Iām writing this in Phoenix where it is warm and sunnyā¦ a far cry from the blizzard conditions that we are having at home in the UK this week. Why am I in Phoenix? This is our winter base for 09/10 and where our winter mods will take placeā¦ itās also where the Hammond can be found in his usual habitat of a hangar. Wade is as usual for this time of year working his magic with various projects on the Team 55 race aeroplane. Iād normally now write a short essay on the exact details of our mod plans but as no-one else has spilt the beans on their plans for next year, Iām not going to either! Nor will I be drawn at this stage on how we will be powered around the skyā¦ suffice to say we are talking with some extremely professional engine builders in an attempt to better our less than perfect set-up from last season.
On the subject of modifications, weāre all governed by a technical manual called āpart Eā which is what the Red Bull Air race technical committee have published which sets out what we can and canāt do to the aeroplanes. Broadly speaking, it allows us to individually modify the aeroplanes to make them go faster but staying within the bounds of safetyā¦ the big difference with this type of racing over ground based racing is that if we suffer an engine failure we canāt just pull over to the side of the track. Normally weāre over water or at the very least land that is not designed to be a runway. Hence the need for rules which keep our aeroplanes and engines reliable (as reliable as any machine can be) to lessen the risk. So for our winter mods we canāt just modify the aeroplane as we like, we have to consult the technical folks at Red Bull whoāll decide whether or not our plans fit into the āsafeā category or notā¦ the fun here is the need for information and it goes without saying that weāre all very keen to know what the others are up to. A good sport at this time of year is rumour spreadingā¦ like any rumour, you start it and see how long it takes to get back to you and in what form. Iāve just started one today about a radical new modificationā¦ see if you can read about it somewhere in the next week or soā¦ (actually someone is doing it and weāre waiting to see if it works and the rumour might pick up some facts on the way round!)
Rule changes for 2010: next year there will be a minimum pilot weight of 82 kgsā¦ this is very good news for the heavier pilots amongst us (Kirby Chambliss, Alex Maclean and me) as those who are less than 82 kgs will have to add weight to the aircraft if theyāre lighter than the minimum. Of course, if youāre heavier than 82 then itās time to lose weightā¦ and Christmas is a great time to try and do that! Itāll be great for the race as itāll even up the field and we can expect to see even closer times than we saw last year.
The last month has been fairly hecticā¦ I attended the BBC East Sports awards in Newmarket on the 8th December and then the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award at Sheffield on the 13th December. Great to be in the company of so many top sports legends and it crossed my mind that the room was full of people who know how to winā¦ who know how to get the best out of themselves and to apply that to their chosen sportā¦ youād be on to a winner if you could tap that experience and successfully apply it to your own sport. I concluded that the one common feature of all those who attended was their determination and will to win. I donāt suppose any of them just stumbled onto their successā¦
Laura and I got married in Novemberā¦ what a wonderful day and topped off with the most bizarre of wedding day endingsā¦ I helped turn on the Christmas lights in my original home town of Maidenhead and then we went to White Waltham airfield where I thought we were meeting friends for a curry (great idea for a wedding night donāt you think!)ā¦ actually Laura had organized a surprise party for me to celebrate my win in the Air Raceā¦ upwards of 200 people were there and what a nightā¦ folks came from Chicago and Hong Kong as well as just about everywhere else and we āhit it with a big stickā (āpartied hardā for those of you who donāt know the phrase)ā¦ an even better plan for a wedding night!
As the end of year holiday approaches, Team Bonhomme would like to say Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of our fans and followersā¦ THANK YOU SO MUCH for your support and kind messages throughout the year. It really does give us a boost to know that weāre being pushed over the line by your enthusiasm! As for your support for 2010, weāre going to have a great line-up of racesā¦ confirmed so far is Abu Dhabi 25/26 March; weāre going back to Australia and will be in Perth on 17/18 April and as always weāll be racing in Budapest on their National Holiday of 20th August (19th for qualifying). A new venue of Lisbon has been confirmed for 4/5 September. The other races will be confirmed by the middle of January but Iāve been told to expect a total of between 8 to 10 races.
Enjoy the Festive season and weāll update you on our progress early in the New Yearā¦