Issue 96: May 1994

So why am I rehashing all this when it was already compre- hensively reported in our April issue? Simple. What occurred at Valleyfield in Tasmania was potentially the beginning of something very big for sport and warbird type aviation in this country. One would imagine that three years from now the action at Valleyfield will be considerably hotter than it was this year. Probably three to four times the number of competitive aircraft will enter and the crowds should follow. The Tasmanian Government took a brave gamble on their Targa classic car rally back in 1992 and now that is so big that unless your name is Stirling Moss or your steed is something truly unique you can’t even get a look in. It’s been immensely successful and brought mega bucks into Tassie in addition to boosting it’s world image consideably. Skyrace should follow a similar path, specially if the organisation is tightened up and the lessons from the inaugu- ral event are heeded.

Skyrace though was more than being about a bunch of aircraft racing around a set course marked by telegraph pole like pylons. What it was was a new and potentially exciting form of motorsport. And that is where we get excited. Car racing is big business and there is a tremendous synergy between aviation and motor racing. Our research indicates that more than half our readership in varying degrees follow motorsport.

What we are suggesting is that in a few short years it might be possible to launch a pylon racing championship series taking in most of the major population troughs of Australia. This could be run on similar sponsorship lines as the immensely successful Australian Touring Car Championship. Pylon races could be held using a core of paid staffers at viable centres near the major cities. Possible venues that spring to mind could be, for instance, Valleyfield for Tassie, Avalon, Mangalore or Ballarat for Victoria, Goulburn or the Hunter for Sydney and somewhere in south east Queensland between Noosa and Coolangatta. Adelaide and Perth could be added later when the cost of flying the aircraft to these points could be better defrayed.

With full fields of competitive aircraft pylon racing is certainly an exciting spectacle and one that also lends itself nicely to television. A one or two hour condensed coverage of each championship round would not only attract most aviation buffs but would also tap into the vast pool of motorsport enthusiasts (and sponsorship dollars) that already craves everything from Formula 1 to Indy to the tin tops.

Imagine full fields of Mustangs, Sea Furys, Trojans, Harvards and high performance homebuilts and cabin twins racing at full throttle for the gold and the glory. Imagine the great TV images that can now be generated using modern minicam technology-inplane wing or tail mounted cameras, pylon cam and even rear facing cameras in the lead aircraft just as in motor racing. A great way to ‘check your six! Great stuff and all the better to raise the profile of aviation to something higher than it is today via the means to bring the challenge and spirit of flight into people’s living rooms en masse.

As the Tasmanian Government wisely appreciated, pylon racing, as something both different and exciting, is also an earner for the now all important tourism industry. Just as you won’t find too many vacancy signs at race time at Bathurst, Adelaide or Surfers, nor did you within 100km of Valleyfield last March. This is really what it’s all about as far as the local communities are concerned and it is this financial imperative that will drive many forward thinking districts to actively seek out this new form of aeronautical motorsport to both publicise their region and provide employment opportunities.

Professional pylon racing would also go a long way to verifying the tax deductibility aspects of rebuilding and operating warbirds and get many aircraft into the air that are presently languishing in hangars throughout the land.

Last but not least, by promoting pylon racing direct to the present mass of enthusiastic motorsport followers aviation will benefit by introducing tens of thousands of newcomers to the magic of flight. After watching an exciting pylon race there would have to be a number of spectators that would be tempted to phone their local flying school or aero club to see how much an introductory flight costs. A little innovative lateral thinking from these schools might also encourage this new audience to take up the challenge of flight. Indeed, the marketing opportunities are endless and so potentially bright that even Blind Freddy could see them.

This of course is just the mere seed of an idea though being at Valleyfield it was impossible not to get excited about what was happening. Not just a bunch of aeroplanes flying around pylons, but a whole new form of motorsport and an opportunity for aviation to benefit by the potential that might just be.