Sunday, race day in Rio, was one of the most confusing motivational days I have had in my life

I went to bed on Saturday post qualifying, happy with a good spot for entering the race the next day…4^th is pretty good as you can see what is going on in the track, and make some tactical decisions as you fly.

I also went to bed on Saturday night knowing full well the weather was forecast to be quite poor. Get up on Sunday morning, rain, and then it started in my head….4^th is a good result for a race…what if I make a mistake and drop back some places…what if I don’t get to race and miss my opportunity to get another podium?

I am quite sure all the race pilots were thinking a similar thing, especially those near the top of qualifying. It goes with the term “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush”, and here I had a bird in my hand.

The team had a chat in the morning within the hangar walls and I explained to the them that it was harder to wind up from thinking we were not flying, than wind down from expecting to and cancelling. I briefed them all that I am treating everything as though it is a blue sky day and there is absolutely no doubt I can go flying and I will do well with the opportunities I am presented….and if any words other than that come out of my mouth, they were to steer my thoughts back to a positive direction.

Flying started, I got into my routine, was feeling quite relaxed and had stopped considering not flying…I was ready, I was in the cockpit, I was focused.

I was rolled out onto the grid stand, could see some weather coming for the first time and that thought enters my head…what if this is the last flight I get to do and the rain makes is more difficult for me? Push that thought back out and back into positive thoughts. Close the canopy, give Jack the wind up signal and a tap on the canopy from the officials to tell me ‘rain delay’. At first I did not know how bad and was told I could remain in the cockpit in the grid stand, but after a few minutes it became obvious there were still 4 other pilots who needed to race before me, most of whom had actually already taken off and were coming back home without racing.

We rolled back into our hangar then started waiting. Nothing I can do about it and here come the thoughts…4^th wouldn’t be bad…takeoff in 25 minutes…this is the one and only round…don’t make a mistake on this flight…4^th wouldn’t be bad…then finally “Race is cancelled, yesterday’s results stand”.

What I thought would be a great relief that I had just hung unto 4^th actually turned into great disappointment. I felt I had not earned the result and had been ripped off the opportunity to do even better. A bizarre run of emotions!

In hindsight, what it shows is that I am driven to race and improve.

The desire to hold 4^th place was purely nervous energy hoping things did not go wrong for me. The disappointment was due to the effort we all put in to accomplish that day…race the aircraft against the other pilots and see how we can improve our position in the World Championship standings.

That was a good lesson for me and brought me back to reality a little to understand that it is not about the final result, it is about being very privileged to tour the world and race these specialized aircraft to their limits….that is why I do this!!

So, was the race supposed to happen this past weekend? I don’t think so. It was the correct decision by the race committee to try to get the race in and a timely cancellation at the same time.

My wife did not attend this race, first time ever and neither did my son. That is three strikes against racing that day and while we won’t generally admit to being superstitious, we generally are, and the results were safe and good.

Next stop home, then Windsor.

Matt.

You can check out the Rio photo gallery by clicking here.

For full Rio race results, click here.

RIO DE JANEIRO – Australia’s Matt Hall had to settle for fourth place in Rio on Sunday when heavy rain and wind forced the cancellation of the third race of the 2010 season and the results were determined based on Saturday’s Qualifying session.

Austria’s Hannes Arch was declared the winner of the Rio race after the Top 12 round was interrupted and then cancelled as the stormy weather swept across Rio. Brits Nigel Lamb and Paul Bonhomme rounded out the top three.

But Hall was nevertheless pleased to come away from the race in Brazil with eight more points in the bag, raising his total to 22 points from three races ahead of the crowded North American leg of the season with two races in June.

“The cancellation is disappointing because I’m here to race aircraft and I was pumped to get out there,” said Hall, a former RAAF fighter pilot who was widely expected to do well on Sunday in Rio in the difficult weather conditions thanks to his long military career.

“I was confident of a great result but I know it was the right decision by the race directors to cancel because it wouldn’t have been safe.”

