Photo shooting the fastest race on the planet “Red Bull Air Race” this time was moved to Malaysia and beautiful small town Putrajaya. The action, challenge and speed were present with every photographer who witnesed this amazing event!
Malaysia’s administrative capital, Putrajaya, is a young city with spectacular bridges criss crossing artificial lakes the biggest of which became an aerial race track. With its sparkling blue lake, the city of Putrajaya was the perfect location for the third race of the year 2014. Putrajaya Lake is located at the centre of Putrajaya city, Malaysia. This 650 ha man-made lake is designed to act as a natural cooling system for the city and also for recreation, fishing, water sports and water transport.
Putrajaya is just south of Kuala Lumpur and was built in the 1990s. The city is committed to sustainable development and represents the coming-of-age of Malaysia. New rules this season mean all teams now use the same propellor and propulsion systems putting full focus on the ability of the pilots. But in Malaysia there was the added challenge of how the pilots and their planes would hold up to the oppressive heat and humidity.
The heat has a big effect on the airplane’s engine. Because of the heat, the engine produces less power, cause if you put less air into the engine you get less power out. It’s as simple as that. And likewise the wing doesn’t turn quite so well.
In the Red Bull Air Race, pilots’ race against the clock as they try to navigate their planes as fast as possible through a challenging low-altitude slalom course filled with Air Gate pylons. The pilots reach top speeds of up to 370 kilometers per hour and endure forces of up to 10Gs in the tight turns on courses.
This is the first time the Red Bull Air Race tour has made a stop anywhere in Asia outside of the Middle East. But Abu Dhabi and now Malaysia, China will host the last stop of the tour this year in early December.
More details about photoshooting, equipment, cameras and lenses you can find in my previous article from Red Bull Air Race stop in Rovinj / Croatia.