The challenge of Budapest

Budapest is the tightest race we do, there’s only 350m between the banks of the Danube, and 1.7km between the two bridges we race between. It means we have quite a ‘boring’ track because it’s straight line drag race, bookended with intense vertical turns so we can double back through the track, and in total we perform three of those on each run through the track.

Due to the nature of a straight track with not a great deal of technical detail, our aircraft are also traveling at a much higher speed on approach to the vertical turns than we have had so far this year. Normally we would have a few chicanes and hard turns prior that bleed energy from the plane, ensuring that we’re at a slightly slower speed than we were in Budapest.

The effect of a track that favours horsepower over skill and rewards the highest risk takers is that the vertical turns were inevitably the deciding factor of who stands on the top step of the podium.

With that in mind, I have not looked over the data from all the years we have travelled there, though I think it is also probably one of the highest DNF (Did Not Finish) tracks out there due to over G.

To win in Budapest this year you needed: A fast plane; You needed to pull into the vertical turn as soon as possible (we travel at approximately 100 metres per second when racing – so pulling into the vertical turn five metres late costs 0.05 of a second. That’s a mile in the air race these days); and you needed to be right on the G-force limit. Break 12G and it’s a DNF, go over 10G for six tenths of a second and it’s a two-second penalty.

You can see that Budapest was high-risk, high-reward. There was no opportunity to make up time by flying a tighter line here or there or flying through a chicane at a maximum angle (allowing minimum clearance on wingtips against pylons). Essentially, the track had little scope for variable tactics, just lots of scope for pilots to record a DNF by pushing the limits in the three big, fast turns.

For our team, we arrived in the Hungarian capital knowing that we had a fast plane. But we also knew it still is not the fastest in a straight line, meaning that our best tactic was to get the timing of my pulls into the vertical turns accurate and to carefully measure the G.

As expected, day one of flying in the track delivered penalties. Something like eight of the 14 teams recorded an over-G and lots of penalties for ‘climbing in the gate’, which is a penalty for pulling up before clearing the gate for the vertical turn.

The same occurred during Saturday practice and again in qualifying. Remembering, a straight track meant we were entering the vertical pull up around 40 knots (approximately 74km/h) faster than other tracks. That makes more G ‘available’ to be used, and the G-onset rate was through the roof at 40G-per-second.

For us, fourth in qualifying was a good result, with all the risk factors considered. And we did it penalty free, which is always one of my objectives when I race.

Sunday morning rolled around and there was definitely some extra pressure on us, or maybe more aptly put media expectation and discussion around us having the chance to win three races in a row. A trifecta of wins has not been done in the RBAR for a long time.

I sat down with the team in the morning and we discussed what we were trying to do. While another win would be nice, we agreed that our priority was our world championship standing – not unrelated to milestones along the way. Therefore, our priorities were to beat our closest rival Mike Goulian, fly cleanly and aim for a podium.

In the first stage Round of 14 we were paired against Frenchman François Le Vot, who had been running about half a second behind our pace throughout the weekend. So, the plan was to set a good time, risk free and proceed to the Round of 8. I set a personal limit of no more than 11.0G in the track, which I had been doing all week and was comfortable with.

That plan went out the window when I heard the time François did, as he was the first one in the track for our match up. He went under 58 seconds to record a personal best and to go faster than I had in the track all week. I knew I would need to push harder than planned and risk penalties if I wanted to beat him.

Pressure on.

I flew the track as hard as I dared, planning on using up to 11.5G. and up to four tenths of a second above 10G. The risk paid off and I was pleasantly surprised that I had broken the track record, coming in below 57 seconds. A confidence builder for sure.

On the ground between the Round of 14 and the Round of 8, we debriefed. That is when I saw how close I had come to ending my day. While it was not a flip of the coin luck, I had been to 11.7G, which in reality is only .01 Sec off an over G at the high onset rates we were seeing.

While I needed to beat François, it was also very risky and could have resulted in me being kicked out in the first round and coming last. We took the win, but once again, I had to reset and look at the risk involved moving forward.

My Round of 8 was against another French pilot, Nicolas Ivanoff. The game plan this time was to do what ever I needed to win the round. His time through the track was just over one minute. In contrast I had been under 57 seconds just an hour earlier. What I needed to be careful of was backing off too much and making a mistake due to not flying the same line as I had before.

I set myself a G-limit again, 11.0G this time. I posted a 58-flat and went through to the Final 4.

There’s always a fast turnaround between the Round of 8 and the Final 4, and when you’re out flying it’s hard to know who else made the last stage of the race without a bit of investigative work.

As I came into land at the race airport after the Round of 8, I saw Goulian’s plane being pushed to the start grid. My closest rival had also made the Final 4. I had heard Mika Brageot taking off, so he was in. Martin Šonka was running too, so that was the line-up for the final showdown.

I landed and sat in the plane as we turned it around for the next run (approx. three and a half minutes from shut down to start) and talked to my tactician Pete. He told me the times that the others had run, that I had been to 11.5 G on that last run which was a concern since I had only planned 11.0. But our game plan had to be to go for the win due to Mike also being in the running for victory.

As I took off, Mika was joining the circuit. I tried to listen to his voice to get an idea on how his run went, though could not pick anything. I passed Martin on his way home and had no idea on how he went either.

When I came up on race frequency and heard Mike’s time of a 1minute, 04 seconds – with seven seconds of penalties – straight away I knew I had a choice to make. Go for a win and try to capitalise on Mike’s bad time or go for a solid run and hope it was good enough for at least second place.

Due to the fact I had been over my planned G-limit the last 2 runs (only by fractions, but still over), I decided I had already used my luck for the day and went for a safe run in accordance with our race goals – looking after our world championship standing.

‘I decided I had already used my luck for the day and went for a safe run.’

As it turns out, Martin and Mika went for the win, and flew cleanly in the process. Martin took first, Mika second and deserved their places. While I was a little disappointed in the third pace seeing I held the track record from earlier in the day, it was for sure the best strategy in the long term. And now we are clear at the top of the standings, ready for the second half of the year.

Next stop Kazan, Russia in late August. Smoke on….