Matt's hangar in weather lockdown

Hall had been improving steadily through the training sessions on Thursday and Friday as well as into Saturday’s Qualifying, when he was only 1.54 seconds behind the pacesetter, Arch, and even closer to Lamb (2^nd) and Bonhomme (3^rd).

Hall, who has now been getting high-tech data analysis overnight in Australia on his plane’s performance from motor racing legend Larry Perkins, was poised to make another move up in the rankings in the race on Sunday.

“I was sitting in the grid stand when they postponed it and I was thinking I would be happy with fourth,” Hall said.

“But once it was cancelled for the round and in turn for the day I was disappointed and that shows how much I love racing.

“On the positive side, a fourth place result is the third-best result of my race career and a good building-block for the rest of the season.”

The 38-year-old said he was looking forward to the next two races in Windsor, Canada and then in New York. He was also pleased that his team’s new technician, Jack Moshovis, had been able to step so quickly and efficiently into the new assignment.

“It was the first race for us with Jack and he did a great job,” said Hall. “We’re on the right track.”

The next race in the eight event championships will be held in Windsor, Canada on June 5 and 6.

Story courtesy of Red Bull Australia

RIO DE JANEIRO – Matt Hall jumped up to a promising fourth place in Qualifying on Saturday ahead of Sunday’s third Red Bull Air Race of the 2010 season, putting himself within striking range of a podium in Brazil with a razor-sharp run through the track.

The Australian ace, who dazzled his home fans in Perth with a career-best second place last month, put down two flawless runs through the 5,634-metre race track in front of Rio’s iconic Flamengo Beach that was packed with a crowd of 400,000 spectators on Saturday. One million people are expected for Sunday’s race.

The strong fourth place under bright blue skies and tropical temperatures helped negate memories of the 12^th place Hall got in Friday’s final training session — when the former RAAF fighter pilot got a rare pylon hit and spent his track time experimenting with new lines.

“Today was encouraging because it was the first time all week I put an exact line together through the track,” said Hall.

“We now have the opportunity to analyse the data and check the difference between my two runs before tomorrow.”

Hall, who is in fourth place overall in the championship with 14 points from the first two races, stopped the clock 1:21.98. That was only 1.54 seconds behind Austria’s Hannes Arch, who collected the one championship point up for grabs as fastest qualifier. British pilots Nigel Lamb and Paul Bonhomme were second and third, respectively.

For results of qualifying, click here.

“I’m really looking forward to trying to improve again,” said Hall, who is only in his second year in the race yet finds himself in the midst of what is quickly turning into a four-way battle for the championship with the three veterans.

“Catching the guys in front will be tough but my approach is just to concentrate on what I can do and that’s perform my best,” he said. “I can’t make them any faster or slower. If I fly the best that I can and improve, get a personal best, then I’m going to be happy no matter what the place. Let’s wait and see what happens.”

Hall had used the training sessions on Thursday and Friday to experiment with his set-up and then beam the data back to Australia overnight for analysis by motor racing legend Larry Perkins. Hall said he hoped the pioneering high-tech analysis could give him a small advantage  to improve his plane and performance.

Hall said he was not unduly concerned about his training results because his net times were consistently top-four. He tends to start each race weekend in the lower half of the time sheets before peaking in Qualifying and the race, using each of the four training runs to experiment with different lines through the 20-metre high Air Gate pylons.

Tomorrow’s action kicks off at 1am Sydney time (Monday morning).

Matt and some of the 400,000 at Q Day

Story courtesy of Red Bull Australia

World champ Paul Bonhomme flies you through the Rio track……hang on!

RIO DE JANEIRO – Australia’s Matt Hall used the two training sessions on Friday to experiment with his set-up on different sections of the track ahead of Saturday’s Qualifying for the third Red Bull Air Race World Championship event of the 2010 season, pronouncing himself pleased with the intelligence gathered on the high-speed track in front of Flamengo Beach.

Hall, who got a career-best second place in Perth last month, had net times in both times sessions on the 5,634-metre track that would place him in the top four even though he sliced open a pylon and incurred a six-second penalty in the final session on Friday afternoon that dropped him down to 12^th in the time sheets.

