Stunt Racing on TV Saturday Afternoon

Just a heads-up in the event anyone is interested, disregard if not:

The Red Bull Air Race will be featured on
NBC's Jeep World of Adventure Sports
TV series this weekend.

Saturday, Dec. 4
2-3 p.m. ET
NBC-TV

I prefer to call this completely new thing "Stunt Racing" as opposed to air racing. And precision aerobatics, it's NOT, as there are no criteria for judging the aerobatic figures. It is an exciting event, however.

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--<start Red Bull promotional blather>--

Action includes extreme surf and ski conditions in the Arctic Circle,
precision aerobatics at 400 kph and freeride mountain biking.

The next new episode of the action-adventure sports program, NBC’s Jeep®
World of Adventure Sports, will air on Saturday, December 4 at 2 PM ET.
Hosted by Pat Parnell of NBC Sports, this newest episode will feature an
hour of action and adventure segments:

Follow some of the best freeride mountain bikers on the planet as they
compete for a $15,000 purse in the final Red Bull Rampage held on the
challenging terrain of the Kolob Reservoir Road in Virgin, Utah.

Go inside the breathtaking and nerve-racking world of top aerobatic
pilots as they race to new heights at the Red Bull Air Race in Reno,
Nevada. Pilots push their aircraft to speeds up to 400 kph while
navigating through a twisting race course of pylon obstacles stationed
500 feet in front of spectators.

Jeep World of Adventure Sports on NBC broadcast schedule:
December 4, 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. ET
December 19, 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. ET

--<end Red Bull promotional blather>--

Did anyone happen to record this show? Would you be willing to loan a copy to me? The Houston NBC affiliate didn't carry the show; they had some "paid programming, instead. Wonderfully entertaining; not!

I am certain that Chris knows about this stuff, and I hope he'll jump in.....the pylons are air filled plastic deals, like the Santas and Sponge Bobs that are spring up on lawns. The announcer kinda intimates that they would "give" if struck......looks real scary to me.....
I am not sure if the NBC stuff was the same as the Red Bull deal:
http://www.redbullcopilot.com/
Apparently it's like an autocross....Brian was raving about it at the field today.

See Ya

The FAA made them run an airplane through a pylon at Reno before they would grant the waiver. Peter Besenyei told me he made something like 30 pylon strike flights as they were developing the pylons. They have to be stiff enough to stand up to the 30 knot winds at Reno (they were waving on Friday) and still fragile enough to blow apart if they take a strike from a racer. Kirby dragged a wingtip on a pylon on one of the days and it wilted like a--well, I can't tell you what like on Len's board. But it wilted. Prompting a small army of pylon tenders to rush out on to the course, tear the wilted pylon off the base, expose the spare under it, pump that one up and hall ##### back to behind the deadline so they could continue racing.

It anyone has a VHS of that broadcast, I'd like a copy as well.

Will pay shipping, media and handling costs.

Kirby blew through one of the pylons in England and it exploded into a million pieces. The Red Bull people weren't smiling, he said.

On the Red Bull site there is some good stuff that is air to air from the two seater chasing Kirby through the course when they set up for a promo filming at Kirby's place in AZ. Also a lot of onboard camera stuff. The Pitts in the videos is Pat McGarry's with him flying, he also did the chase flying. There is also helicopter based camera shots.

The helicopter at Reno must have gotten some good shots, unfortunately I was half way between Portland and Dallas when they broadcast so I also am looking for a tape.

I wondered aloud about the Reno Air Race Association converting all the pylons to these for safety reasons and someone gave a ridiculous figure for the cost of each pylon. Red Bull has deep pockets, as evidenced for example by the photos of their fully restored Douglas DC-6 with new engines built up of NOS parts. (Mike Brown's Tigercat has two of these and they cost $110,000 dollars each)! This is what is required to put this new sport in front of TV audiences and keep it there. Money.

Glad you all enjoyed this as much as I did, and the best thing to do about expressing your enthusiasm is to drop a note to Red Bull on there web sites. Suggest a Biplane division!

Chris...
Red Bull does Formula 1, I believe....you can't burn monet that fast.
Thanks fr the info.

See Ya