(^16) News
Matt Hall’s Red Bull Air
Race season didn’t pan out
exactly as he planned at the
start of the year, but the
results he did get, plus some
new discoveries about his
aeroplane, have him eyeing
2015 with a new confidence.
As the countdown started
for the 2014 opener in Abu
Dhabi, Hall coveted podium
finishes and possible race
wins, but the scorecard in
the lee of the final race in
Austria in October saw
him with only two podium
placings and sixth in the
World Championship.
“It was not as good as I
was hoping to do,” said the
43-year-old Australian. “I
was hoping we could have
finished the year in the top
three. I made a few errors
and there were some guys
f lying pretty well out there
and we had a few things
not go our way; critical
items at critical times. But,
that’s sport, and there’s
no point kicking and
screaming because you’re
in it to compete.
“We’re still ranked in the
top half of the field, and
that’s still an OK position
to be in, but the good news
is I know we can do better.
I’d rather be in the situation
I am in now, sitting in the
middle of the field knowing
we’ve got things to improve
on, than sitting here at
the end of the year in the
middle thinking ‘that went
as perfect as it could ’ and
we’re still ranked in the
middle of the field.”
Hall, racing an MXS,
opened the season with
a pylon strike at Abu
Dhabi and another one in
Rovinj. Vowing to f ly a
bit more conservatively to
get results, he then scored
consecutive third-place
finishes in Putrajaya and
Gdynia. It seemed he had
cracked the secret and
the way was open to an
eventual race win.
Gremlins, however, struck
in Round Five at Ascot in
the UK, where the aircraft
took on mysterious handling
characteristics.
“I was having trouble
finding the stall because
there was no warm-up
lap, it was a take-off race,”
Hall recalls. “I had no
ability to get airborne and
find how the plane was
feeling, so every time I went
into the track I was quite
uncomfortable with the
aircraft getting anywhere
near the stall because the
handling had changed.”
Without the ability
to find the edge of the
envelope, Hall was forced to
take the Ascot track at only
90%, but still finished fifth
on the day. It wasn’t until
the next race in Fort Worth,
Texas, that the team
discovered the problem
was with air intakes they
fitted for the cooler UK air.
Smaller than those used
for the warmer races, the
problem became apparent
when the team reverted to
the larger intakes.
“That’s when we finally
realised ‘Hey, it’s the intakes
that are causing this problem.’
Obviously you don’t look at
the intakes when you’ve got
a handling issue with the
aircraft,” Hall mused.
The result was a blistering
run to qualify in second place
overhead the Texas Motor
Speedway, but another pylon
strike put the team on the
back foot, and Hall finished
the race in sixth.
Despite good speed at
the following round in Las
Vegas, Hall was thwarted
by high winds that canceled
race day. The final standings
were based on qualifying
times, leaving him stranded
in fourth place.
A penalty for not going
through a gate with wings
level in the final round in
Spielberg, Austria, saw Hall
eliminated in the knock-out
round by American Kirby
Chambliss. It left him with
nothing else but to look
forward to 2015.
By then, the team should
have resolved the cooling
issue and installed some
aerodynamic and electrical
modifications, including
winglets similar to those
that took fellow MXS-R
pilot Nigel Lamb to the 2014
world championship.
“We are also in the
process of developing
winglets for the aircraft,”
Hall explained. “We
know the MX can win
world championships now
because Nigel [Lamb] did
it. We believe winglets
should help because that’s
what winglets do, and some
of the tracks we flew, 70%
of the time we were above 5
g, so it’s loaded in track. If
we can reduce the induced
drag of the wing, we’ve got
to be able to go faster.”
All of that will be done
in Germany, with Hall
spending two-week periods
with the plane until the
beginning of the 2015
season. It’s not the ideal
situation to have the racer
still in Europe, because it
means he doesn’t get much
time in the plane before Abu
Dhabi in February.
“We’re in a bit of a
disadvantage situation in
that the air race didn’t send
my plane back to Australia.
They sent all the Americans’
planes home and the
Europeans have got their
planes, but unfortunately
we’re the only team that they
didn’t send the plane home
... all of our off-season has
to be done remotely and
traveling to Europe. That’s a
massive disadvantage for us,
because it means that we go
into 2015 already fatigued.”
None of this has Hall
down-beat; he knows his
own performance during the
year bodes well for 2015.
“I flew cleanly throughout
the year, and everyone
commented on how clean
my flying was and the word
on the street during the air
race was that Matt’s still
the guy to watch because
of how cleanly I’m flying. If
we can just get a few good
races together and have the
aircraft handling the way
I want it to handle ... we’ve
got it in us to win races
and win championships
sometime in the future.”
australianflying.com.au
AUSTRALIAN FLYING January - February 2015
Matt Hall is eyeing the 2015
Red Bull Air Race series
with a new confidence.
RED BULL CONTENT POOL
The word on the street during the air race
was that Matt’s still the guy to watch
Hall Still Eyes the Prize
With the 2014 Red Bull Air Race series complete, Australian
racer Matt Hall took time to ponder his team’s performance.
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