Day one of the Air Race brought about a huge disappointment as high winds forced the cancellation of the qualifying round.
Huge crowds along the Detroit…
…And Windsor riverfront were estimated at about 750,000
Despite the cancellation of the racing, the crowds at day one were treated to a small air show. The Red Bull Grumann Albatross amphibious flying boat. There were 466 built between 1949 and 1966.
The Canadian Harvard Aerobatic team.
The Yankee Warrior from the Yankee Air Museum at Willow Run airport, Ypsilanti, Michigan. This is one of only two B-25 bombers still flying.
More aerobatic flying
Off to day two, and the race is on. This helicopter was used to get aerial footage of the race
And they’re off… Qualification followed by the finals…
We certainly lucked out as we had the more stunning backdrop to watch the race.
This Red Bull plane piloted by Kirby Chambliss, won today’s race. Chambliss won the Air Race series championship in 2004 & 2006.
Another shot of Chambliss.
Racing action continues…
The video screen shows Chambliss smiling as the time of his opponent in the final leg, was not good enough to win, and Chambliss is declared the winner.
The show was closed out with another flyover from the Canadian Harvard team.
I had a great time down there… My legs and arms are burnt… I wish i was a little closer/good camera is working… oh well it happens… lets hope it comes back next year…
What a fantastic time! If Saturday wasn’t cancelled (and rightfully so) I am sure we would have had even more people out. Too bad more people didn’t buy tickets. If we want this type of event more in Windsor/Detroit we MUSt support it by purchasing tickets to these events.
But what a wonderful, fun-filled time…hopefully they come back next year!
Are these races real, or like wrestling?
Wow, they really know how to make the ren cen ugly with that branding.
What I liked was walking around downtown and seeing that the streets were filled with people. The free and pay sections along Riverside were filled with people. The River was crowded with yachts outside the course area. I think a new restaurant even opened up on Ouellette somewhere around the Coffee exchange. It was like that whole depressing vibe in downtown changed for that weekend to something more like the way a downtown should be.
Too bad I couldn’t attend but I heard nothing but great things about Windsor’s contribution to this event. I hope that the enthusiasm and hard work that made the Red Bull Air Races such a success for Windsor can now be used to fix up downtown and make Windsor a place we can be proud of. Let’s start by kicking Mayor Eddie and his lapdogs on city council out of office and putting real leaders in charge of the city.
Great to see so many people downtown enjoying themselves, even the fireworks cant top this past weekend. Awsome pics Andrew!!!!
I remember the cover from a scanner magazine years back. It stated, “Everyone Loves an Airshow!” Very true! Nothing is so universal to all age groups and backgrounds as an interest in demonstrations of aviation prowess and history. And we had a little of everything on Sunday. RB didn’t just rely on the racers. The RB “air force” skydivers, B-25 bomber, Corsair, Harvards, F-18, etc. all made for a well-rounded event that everyone could enjoy. Even helicopter (!) aerobatics.
I hope every downtown merchant was on their toes and strutting their stuff for all those American adult visitors who were probably visiting downtown Windsor for the first time in years. Maybe some spinoff tourism will result from a good impression?
Kudos to Transit Windsor for providing free shuttle service from Walkerville and Mic Mac Park. That certainly simplified things for our group. The bus drivers did a fantastic job but had a real challenge trying to get in/out of the core, which was congested with idiots driving their cars downtown (and parking illegally on the road). Our driver probably had 2 inches clearance on each side of his bus with cars parked on both side of Bruce. Respect!
John, a big part of the problem was that Sunday was the first of the month. Cars are supposed to switch sides of the road by 9:00 am, however many didn’t.
Here’s a case where the city really dropped the ball on parking enforcement. They should have been out towing illegally parked cars, and doing their darndest to keep traffic moving.
Not closing Riverside Dr. was another stupid move.
I was surprised as well to learn Riverside drive was staying open. Absolutely crazy. I would have liked to have seen ground zero closed off to vehicular traffic completely. Alot of drivers were getting impatient and aggressive, especially on left turns, and not giving right-of-way to pedestrians crossing at intersections and “holding them up” on their search for a pawking spot.
great pics guys! i had a great time down there as well, unfortunatly all i have is a cybershot…which is a decent lil P&S but not all that great for this type of thing, still got some decent shots though.
john – i beleive i heard that they left riverside open to deter people from standing 2 feet behind ticket payers…..but that didn’t last all that long, it got blocked off a little before janette later on.
i wish there wasn’t such LONG intervles between planes sometimes, but all in all it was a great day, and i hope they come back next year!
Shawn, they are in fact real. No fakes here.
A few little birdies have told me RedBull wasn’t happy with the way Windsor had responded (not the citizens but city hall). They didn’t like the way Windsor waited the last minute for most things, like hanging the banners, finally voting to get the river closed, the ad hoc way set things up….I have a new moniker for Eddie. “Last minute” Eddie rings true.
Have you ever noticed how Windsor now waits for the last minute to do anything?
Not everybody loves an airshow. We had a discussion about it last year, regarding the Toronto show:
http://spacing.ca/wire/2007/08/31/watching-the-blitz-from-the-beach/
I think many are ambivalent. There are people on either side who have more passionate feelings.
I don’t mind it from the beach (like I said in the above link … it makes the water vibrate), but I think it’s anachronistic and wasteful — yet at the same time I wouldn’t lobby to stop it because I don’t want to ruin somebody else’s fun, because there is likely a kind of fun I like that somebody else see’s as ridiculous.
I should add that even the moderate critics (myself included) still find an airshow awesome, in an Awsome kind of way. Flight still looks so impossible. Watching planes is still magic. etc etc.
What a shot in the arm for civic pride. Peeps who attended had a first clas time.
This was a world-class event. It won’t be back but it was a cool experience.
What was crazy was the way they handled the line-up to get in. With that many people qued up they should have opened the gates early. The que haphazardly snaked through dow town for about 7 blocks, then doubled back upon itself. Peole had to wonder around tracing the line to find the end rather then walking directly tail.
how do i go about purchasing one of these photos?
Dennis, send me an e-mail and we can disscuss it offline – andrew@internationalmetropolis.com