Red Bull Air Race

[STeeLy]

So, Red Bull Air Race is in Windsor this coming this weekend, just wondering if anyone here is actually going to go watch it.

Any of you really interested in that?

I think it's one of the cooler things that popped up in the last few years.

[Roconne]

I'm actually going on Saturday to watch the Qualifying rounds. Can't go Sunday for the actual race though. I've never been to anything like this before so it should be interesting. Hopefully it doesn't rain though!

[Impressive]

My dad is huge on this, partially because he's an aircraft engineer, but also because theres an event for this series in Hungary.

He wanted to head out to Windsor to check it out but apparently it's expensive to even go near somewhere that'll serve as a decent vantage point...That and it's a little short notice for him I guess to scrap his weekend plans for it.

If anyone here does go, shoot some pictures so I can show him please :)

[Roconne]

It's not that expensive. It's only like $10 or $15 to go on Saturday for the qualifying round, and $20 for the actual race on Sunday.

Saturday night you can even go to the Windsor Airport and checkout all the planes. Thinking about doing that, depending on how the weather is though.

[Xerox]

I was actually thinking about this. The general admission tickets aren't very expensive but I have no idea how crowd and the view will be. I didn't want to risk driving all that way for a crappy view (of the planes in air - don't care so much for the grounded ones). If anyone goes let me know how it is. Some pictures would also be nice.

[STeeLy]

Well, I'll be there for Sunday

General Admission tickets are $20 each, but they're basically first come first serve. You're basically right on the river. So you can see the planes in the air doing their maneuvers. So if you want a good seat, you want to go early, gates opens at 10. They also have a shuttle service from the river front to Devonshire Mall.

It's my first time at this event and I've wanted to go for a while... Will definitely try to get a good spot and shoot a few pics.

[Impressive]

Well, I'll be there for Sunday

General Admission tickets are $20 each, but they're basically first come first serve. You're basically right on the river. So you can see the planes in the air doing their maneuvers. So if you want a good seat, you want to go early, gates opens at 10. They also have a shuttle service from the river front to Devonshire Mall.

It's my first time at this event and I've wanted to go for a while... Will definitely try to get a good spot and shoot a few pics.

That's what I like to hear! I'll let my dad know about the prices but I still highly doubt he'll attend, so pictures would be awesome.

[Pereira11]

i went last year on the sunday, definately be there early as people line up to get a good spot. very awesome event, i was right on the river and got a great view of everything. definately worth the trip

[Roconne]

i went last year on the sunday, definately be there early as people line up to get a good spot. very awesome event, i was right on the river and got a great view of everything. definately worth the trip
Since you've been to this before, do people bring lawn chairs or anything? Or are you pretty much forced to stand and watch the whole time.

Also Steely, where you going to be parking?

[STeeLy]

Since you've been to this before, do people bring lawn chairs or anything? Or are you pretty much forced to stand and watch the whole time.

Also Steely, where you going to be parking?

I heard from someone who went for last year that lawn chairs ARE allowed.

They have a public parking a few blocks away from the Dieppe Park entrance, I'm looking to go early-ish and park there.

I hope they have spots.

But again, I'm only going for Race day Sunday...

[Roconne]

Yeah Sunday will for sure be busy. I'm only going Sat so I'm not really expecting it to be that busy. I think gates open at 11 for the qualifying so I'll try and make it for then.

[STeeLy]

Yeah, I don't think it'd be that busy on the saturday for qualifying... and it could potentially be as good as race day.

Also, if sunday is rained out, qualifying times are going to stand so.

[Pereira11]

Yep you are allowed to bring lawn chairs, highly suggest it as there are no seats otherwise. most other people bring chairs as well so its not like you will be out of place.

[dimsumboi05]

I heard from someone who went for last year that lawn chairs ARE allowed.

They have a public parking a few blocks away from the Dieppe Park entrance, I'm looking to go early-ish and park there.

I hope they have spots.

But again, I'm only going for Race day Sunday...

Yup, I can confirm this as I watched the event last year and originally from windsor too. Majority however will be standing as its a pretty packed event. You can also try parking at Caesars Windsor Casino which has free parking and right across the riverfront. Unfortunately I dont have time this weekend to drive down there..but for you guys that are attending you wont be dissapointed by the air races! :)

Chris

[STeeLy]

Yup, I can confirm this as I watched the event last year and originally from windsor too. Majority however will be standing as its a pretty packed event. You can also try parking at Caesars Windsor Casino which has free parking and right across the riverfront. Unfortunately I dont have time this weekend to drive down there..but for you guys that are attending you wont be dissapointed by the air races! :)

Chris

Considering that pumphouse/dieppe park has 10000 available tickets (of which over 7000 still remain), I would imagine it would be pretty packed.

It's really too bad that this is the only race carried LIVE on Canadian TV... I wanted to follow the season but no one in Canada has rights to show live races outside of the windsor race.

[taz4432]

I didn't realize they held an event for the RBAR Series in Windsor - this is the first I'm hearing of it. I'd love to go see it but my family's out of town so I'm staying at home with the brother. Maybe next year!

