red Bull Air Race World Championship
The planes flown in Red Bull Air Race will regularly exceed speeds of 260mph on a compact course of between 5-6km, in which pilots have to squeeze through a series of Air Gates, in a designated order at just 50m off the ground. All that whilst regularly pulling around 10Gs of force on a tight turn, and at those kinds of levels losing consciousness is a very real risk. For the 2014 season new rules have been introduced to limit the amount of G-force a pilot can reach to 10Gs; going over the limit will result in a penalty.
Lets see how the other top motorsports measure up.
Formula 1
1 min
Ricciardo introduces F1 to Sri Lanka
Ricciardo introduces F1 to Sri Lanka
The top race speed of an F1 car was set in the Italian Grand Prix 2004 by Antônio Pizzonia of the BMW WilliamsF1 at 229.8 mph, but with current regulations the average race speeds are only around the 140mph mark. The most g-force a F1 driver can expect to deal with on a tight fast turn is about 5Gs, but with a race distance of 305km, Formula 1 is as much a test of endurance as it is focus and reaction times.
MotoGP
With top speeds regularly exceeding the 200mph mark, MotoGP is easily one of the fastest motorsports and like F1 drivers, MotoGP riders must be able to deal with these sustained high speeds over long periods of racing. The g-force a MotoGP rider has to deal with on a turn is just 2Gs, and with the angle in which MotoGP bikes take corners, the effect of the g-force is greatly diminished.
Drag Racing
The top three classes in drag racing all notch speeds of over 300mph, with Top Fuel dragsters often going well over 325mph. With track lengths of around a ¼ mile, reaching top speeds as fast as possible is crucial, and Top Fuel cars are amongst the fastest accelerating machines in the world, capable of reaching 100mph in under a second. This rapid acceleration will subject the Top Fuel drivers to around 4Gs over the course of a race that can last as little as 3.7 seconds. Pro Stock Bikes by comparison run at about 200mph with races lasting an average of 6.8 seconds.
Offshore Powerboats
Reaching speeds of just 150mph makes this, in comparison, a slow motorsport, but the boats that compete in the UIM Class 1 World Powerboat Championship are amongst some of the most powerful racing machines of all. The power needed to generate top racing speed is huge and these boats use massive V12 engines. Races run between 55-75 Nm in length with laps of 5 Nm, and race weekends are very similar in structure to that of Formula 1. One major difference is that Powerboat racing requires a crew of two, a throttleman and a driver. This combination requires complete trust and synchronicity, adding an element to this motorsport that cannot be found in any other.
For more Red Bull Air Race news and action head over to the official website
