The Red Bull Air Race World Championship touched down once again in Japan on June 3/4 in Chiba City. Chiba is renowned as the birthplace of civil aviation in Japan and is famed for its samurai and warrior heritage. The Red Bull Air Race World Championship features the world’s best race pilots in a pure motorsport competition that combines speed, precision and skill. Using the fastest, most agile, lightweight racing planes, pilots hit speeds of 370kmh while enduring forces of up to 10G as they navigate a low-level slalom track marked by 25-meter-high, air-filled pylons.
Team Goulian had an amazing race falling short of making it in to the Final Four by only 0.118/sec! “It was a great, long week” said Michael Goulian about his week in Japan. “Coming to Japan is always special, but even more so in 2017. It’s our first race with our New Official Partner, Alpina Watches. The airplane performed amazing, and so did the Team and the 5th place finish kept us in a good spot in the points. We can hardly wait for the next Race to come in Budapest, and a new chance to continue to climb up the standings!”
Goulian’s crisp, aggressive and athletic style of flying makes him a strong contender to take the ultimate Red Bull Air Race World Champion title and as the Championship heads to Budapest for the half-way point of the season, Goulian will be hoping for a strong result after his historic victory in the city in 2009.
Michael Goulian is one of the world’s most decorated aerial demonstration pilots and is one of only seven air show professionals to receive all three of the air show industries’ most prestigious awards: the Art Scholl Memorial Showmanship Award, and the Bill Barber Award for Showmanship and the ICAS Sword of Excellence.
Alpina was present during the racing weekend in Chiba, Japan, inviting honored guests to experience Saturday’s qualifying and the race day on Sunday. On top of that, a special event was organized in the G6 Citizen flagship Ginza. Michael and his team were present and were thrilled to spend some one on one time with Alpina aficionados, VIP guests and press.
Red Bull Air Race World Championship
10-11 February: Abu Dhabi, UAE
15-16 April: San Diego, USA
3-4 June: Chiba, Japan
Additionally, the Alpina Watches Tina Maze Replica Startimer Automatic’s width of 44mm in a comparatively thin 10.7mm might be a challenge for those with smaller or rounder wrists though I know why the watch is a little large as size is another important facet of a pilot’s watch. Consider the popular IWC Big Pilot at a whopping 46.2mm or a real vintage military pilot watch such as the Laco B-Uhr at a currently unwearable 55mm (designed to be worn over a flight-suit) and the Alpina begins to seem like a more reasonably sized choice with just enough heft to let you know it had been equipped with aviation legacy in mind.When you’re talking about a fully featured Swiss made watch at a cost point such as that of the Startimer Automatic, you expect to wind up with a somewhat less impressive movement to provide some economies but in this case, the Alpina AL-525 quality gets the work done. Even though it’s essentially a base grade ETA 2824-2 having an Alpina rotor, the 38-hour power book AL-525 is precisely the correct type of motion for the soul of the watch and empowers the exceptionally approachable price of entry. When you get right down to it, a pilot’s view takes little more than an accurate and powerful movement and also the ETA 2824-2 has had that exact reputation for decades. Servicing is also simple with such a ubiquitous quality and some other capable watchmaker should have the ability to keep it in shape. One thing I want to mention that I love is the large crown, which will be a wonderful tapered design.
July 1-2: Budapest, Hungary
July 22-23: Kazan, Russia
September 2-3: Porto, Portugal
September 16-17: Lausitz, Germany
October 14-15: Indianapolis, USA
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