Air Race X: Successor to the Red Bull Air Race starts the new season with XR technology
After a successful launch in 2023, the successor to the Red Bull Air Race, Air Race X, is presenting its plans for the 2024 season.
Air Race X, the successor to the Red Bull Air Race series that ended in 2019, has announced its plans for the 2024 season. The upcoming season will see eight pilots from six countries compete in three races. They include experienced pilots such as Martin Sonka of the Czech Republic, Mika Brageot of France, Juan Velarde of Spain, Yoshihide Muroya of Japan and Matt Hall of Australia. Australian Emma McDonald will be the first woman to compete.
The digital planes will appear in the streets of the city via the STYLY platform. Allowing spectators to follow the race up close via mobile devices or head-mounted displays in augmented reality. Like last year, this year's “Digital Round” will also feature real cityscapes of the host city that will be integrated into the race.
In contrast to 2023, there will be no fixed host cities for the newly introduced “Remote Rounds”. This means that there are fewer physical constraints and the tracks can be designed more flexibly, which will result in a greater challenge for the pilots.
This is Air Race X
Air Race X has its origins in the Red Bull Air Race series, which ran from 2003 to 2019. In these races, the world's best pilots flew at speeds of up to 370 km/h through a course of 25-meter-high pylons. However, the series was discontinued in 2019 due to a lack of spectator interest and high costs.
Three former Red Bull Air Race pilots — Matt Hall, Yoshi Muroya and Pete Mcleod — set out to revive the sport. So they investigated how to make it more affordable and environmentally friendly. The result is Air Race X, which took place in 2023 with a grand finale in Tokyo.
The new format uses advanced technology. Pilots will fly special racing planes over identical tracks in their home cities. However, the courses are digitally mapped so that the pilots can only see the pylons based on position data. The sensor technology used is critical to the Air Race X competition. Precise flight data measurement technology records all relevant data such as flight path, altitude, speed, G-forces and air pressure in fractions of a second.
This data is transmitted to the control center and evaluated, considering the different weather and environmental conditions of the individual pilots. The XR platform STYLY allows spectators to follow the race in augmented reality. For example, the digital images of the planes can be seen in the middle of Tokyo among the skyscrapers and over the famous Shibuya Crossing, even though the pilots are hundreds of kilometers away.
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