The Perth Red Bull Air Race In Australia

Let's say hypothetically that you hate the taste of Red Bull energy drinks. At the very least, you've got to give them their kudos for coming up with the Perth Air Race. Of course, the race doesn't just take place in Perth Australia, but it's probably there where it's most beautiful and most exciting.

The race has the pilots dashing through these inflatable pylons called "air gates". These are just two big inflatable cones that require a pilot to have fast reflexes and great ability in order to make each tight turn, as the gates are only placed so many metres apart. The emphasis is on high performance aerobatic planes, allowing for an incredible air show, not just a quick dash around the course.

The gates themselves are an interesting thing. They were developed to be breakaway as such that, should a pilot fly into one of them at the wrong angle, they'll simply deflate and tear away. This makes for a much, much safer experience for all involved, as, should this happen, the pylon simply tears away rather than tangling up the pilot, leading to the possibility of a dangerous crash on the scene of the race.

The races have been going since 2003, so it's been about a decade now and the Red Bull Air Race is still drawing huge crowds and getting international television coverage. So at this point, it's actually something of a tradition and a global event.

If you haven't been keeping up with these races, we'll list the champions of every year just so you can have something to talk about with the other fans when you go to check it out for yourself...

2003, Hungarian Peter Besenyei2004, American Kirby Chambliss2005, American Mike Manglod2006, Chambliss again2008, Mangold again2009, The first British champion, Paul Bonhomme

Of course there's more to the history of the race than just the list of first place winners, so if you really want to get into it, read up on the teams and countries that have competed, the types of aircraft that compete and so on. The list of champions is really just your starting point so you can fake it well enough. What you really want to do is check out some race footage on youtube, of course.

2009 was an interesting year for the competition, seeing some expansion with four new racers from four new countries. We had Canadian Peter McLeod, Japanese Yoshihide Muroya, Australian Matt Hall, and Matthias Dolderer from Germany. While none of these new racers took the gold, Matt Hall did claim third place.

Now, no matter where you are, there's a race somewhere around that you can go to check out, but it's Perth where you'll be able to witness the race against beautiful blue skies, white clouds and breath taking landscapes. Australia is simply a beautiful country, with beautiful skies, and it's always worth it to take a trip.

In fact, the Perth Air Race is probably the best excuse you could ask for to visit the country. The next time you start thinking "Gee, I've never been to Australia", see if you can line up your holiday time with the Red Bull Air Race. The race is thrilling, fun, and it's a great excuse to get out of town and take a nice trip.