Red Bull Air Races Budapest

The warm up guy was quite good





There was so much action going on during the build up





This must be Kirby Chambliss as he was awesomely fast but a bit ragged and Peter Besenyei was consistantly high at the quadro eventually getting penalised...



Paul Bonhomme - eventually third. Incredible smoothness through the air - real finesse I can only dream of.



And superb accuracy through the quadro:



and so fast!



Mike Mangold was pretty sharp - well he did win it!



The fireworks were hard to capture but I like the accdental artistry of this snap:



Lots more pics here and more to follow...

Exclusive club

I now have over 100 hours total flight time in aeroplanes....still a newbie though - I need another 200 hours to get out of the 'killing zone'

Expect the unexpectable

So,
I went for a blood test today as part of the 'look after stupid diabetics' thing - it's nice to feel loved but it tends to get in the way sometimes. Anyhoo - I parked up in the Mount Vernon Hospital car park, got tested and got back to the car in 15 mins flat. Neat - efficient health service! Having been to this car park on a few previous occasions I know they sometimes charge for parking but not always...why? Dunno, it's the health service ya know! On this occasion the barrier was down and I needed to pay. 'No sweat' thought I - I have a quid or so in my possession.....TWO POUNDS FRICKIN FIFTY!!!! For 10 minutes parking!!! Outrageous! To top it off, I have £1.08 in my wallet and no notes. I have plastic so I thought any modern hospital will have a cash machine - better go pay up even though I feel mortally insulted... Dutifully trudging off to the main building I remember there is a change machine for notes (money grabbing bastards know when they are on to a nice little earner) but there is no sign of any cash machine. I *do* see a 'parking office' in the foyer however:

me: Is there a cash machine in the hospital?
oaf: No.
me: I've been in the car park for 10 minutes. I only have £1.08. How can I pay this ridiculous fee?
oaf: Gimme a quid and I'll give you a token to get out
me: !

And so I was released for a massive 60% discount!

To anyone who uses Mount Vernon Hospital:
Use this technique to not pay exorbitant car park fees.

I am not the fake steve jobs

This is the guy you're looking for...

God luck chaps!

The Red Bull Air Races come to London this weekend. Hopefully the weather will be good so that The Matadors can continue a great year:

Good luck chaps!

Live (almost) weather

Overview



Wind speed

RIAT

What a day! Rubbish traffic getting there - 3hrs queueing - yuk. Missed the F117 display and no B-52. The rest of the day was just brilliant though - pics by Pete

Highlights:

• P-51 & F-15 formation (seen from the car whilst queueing Grr


• Red Arrows - faultless and spectacular as always


• Frecce Tricalori - pristene


• Static display - if only it was open after the flying finished

Why don't they keep the static exhibits open after flying for at least an hour. Most folks don't want to miss the fying and don't want to get straight into the traffic chaos going out. Did I mention how crap the loos were? Can we please lose the Jetstream display, Blue Eagles army display (yawn) and Sea King? More Firefly, Jordanian Eagles, F-18 etc.

Now to get over the sun burn - ouch!