10 reasons Air Racing is better then Ballon Racing

[supercub]

10. The swoosh of a propane burner can't compare to the roar of a radial or the sweet sound of a V-12.
9. You don't have to get up at 5:00am to watch air racing.
8. There's no "Valley of Speed" in ballon racing
7. You don't have to get up at 5:00am to watch air racing.
6. There's no pylons in ballon racing.
5. You don't have to get up at 5:00am to watch air racing.
4. There's no crank'n and bank'n in ballon racing.
3. You don't have to get up at 5:00am to watch air racing.
2. Ballons don't use ADI or Nitrous.
1. And the number 1 reason Air Racing is better then ballon racing
YOU DON'T HAVE TO GET UP AT 5:00AM TO WATCH AIR RACING

[AirDOGGe]

Re: 10 reasons Air Racing is better then Ballon Racing

No, you just have to get up at 5 am to get the best seats in the general admission stands... ...been there, done that...


The best place to watch a balloon race is...riding in one of the balloons. No engine roar, but the peaceful silence while you are up there is deafening!

[Fence Sence]

Re: 10 reasons Air Racing is better then Ballon Racing

Reason number 11) Balloon Racing isn't actually racing at all. It's a targeting "competition".

[V1670]

Re: 10 reasons Air Racing is better then Ballon Racing

Air Racing better than Ballon Racing? well DUH! And, aside from all the stated reasons I might add: the FANS! I'm sure there are people who dig the sound of silence, but I enjoy hangin' with the sun-burnt crowd who gets high on AV-gas,Aeroshell and prop wash. The group who says "what? pardon me? I'm sorry" becasue we're all deaf from radial roar and v-12 howl but we'd NEVER wear ear plugs! The group who is on the fence at 6am and still there 'till they chase us out of the place at dark because there "might be" one more flight.

To Air Racing........AND the Air Racing FAN!

[SkyvanDelta]

Re: 10 reasons Air Racing is better then Ballon Racing

Pure speculation here, but based on 1,3,5,7,9, I guess you don't like waking up at 5am to watch balloons race?

They are kind of cool, the way they light up like light bulbs when it's dark. Are they still allowing people to walk among them while they are being inflated? I'm afraid that will come to an end someday when somebody is hurt by a support vehicle or balloon.

All those things that "you used to be able to do" are slowly disappearing due to the high cost of injuries, insurance and lawsuits.

[supercub]

Re: 10 reasons Air Racing is better then Ballon Racing

They are pretty, no question about it, and I did enjoy it....must, this is my second year going.........and no, I didn't really like getting up at 5am this morning....especially after working yesterday, driving 4 hours to Reno, and then going out to the ramp when I got here, till well after dark. Then it was so hot here last night, I couldn't get to sleep.......but with all that, it still was worth getting up at 5am and going to the ballons......heck I get up at 6am everyday anyhow.
Brian

[AirDOGGe]

Re: 10 reasons Air Racing is better then Ballon Racing

I don't like waking up at 5 am for anything.


My only personal balloon memories go back to my first visit to the now-defunct Truckee Airshow around 1983 or so.

A friend and I drove up there in the middle of the night in an old VW bus, and in the dark we found a spot in the unfamiliar airport at the edge of a large empty field. It was too dark to set up the tent, so we just crashed-out in the van.

I awoke in the early morning to a strange sound. I peered out through the side-window curtains and saw a hot-air balloon getting ready to launch, maybe only a couple of hundred feet away. The sound I had heard was the WHOOSH and roar of the burners.

"Cool! We got a hot air balloon out here!" I called out to my friend up front to wake him.

I then looked out the other side, and was quite surprised to see at LEAST 12-15 hot air balloons at various stages of inflation and/or launching. Just by chance we had camped right in the middle of the action.




The last time I looked a few years ago, that field was now filled with hangars and buildings.

[Panzer Division]

Re: 10 reasons Air Racing is better then Ballon Racing

No disrespect meant here at all but how can balloon racing be any fun?

[Bob]

Re: 10 reasons Air Racing is better then Ballon Racing

No disrespect meant here at all but how can balloon racing be any fun?

