Elite / Frontier Rocket Racing League finally about to take off.

[Steve O B Have]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/14/s...ef=sports&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

The Rocket Racing League, a long-promised attempt to create a kind of Nascar of the skies, will hold its first exhibition races this year, its founders said.

Racers in rocket-powered aircraft will fly four laps around a five-mile “track” at anywhere from 150 feet to 1,500 feet above the ground. The planes, designed to fly at 340 miles an hour, will start side by side, two at a time. The pilots include professional test pilots who received their training in the military and a former astronaut.

The first public taste of rocket racing will take place Aug. 1 and Aug. 2 in Oshkosh, Wis., Whitelaw said, at the annual Experimental Aircraft Association air show.

The Article is a little inaccurate as they state that the plane is based around a small jet that Velocity build but Velocity don't build any jets, only pusher prop canard aircraft.

The fundamental design came from Burt Rutan (of Spaceship One fame) and his Vari-Ez and Long-EZ design.

Leave it to the private sector and the adrenaline junkies to further the rocket engine technology. Should be really interesting to see what this is going to be like as a spectator sport

 

[Sir.Tj]

That looks both suicidal and brilliant at the same time!

 

[Michael Brookes]

It look sliek Velocity will be developing the standard airframe:

In related news, the Rocket Racing League has announced that subsidiary outfit Rocket Racing Composites Corp. has acquired Florida-based Velocity Aircraft, which manufactures four-seat canard pusher experimental aircraft. The acquisition will see Velocity Aircraft tasked with producing a consistent airframe for all competing Rocket Racers. Additionally, the league has also revealed that Texas-based Armadillo Aerospace will be providing LOX engines for the Rocket Racer competitors.

http://www.thetechherald.com/articl...receive-Rocket-Racing-League-exhibition-event

 

[Steve O B Have]

I wonder what the company is worth. It'd be interesting to see what sort of money is involved in this.

It seems that you can buy into a team for around $2mil - anyone want to start a kitty to buy the Frontier/Elite Racing team? If we get the first couple of thousand together we could build a wireframe racer

Why this could be fun: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=re-fpLPdbWc
It's footage from the 2007 Reno air races - they're racing super modified warbirds, P51s, Bear Cats, Sea Furys etc but with the engines jacked up from 2400HP to 4000+HP and barrel around at 50ft at around 400-500MPH. Imagine that with rockets!!