4 September 2006
The Red Bull Air Race which was due to have taken place at Longleat on Saturday was cancelled due to the weather, and in particular the high winds.
This will come as no surprise to any pilots, given that the synoptic offered a front right over Longleat and the TAF offered high winds. However, up to 60,000 people made the trip to Longleat for the event. All will all be given refunds, but we expect that a bitter taste will remain in many mouths.
There’s bound to be much soul-searching among the organisers after this non-event, but we’d suggest that some of the topics to be included are: the British weather; sensible forecasting and early decision-making; access to the event site (we’ve heard some horror stories about getting there); on-site herding of the huge number of visitors; more honest updates of prospects by the on-site commentators.
On the upside, the television coverage – even if it didn’t include a real race – has been widely praised as being exciting; and we had a British winner-by-default, Paul Bonhomme, who was handed the race win on the back of his qualifying performance.
Watch clips at <a href=’http://www.redbullairrace.com’ target=’_blank’>rebullairrace.com</a>. Also includes details of refunds and upcoming air race events