Its a sport best viewed while quite stoned, cause a pass may take 20-30 minutes.......

[C_roundy]

Re: 10 reasons Air Racing is better then Ballon Racing

No disrespect meant here at all but how can balloon racing be any fun?

PanzDiv, It sounds like yer actually trying to figure it out. I'm not a bag driver, but my background in soaring makes it easy to answer.

It is about achieving full and true mastery of the ocean of air: When you have squat for propulsion (or even glide ratio in this case), hitting a specific target, at a specific time, better than your competitors, takes superior situational awareness and strategy regarding changing wind vectors and velocities as you change altitudes to hit the streams you need, when you need them!

The conditions change constantly, so your needs change constantly. In competition, like any other kind, it is a fight, and these competitors have to flow ALOT of adrenaline to outperform their buddies.

Although I will admit that soaring would lose lots of it's allure for me if I could just turn on a burner anytime I failed to find lift...

P.S. BIG Welcome to AAFO Sir!

Chuck

[Panzer Division]

Re: 10 reasons Air Racing is better then Ballon Racing

PanzDiv, It sounds like yer actually trying to figure it out. I'm not a bag driver, but my background in soaring makes it easy to answer.

It is about achieving full and true mastery of the ocean of air: When you have squat for propulsion (or even glide ratio in this case), hitting a specific target, at a specific time, better than your competitors, takes superior situational awareness and strategy regarding changing wind vectors and velocities as you change altitudes to hit the streams you need, when you need them!

The conditions change constantly, so your needs change constantly. In competition, like any other kind, it is a fight, and these competitors have to flow ALOT of adrenaline to outperform their buddies.

Although I will admit that soaring would lose lots of it's allure for me if I could just turn on a burner anytime I failed to find lift...

P.S. BIG Welcome to AAFO Sir!

Chuck

Well to be honest I never knew that it took so much to win a competition such as this. (I guess I jumped the gun hearing the word "balloon" haha) After hearing your refined statements I can say I have a newfound respect for not only the people who race balloons, but other forms of aviation racing as well. And thank you for the warm welcome as well it's much appreciated.

[C_roundy]

Re: 10 reasons Air Racing is better then Ballon Racing

Panzer Division, you are as welcome as you could possibly be!

Now, as to why and how b'oon races can be fun as a spectator sport, I'm still racking my brain to come up with a better answer than Bob's

[AAFO_WSagar]

Re: 10 reasons Air Racing is better then Ballon Racing

Panzer Division, you are as welcome as you could possibly be!

Now, as to why and how balloon races can be fun as a spectator sport, I'm still racking my brain to come up with a better answer than Bob's

Hummn... Ate breakfast at the Bonanza "the BO" the morning we got in. Just after sunrise, the balloons were launching and there was not much wind.. The Bo is just over the ridge from the launch point. While we're eating at our window seat, we're watching launches and up's and down's trying to find something that would move them from where they were.... long story short, a bunch of them started landing all around the Bo.... when we left, one was coming in for a landing in the dang parking lot.. I walked along with them on the approach, almost could feel the precision pre-thinking that the pilot was using to .. "I'm going to land just beyond the black pickup"... inches from the parking lot overhead lamp post, add a quick burn to ensure clearing the hapless pickup in the lot... damned if he didn't put it spot on where he said he was going... crew holds the basket down, passengers off, a couple more on, off he goes again!

This, with all you can control is altitude!!!!!! Crew predicts where you're going land, gets there with resources, riders and everything else...

Never saw this sport before but, rest assured, it's exciting as hell!!!!!

[C_roundy]

Re: 10 reasons Air Racing is better then Ballon Racing

That tears it Wayne, screw the powered parachute as a way to find low impact nirvana, ya' got me hooked!

It occurs to me that a DAMN good sound system could be fun for short portions of the otherwise total, absolute, haunting silence of flight.

By the way, trust me on this, I'm not one that normally gets the chance to be touched by the softly whispered sounds of silence..........

http://www.lyricsdepot.com/simon-garfunkel/sounds-of-silence.html