Tue, Nov 21, 2017
Has Been Propeller Technical Partner For The Championship Series
Hartzell Propeller has wrapped up its fourth year as the Propeller Technical Partner for the Red Bull Air Race Championship. As part of its partnership, Hartzell provided the Claw three-blade structural composite propellers to all fourteen race teams competing in the Red Bull Air Race World Championship.
The company also supplied governors, composite spinners and technical support for the 2017 Championship, which saw eight races in seven countries. Either Matt Van Voorhis or Alex Krauskopf, both Technical Representatives from Hartzell Product Support, attended each race providing technical expertise for propellers and governors to all of the race teams.
In 2017, the Championship celebrated its diamond 75th race in Abu Dhabi, UAE, returned to Budapest, Hungary for the 11th time, saw a record breaking 850,000 spectators in Porto, Portugal as well as a debut race in Russia among other highlights. The Championship also touched down in the USA (for two races including the season finale in Indianapolis), Japan and Germany.
"It is pretty amazing and impressive what these pilots are capable of and what they're doing. The level of skill and concentration required to race in a track at up to 199 knots is crazy," Krauskopf says. "And the pilots are all great, great people. The teams are fantastic. It's a really unique and cool experience. I'm lucky that I've gotten to be a part of this for the past four years."
Van Voorhis echoed his comments, "This season was the most interesting season for me. The level of competition was even higher than in years past. There were consistently three or four pilots that were in competition for the top spot. The level of preparation and competition is unrivaled."
The Red Bull Air Race team transports Hartzell's spare propellers, carbon composite spinners and lightweight governors along with tools and a dynamic balancing machine on one of the two 747s that are used for logistics support, including raceplane transport between international races. The most common mechanical processes, according to Krauskopf and Van Voorhis, are repair, removal and replacement of props and then balancing the propellers for performance efficiency.
The Claw competitive prop used by each team is an advanced structural composite propeller developed for aerobatic aircraft and raceplanes using Hartzell's proprietary technology. The result is a lot of muscle for the exceptional pilots that race in the Red Bull Air Race World Championship.
The 2018 Red Bull Air Race Championship kicks off Feb. 2 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
(Image provided with Hartzell Propeller news release)
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