Red Bull Air Race

Before going back to Miri, I managed to catch the Red Bull Air Race in Perth. It's an exciting and challenging world series competition. This competition requires the pilots to fly their planes low to ground in high speed and have to fly through the specially made pylons in order to collect points.

Road block.

The competition was held over the Swan River. The river side route was closed to enable the spectators to get a place to watch the race.

Left to right: me, Jun, Jon and Samuel.

Jon was kind enough to offer us a ride for the race. We went there as early as 11 a.m. The traffic was quite bad on the way to the city. At first, we planned to head towards South Perth (where the opening ceremony was held) but then, Jon received a call from his cousin and was told that the traffic there was worst. So, he decided to go to city before we walked to the river side to enjoy the race.

Look at the people lining along the river side.

I never expect there were so many people interested in the race. Under the hot, scorching sun, the people waited patiently for the race to begin.

A sight towards South Perth.

Look at those pylons. The planes are supposed to fly in between them with the minimum time. Precision is important in this case.

Planes getting ready.

11 pilots took part in this race and all of them are really experienced in flying.

Plane taking off.

There's a grass runway for the planes to take off and landing.

A hotel facing the Swan River.

Not only the river side was packed like sardine, but also the hotels and apartments facing the Swan River were full of spectators.

It's quite tough to take the photos of the planes during the competition. The speed of the planes were too high for photos.

The planes did some acrobatic moves right above the spectators before flying through the pylons, which are floating on the water.

I only stayed for the first half of the competition. I didn't know there was a second half show behind. I heard from my friends that the second half of the show was far more exciting than the first half.

Frankly speaking, the first half of the competition did not impressed me. All the planes were doing the same stunts. I believed the second half of the competition was far more better than the first since I heard that there were commercial planes doing some of the stunts.

Anyway, for those who has missed the race, worry no more. The race will visit Perth again in 2007 and 2008. Make sure you don't miss it!