The Duo Gate: A Change to an Already Changing Sport

A new gate came in the Red Bull Air Race in the final round in Perth. It's one that I think we'll be seeing a lot of in the coming year. The new gate is known as "The Duo".

The Duo is a spinoff of the quadro gate, which is as old as the Air Race itself! The quadro was four red gates that stand in a square formation requiring the pilot to pass through one end and do a 270 degree turn back in through another end.

With the duo, only one approach/line and exit has been seen this year of this new gate and it has me scratching my head wondering if this gate is indeed a new force to be reckoned with or just a way to create new entertainment for an already entertaining sport.

To start off with similarities to the quadro, the pilot is required to pass through it in knife edge formation and have to execute a 270 degree turn.

The main difference is how the gates are positioned. Unlike a quadro, which is a square formation, the duo gates are positioned 45 degrees apart like what is shown in the image above.

Entering the duo so far has been shown that once the previous gate is flown through, the pilot goes through the duo gate that is most direct and then performs the 270 degree turn, passes through the vertical-directing duo gate and turns towards the next challenge.

At the final race of the year in Perth, it appeared that the MXS was best suited for this new challenge, with both Nigel Lamb and Alejandro Maclean being able to make it into the semis and eventually the former being able to take a second place.

When looking at the g-forces which are put on the body, the duo is still unknown, but I would wager that higher g's are pulled here than in the quadro's 7-8 g's.

My reason for saying this is that the pilots take far longer to execute their moves in the duo in comparison to the quado. The lines they took, and therefore the time they took, were significantly longer.

Therefore, the pilots are limited in some manner and the duo gate is more complex than it actually looks.

With at least two MXS planes being delivered to Sergei Rakhmanin and Glen Dell, along with four rookies for 2009—Matthias Dolderer from Germany, Matt Hall from Australia, Pete McLeod from Canada, and Yoshihide Muroya from Japan—the Red Bull Air Race is changing in both face, equipment and gates. The duo looks like it's here to stay.

My prediction for the next season with regards to which pilot will be best suited for this is not Paul Bonhomme nor Hannes Arch nor even Kirby Chambliss; I'm putting my money on Alejandro Maclean and Nigel Lamb in being able to master this gate and really push themselves up the ranking.