What Would an Air Racing Feeder Series Look Like?

The Red Bull Air Race is the premier series of air racing. It is known as the "Formula One of the skies," and with the international appeal and glamour that it holds, many pilots from all over are holding onto the dream of being in the air race.

While still in its infancy, the Red Bull Air Race has no feeder series. Pilots for the air race are selected based on an application of flight experience and their ability in the qualification camp.

The current crop of pilots tend to have either military or acrobatic flying background, and many of them hold day jobs, like airline pilots or flight instructors, so coming up with a feeder series is very difficult. How can pilots hone their skills to Air Racing standards and still be on schedule to make the New York to London flight the next day?

It's complicated, but leaving the issue of schedule and dedication aside, let us look at what a feeder series for the Red Bull Air Race would look like by glancing over to its automobile counterpart of Formula One and the GP2 feeder series, which has brought in the likes of Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg, Adrian Sutil and Heikki Kovalainen.

Theoretically, in the feeder series, the aircraft would be of identical makes, with minimal adjustments made to the setup.

To add another dimension to this series is that the track would need to be less punishing and slightly slower than the Red Bull Air Race, but hold the same challenges that they experience in the air race like how to pass through a gate.

Of course, with this theoretical feeder series that would be implemented, one would have to look at the FAI super-license that pilots receive when they pass the qualification camp.

This means that the license would have to be granted earlier and possibly go through a sort of stage process that we do in driving, like a learner's permit and so on.

It's all very complicated, so what are the suggestions of those who follow the air race?