Rocket Racing League?!?

[Mousecorp]

From Slashdot.org. MSNBC reports a 'Rocket Racing League' is launching today. The man behind the $10 million X Prize for private spaceflight is joining forces with a venture capitalist who is also an Indy car backer to establish a NASCAR-like racing league for rocket-powered aircraft." The Rocket Racing League also has an official website which outlines some of the specifics behind the program.

[speeddemon]

Re: Rocket Racing League?!?

Oh boy...I can HARDLY wait......

[Mousecorp]

Re: Rocket Racing League?!?

What got me is that it says that it is in partnership with RARA.

[blacksheep]

Re: Rocket Racing League?!?

I can see the enviromentalists now with all those rocket plumes spewing out behind these rigs

[MRussell]

Re: Rocket Racing League?!?

I am not a skeptic, but even I say not a chance.

[RandyGoss75]

Re: Rocket Racing League?!?

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm............................

I wonder if #75 is available! RG

[speeddemon]

Re: Rocket Racing League?!?

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm............................

I wonder if #75 is available! RG

Are you thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?????

Rocket-powered Shoestring!!!!!

[hattend]

Re: Rocket Racing League?!?

Instead of "Gentlemen, you have a race", all contestants will be required by the rules to say, "Hold ma beer and watch this..."

Don

[Race5]

Re: Rocket Racing League?!?

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm............................

I wonder if #75 is available! RG

Ok, you provide the Shoestring, and I'll talk the guys out of that ME-163 motor I told you about......

[Stevo]

Re: Rocket Racing League?!?

"Spectators could be provided with palm-size computer displays to follow the competitors, Whitelaw said.

Viewers at home could watch the racers zoom neck-and-neck on a video overlay."

This is what Reno needs.

[speeddemon]

Re: Rocket Racing League?!?

"Spectators could be provided with palm-size computer displays to follow the competitors, Whitelaw said.

Viewers at home could watch the racers zoom neck-and-neck on a video overlay."

This is what Reno needs.

and I'd like to see who's going to cover the cost for THAT one......

[BadIdea]

Re: Rocket Racing League?!?

and I'd like to see who's going to cover the cost for THAT one......

They'll just have to take a bigger cut from the race teams trying to sell shirts.

[AirDOGGe]

Re: Rocket Racing League?!?

It's not going to make for much of a spectator sport with race courses set up 5000+ feet overhead....Sounds interesting though....

There's a good descriptive article about it at Newscientist.com:

http://www.newscientistspace.com/article.ns?id=dn8093

The league has been created by Peter Diamandis - the man behind the $10-million Ansari X-Prize which was awarded in 2004 for the first private, piloted space vehicle - Indy 500 team owner Granger Whitelaw and others. The Rocket Racing League plans to build 10 racing rockets, which would be financed, owned and customised by individual teams for a series of annual races.

The space-age Formula One vehicles will be based on a rocketplane designed and demonstrated by California-based XCOR Aerospace, called the EZ Rocket (a modified Long-EZ). The first race is scheduled for a year from now in New Mexico.

The new vehicles will not in fact reach space, or even break the sound barrier. But they will demonstrate the power of rocket-driven aircraft, accelerating rapidly and performing high-G-force turns. The engines, powered by liquid oxygen and kerosene, will emit bright 20-foot plumes of flame that will make the flights easily visible to spectators watching from the ground a mile below.

[Bill@Interstell]

Re: Rocket Racing League?!?

An you think the unlimiteds are hard to cover.....

[MRussell]

Re: Rocket Racing League?!?

So let me get this straight... they want to take a batch of 20-year old (at least in design) long-EZs, convert them to rocket power, and race them from stadiums? Did I miss anything? Oh, right, they will provide each spectator with a palm-sized monitor on which to watch the race. Methinks this Diamandis character is trying to exploit Mr. Rutan a bit further.

Honestly, charging a quarter-million for a 10-minute suborbital space ride sounds like a much better business plan, in my (fairly humble) opinion.