Take pictures if you go!

[STeeLy]

3 years in a row now. it's Windsor/Detroit... LOL

You could bring your brother... ahaha

[taz4432]

3 years in a row now. it's Windsor/Detroit... LOL

You could bring your brother... ahaha

Haha..I *could* but I'm driving in at least 1 1/2 hours from Belleville to home. I don't want to drive another 4 (and then back) for a few hours of air racing and then another 1 1/2 hours back to Belleville. =P If I were in Waterloo for school it'd be a bit of a different story.

[STeeLy]

ahaha... I hear ya

If I wasn't in Markham for the weekend, I wouldn't be doing it... otherwise, it's Ottawa all the way to Windsor.

[taz4432]

ahaha... I hear ya

If I wasn't in Markham for the weekend, I wouldn't be doing it... otherwise, it's Ottawa all the way to Windsor.

Haha, so about the same since I'd be going from Richmond Hill. Either way though, just not really worth it in my opinion. I didn't even know the race was there so that tells you how much I follow it. It'd be spectacular to see though. I love planes...I plan to specialize in either Aerospace or Automotive engineering. Transportation in generals is awesome.

[Roconne]

Yeah I don't follow the series either, but I've seen a few races now and then on TV. When I found out it was going to be in Windsor though, I figured I had to go lol. Got a few buddies coming with, should be pretty cool to watch. Too bad I can't make it to the sunday race though :(

[5_Alive]

Guys, its free to watch right from Riverside Drive. Where they race in the middle of the river is literally less than 50-100 yards from where you would be standing. You could throw a stone from the curb of Riverside Drive and get it in the water. The only reason you would buy a ticket is to sit in the stands/bleachers they set up and be allowed to drink.
You can bring lawn chairs etc., but no open alcohol though on the city streets.

As for parking in the downtown area, Caesars Casino is free parking, and there is three parking garages in the downtown area within' a 5 minute walk to the river front. As well, there are a lot of lots privately owned that charge anything from $5-$20 for the whole day. The $20 lots are right close, hence the price.

Also, its supposed to be great weather on Saturday. If you guys come, PM me. There is a nice get together we also have Saturday nights.

If you are going to use the shuttle service from Devonshire Mall, come visit me at the Sony Style Store.
If anyone needs any info. or insight on the city, PM me as well.


Moe

[STeeLy]

Wow thanks Moe, I'll keep that in mind!

[STeeLy]

BALLS!

Weather's not looking good for sunday... FFFFFFFFFF

[Roconne]

Just got back from todays qualifying rounds. WOW was it cool. We went to the 'East' area. Nearly everyone brought lawn chairs (no stands/bleachers for you to sit in), but when the actual planes came in everyone stood up. Laps were around 1:08 to 1:25, so it's not very long.
We had one scary flight though. As a guy was lining up for the next set of cones, his plane dipped too low and he actually HIT the water... I thought for sure he was going to crash but he somehow managed to pull it out of the water. But wow, that got everyones heart racing...

Hopefully the weather holds out for you tomorrow Steely. Oh and for parking, go to the Casino. Enter the 'self-park' area and it's free. The security guard there told me it was only for people going to the casino and not the race, so I said 'Yeah, we are going to the casino..." and drove past him.

I'll try and get some pics up later tonight. I only had a simple point & shoot digital camera with me (no DSLR) so they aren't amazing pics, but I think I have a few good ones.

[Roconne]

Here is a video of todays highlights (including the guy who hit the water):
http://www.redbullairrace.com/cs/Satellite/en_air/Video/Qualifying-Highlights,-Windsor-021242857591037?refmod=ContentFeed&refmodpos=B1

After actually seing the replay, I'm amazed he was able to pull out of that.

edit- Pics of the near crash - http://www.redbullairrace.com/cs/Satellite/en_air/Gallery/Matt-Halls-astonishing-recovery-from-an-impact/Matt-Halls-Detroit-River-recovery-021242857532108?GImageId=1242857530562&refmod=ContentFeed&refmodpos=C1

[STeeLy]

Yeah, I saw highlights and the pictures...

It was an amazing recovery.

[5_Alive]

My buddy has a press pass and has video and pictures of everything. He was also heading to the airport while I was at work earlier yesterday.
He told me he is going to try to get pictures of the plane and find out exactly how everything happened..

Glad you guys are enjoying yourselves..

[STeeLy]

Unfortunately, I can't enjoy myself... because the forecast for the Windsor area was so bad that I decided i wouldn't go...

As much as i wanted to, looks like if it's a go ahead, I'll be catching it on TV.

[5_Alive]

I don't think you missed much. We got nailed with a really heavy downpour. We generally don't get so much rain and so hard. But this weekend completely sucked.

[Roconne]

I streamed the race today (couldn't actually go) and the weather was actually not that bad. It managed to stay dry for the whole race, must have started raining after.

But yeah, I really enjoyed it when I went on Saturday. Hopefully they have this again next year and I'll go once again for sure.