His time was 1:28.00, or 8.80 behind pacesetter Hannes Arch of Austria. Without the penalty, he would have been fourth fastest, just 2.80 behind. Hall, in a three-way draw for third place in the Championship, is confident he can get another good result after coming within a half second of getting his first ever victory in the race in Australia three weeks ago.

“I went out in training 4 to experiment,” said Hall, a former RAAF fighter pilot.

“I would rather have not hit that pylon. The goal in that was I changed lines between Gate 3 and Gate 4 to see if that could make a difference. I don’t think it helped anyhow. But Ive got the raw data to study so that’s what I went out there to do.”

Hall tends to start each race weekend in the lower half of the time sheets before peaking in Qualifying and the race, using each of the four training runs to experiment with different lines through the 20-metre high Air Gate pylons.

“I’m just trying to improve,” said Hall. “What I’m trying to do in Rio is just consolidate on what we did in Perth. I’m not trying to do one better or aiming to do anything in particular. I just want to fly so that at the end of the race I can say I did my best effort and did a personal best. If that means I get on the podium or win the race that’s great. If I have a best race and make no mistakes and come 10^th I can’t complain.”

Team Hall has been beaming data back to Australia overnight for analysis by motor racing legend Larry Perkins. Hall said he hoped to gain a crucial advantage with the pioneering approach to studying the high-tech analysis from his plane and performance.

“We’re spending a lot of time analysing the data,” Hall said.

“That’s the big reason I’m doing different things on every run. I’m pulling different G’s, doing different speeds, different lines and then I can see what my rates of acceleration and deceleration are. Setting the engine up different on every run so we can see what the effects are on each run. I’m confident it’s going to help us.”

For the results of training session 3, click here.

For the results of training session 4, click here.

Training session 3

Story courtesy of Red Bull Australia

RIO DE JANEIRO – Matt Hall got off to a solid start in Rio in the first timed training session on Thursday ahead of the third Red Bull Air Race of the 2010 season and the Australian ace said he was confident he could improve his time and speed by the weekend’s racing, in part thanks to new data analysis done back in Australia by motor racing legend Larry Perkins.

Hall posted the seventh fastest time of the day on the 5,634-metre track, a 1:25.64 that was only 4.06 seconds off the pace set by Paul Bonhomme of Britain. Hall, who tends to start slowly each race week as he concentrates on learning the track, was pleased with his opening time, which even included a one-second penalty for flying with insufficient smoke in the track.

“I’m happy generally with how it went,” said Hall, a former RAAF fighter pilot who is in a three-way draw for third place overall in the Championship.

“I went out there with a game plan of trying some different lines. So the first three or four training runs I only flew half or quarter of a run. I did have an issue with a couple of warnings for flying low. So I need to review where I was doing that and what I was looking at and to see if I was lower than planned or where I planned to be. So just a little bit of a review there.”

Hall got a career-best second place in Perth three weeks ago after pulling off the improbable feat of turning the enormous pressure of racing at home in front of 140,000 spectators to his advantage.

He said on Thursday he had used the first training flight in Rio to gather data on his plane. Eager to find ways to improve his performance, Hall’s team has sent the data to Perkins in Australia to analyse overnight.

“We’ve got a data logging system that was provided by Larry Perkins,” said Hall.

“We’ve got that wired into the aircraft so I was actually doing specific runs with different G-levels and different movements in different parts of the track. So we can now download that data. Its a whole heap of data and Im going to email that back to Australia to be analysed for me. My team in Australia is now working overnight to advise me on where I can improve, which is pretty exciting.”

Hall also seemed hardly troubled by the myriad of noisy distractions at the Race Airport, which has been set up on the tarmac of Rio’s Santos Dumont Airport. While many of the other 13 pilots complained of the jet noise and complications of waiting for clearance, Hall was not perturbed.

“There’s much less noise and pressure here than there was in Perth so for me personally this is easy,” Hall said with a laugh.

“I’ve always operated in high stress and very noisy environments with jets moving around and lots of activity so all that noise here doesn’t worry me at all.”

Story courtesy of Red Bull Australia