SA Flyer - August 2009 - Glen Dell’s 2009 Race Season - Guy Leitch

Glen Dell talks exclusively to Guy Leitch about the Red Bull Air Race World Championship

With three races completed so far in the 2009 season, how has Glen Dell’s Red Bull Air Race Team 45 done?

Glen and his team spent immense time and effort rebuilding the Edge during the year end and for the first time he now has a competitive aircraft. His track times have been reduced from ten seconds off pace to only three. This now gives Glen the opportunity to focus on honing his racing manoeuvres and getting faster every time. Glen says, “Success lies in a holistic approach and so I have implemented processes and systems that will give us the competitive edge.” However, this approach will take time to adopt and his team is growing race by race.

Evolution
This year the World Championship is ultra-competitive. The game has been raised so that every single kilogram counts. The pilots all now have aircraft pared down to the absolute minimum with perfectly tuned blueprinted engines.

Race pilots undergo and extremely strict selection process and only the best of the best are presented with the so called Super Licence to become a Red Bull Air Race pilot. Success has now gone back to skill, guts and experience; the essential basics for any motorsport. The difference in track times between the fastest and slowest, excluding penalties, is now less than eight seconds.

The difficulty factor of this extreme sport cannot be underestimated. Flying the race is not only about speed and power. The track designed permits many different flight paths to be flown and each flight line decision made manoeuvre early in the track has a significant impact on the remainder of the track.

All racing teams did a significant amount of work during the off season; some acquired newly manufactured MXS-R race planes, others upgraded their Edges with new engines, and some extremists did a lot of work in the aerodynamics department. The competitive edge at the technical front has become such a major factor that continuous research and development throughout the season is now a necessity. However, this leads to higher risk and has to be monitored closely. Aircraft are randomly earmarked for scrutineering during a race week.

The Aircraft
By the end of his rookie year, Glen had learnt valuable lessons and as a result his team spent a significant amount of time and effort modifying his race aircraft. Flying fast is only one aspect of the race. Through the first lap of the track it’s easy to maintain momentum and have competitive times, but for the second lap you need good acceleration and the power to weight ratio is critical. Even though Glen focused his time, money and effort in this area, more work needs to be done. Unfortunately the lack of development time during the racing season will remain a problem due to the logistics of the race. In between races, the team parts with the Edge 540 and returns home, while other teams closer to the race venues have the opportunity to work on their aircraft.

The maintenance of the aircraft during the racing season is vital as the aircraft are continuously exposed to extreme conditions and manoeuvres. Developing a competitive aircraft requires a lot of experimenting through research and development. Many modifications that do not fall within the normal standards of certified aircraft or manufacturers specifications are tried and tested and the limits are continuously being pushed. It is therefore imperative that a strong bond between the pilot and technician has to exist. When a pilot gets inside his aircraft, he has to have total trust in his machine.

Team 45
A major part of Glen’s holistic approach to the races is his team. It consists of the Team Technician, Leon Joubert, Team Coordinator, Justus Venter and the aerodynamic specialist and engineer, Professor Paulo Iscold from the University of Minas Gerais in Brazil. Their responsibilities are huge and cover all aspects of the racing environment. Being part of the traveling team, both Leon and Justus have Red Bull Air Race responsibilities as well as internal team functions. Paulo, the designer of the new aerodynamic components of the race aircraft, fulfils a supporting role and has a very strong resource base. The three team members are multi-skilled and complement each other’s specialist areas, during race week and after. One thing they have in common is their extreme passion for aviation.

The Red Bull Air Race roles and responsibilities are stipulated by the organization and clear and well defined job descriptions exist. The technician has to carry an appropriate technical qualification in order to sign the race aircraft’s airworthiness documents and is solely responsible for keeping the aircraft race ready and compliant with the stringent Red Bull Air Race technical regulations. This role covers every technical aspect of the aircraft. Keeping the aircraft flying during the stressful racing atmosphere where strict adherence to flight schedules are required, requires a huge amount of knowledge, dedication, and a certain personality type. Things do go wrong, and when they do, it only adds to the pressure.

The role of the Co-coordinator is quite extensive. It covers all the behind the scene activities such as managing daily schedules during race week, media and communications, team marketing and branding, website maintenance, travel arrangements and the shipment of the aircraft. A strong project management and information technology background is very useful in this environment.

To join the sport at this stage of its evolution and be successful, Glen’s approach has to be different to the more experienced race pilots. He has realized this and as such carefully selected this team to assist him in his campaign for the World Championship title. The internal team activities are the main component of the holistic approach and Glen identified key capabilities, which include video and track analysis, flight and other data logging platforms, and the development of specialized electronics devices. The importance and necessity of in-house developed systems and technologically advanced tools are dictated by the environment and has to remain and evolve within the team.

The team believes the aircraft is a workhorse, while their pilot views it as a show piece. With this sort of contrast there is no time to rest during the race week. While one is polishing the aircraft (yes, it has to be done daily), the other completes his preparation for the next flight. They each have synchronized tasks and activities which add to a full day’s work. Together they have a plan, but for now they must first get their pilot to use more right rudder with full aileron deflection after a high G left turn in order to fly a correct right knife edge manoeuvre, a typical situation for the chicane.

The Future
Even though Team 45 and their aeroplane are once again separated, they are kept busy with off-race activities back home in preparation for the next venue. Preparing for a race is not an easy task and it involves technical and non-technical aspects. All modifications and improvements have to be fabricated back home and then prepared for quick fitment at the race venue.

The race track layout is only communicated two weeks prior to the race and the track analysis commences the moment the team receives it. The analysis is not only focused on the flight lines, but it includes the aircraft configuration as well. Every track is unique to the location and has its own challenges.

Flying at high speed very low over water pulling 12 G’s, requires a significant amount of physical and mental preparation. Maintaining his fitness levels has become part of Glen’s daily routine and is essential for success. Since the beginning of the year he is on a very strict fitness program and has incentivised the same approach for his team members as well.

Glen is determined to fine tune his aircraft and hone his skills, and he remains confident he will get to the winner’s podium.

Watching the speed and the low level aerobatics yet again raises the question, just how dangerous is it? Glen shrugs, “Not as dangerous as it would be with 15 aircraft in the track at the same time.”