PIREP: 2008 Red Bull Air Races Detroit

For those who want to jump straight to the pictures:

http://www.alexisparkinn.com/2008_-_...in_detroit.htm

We intended to fly to YIP (Ypsilanti, MI) last Friday, to meet this group's
own Jim & Tami Burns (& Family) for a fun weekend at the races.
Unfortunately, Mother Nature brought a line of Level 5s to bear on our route
of flight, and we reluctantly made the decision to drive to Detroit -- a
1,000 mile round-trip.

The no-go decision was the right one, though -- I ended up driving in
torrential rains like few I've seen before, and flying would've been
suicidal. Luckily, Jim (coming from WI) was able to fly his Aztec over the
big lake, and pulled a neat northerly end-around the line of storms.

We stayed at the GM Renaissance Center's Marriott. Normally I avoid big-box
chain hotels like the plague, but this facility was "show center" for the
entire weekend, so I gritted my teeth and paid over $200/night for a room
less than half the size of one of our 2-bedroom suites. As expected, it was
a huge rip-off, with no continental breakfast, a one-cup (!) coffee maker,
and NO wireless internet.

But it *was* centrally located. We were able to simply walk out the front
door and watch the races, which was marvelous. Had we opted to stay at a
better (cheaper) hotel, any savings would have been offset by additional
parking and gas expenses.

In the evening we found the hotel bar to be chock-full of "Red Bull
Beautiful People" -- mostly young, blonde floozies apparently recruited for
the event. They mostly hung all over the pilots and Red Bull big-wheels,
but Jim and I enjoyed our time in the bar, and were even treated to a round
of drinks purchased by one of the floozies who flashed us from the bar!
(Our wives complained, but didn't send the drinks back... :-)

Saturday dawned promising, but the winds following the storms were
impressive, gusting to 59 mph. Unfortunately, the announcers (Red Bull sets
up speakers and giant-screen TVs everywhere in the viewing area) kept up a
steady, optimistic banter that pretty well promised that racing *would*
occur...eventually. So, we sat, and sat, and waited. Every now and then a
couple of T-6s would fly by, and the B-25 was fun, and the Heritage Flight
with an F/A-18 and Corsair was cool -- but, for the most part, there was not
much to do but watch the boats go past...

When one of the pylons broke loose from it's moorings and started rolling
down-river, we knew the writing was on the wall. It was a lot of fun,
watching them try to corral the damned thing with boats, but at 3 PM they
called it due to wind.

So, we did what every red-blooded American would do -- we sent the kids back
to the room with pizza and pop, and went bar hopping! Detroit comes
equipped with a wonderful "People Mover" system that aids and abets this
sort of behavior, and -- for just 50 cents -- you can ride all over downtown
Detroit in style.

Now, I know what you're thinking. I was expecting Detroit to be an open
sewer, with gang-bangers and trash everywhere, but we were pleasantly
surprised to find a clean, modern, nice riverfront area, and some fun bars
to visit. We never felt the least bit threatened, and, in fact, we walked
back to our hotel from the bars, enjoying the night air. They've spent HUGE
amounts of money cleaning up the area, and it shows.

We eventually settled into the Hard Rock Cafe, where (for reasons that may
become clear at the HOPS Party in Oshkosh) we endeavored to explore and
discover the perfect Long Island Iced Tea recipe. It was hell, but someone
had to do it -- and we eventually discovered the LIITs can be made both with
and without tequila.

This seemed incredibly important at the time, for some reason... I don't
know why.

Sunday dawned sunny and nice, in the 70s. The organizers had to pack two
days of racing into a single day, and it was chock-full of good stuff.
Once the racing got started, they were very good at keeping things moving,
with very small gaps between each racer. (Prior to racing, however, they
lagged badly. They need to study Oshkosh, and learn how to keep the crowds
entertained...)

The races themselves are fabulous, with real danger and excitement at every
pylon. For those who may not know, they don't race head-to-head, but rather
against the clock through a complex course made up of 60-foot inflatable
pylons mounted on anchored barges in the Detroit River. Some pylons must
be split in knife-edge flight, while others must be done wings-level.

The consistency of these competition pilots is simply incredible. Kirby
Chambliss ended up winning by a scant fraction of a second (like, .015 of a
second), over a course that takes between 1:12 and 1:20 to complete. To say
it's exciting is an understatement, and even the "NASCAR crowd" (meaning
non-aviation folk) was able to appreciate the skill that went into flying
the course.

Surprisingly, the Red Bull organizers muffed some pretty basic stuff. For
example, there was just one (1) vendor selling shirts and T-shirts for a
crowd of thousands, and the lines were interminable. They could've sold
many more, if they had the foresight to place more vendors in the area.

Ditto with race souvenirs -- there simply weren't any. With all the
down-time waiting, Red Bull left tens of thousands of dollars on the table
by not catering to the crowd.

The biggest rip-off of the weekend surely had to be the upscale $200 seats
that were placed inside a cordoned-off area right up against the hotel.
Unfortunately, tens of thousands of people continually walked the sidewalk
in front of these poor saps, meaning that they were unable to see anything
most of the time. I would have been furious, and demanded to be "upgraded"
to the $30 riverfront seats like ours...

Still, these were minor glitches in an overall wonderful weekend. If you
EVER get the chance to see this international "World Series" of air racing,
jump at it. I had seen their first "exhibition race" at Reno, back in '04,
so I knew what it was about -- and I'm here to tell you that they were worth
every hour of that horrible, 1000-mile drive to see them.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"