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Look! In the Sky. It’s a Rocket Racer.

nytimes.com — The racers may finally be reaching the starting line. 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. The races are promised as a kind of living video game — but louder — with a virtual raceway laid out in the sky that will be visible on pr

Who dugg this? Made popular Apr 14, 2008

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  • krystofr, on 04/14/2008, -4/+21Buried for "Nascar" analogy!
  • saggygrandma, on 04/14/2008, -3/+17Looks sick, but I'd only give it about two races before someone dies.
  • kevpsu, on 04/14/2008, -1/+13I think they may have something here. Crashes from 1,500 feet will be much more entertaining.
  • shortyjacobs, on 04/14/2008, -1/+10With the world death rate at 1.78 people per second, and a race being composed of 4 heats each lasting 15 minutes, I'd say your estimate is rather optimistic.
  • cynic573, on 04/15/2008, -0/+4Next step: F-zero.
    I can't wait. :D
  • Harabeck, on 04/14/2008, -1/+5Welcome to ignore.
  • Shiftgood, on 04/14/2008, -1/+4If that thing didnt have lightning bolts on the wings i would cry.
  • anarchyinthekr, on 04/14/2008, -0/+3nascar, baseball, and football put together does not sound boring
  • vsujohn2, on 04/15/2008, -1/+4RIIIIIDGE RACERR!!!!
    Wait, wrong thread....sorry
  • motorbikematt, on 04/14/2008, -0/+2The success of this venture will require not only an interested public audience, but also competent mangers who know something about rockets and airplanes, but also the sports entertainment industry. It will require TV sponsorships and viewership, even for those people on the ground. It will require a level of safety that will not result in publicly spectacular deaths, or even worse, government regulation and oversight into such hazards.
    Given the FAA's new concerns about safety, but more importantly the expertise of the people running this venture, I suspect this won't make it past the exhibition phase of the game.
  • insomniacal, on 04/15/2008, -0/+2Cool, thanks for the link, I didn't know about that. (Whoever dugg you down is a moron -- I brought you back up to +1.)
  • sonoran, on 04/14/2008, -0/+2Are they using rockets just so they can say "Rocket Racing"? I mean a jet engine is much better suited to this. With the rocket they've only got a few minutes of burn time before they're out of fuel, I hope these planes glide well.
  • inactive, on 04/15/2008, -0/+2What happened to this thread?

    "The engines will come from two companies, Whitelaw said: Xcor Aerospace of Mojave, Calif., and Armadillo Aerospace of Mesquite, Tex. Armadillo was founded by John Carmack, a high-tech businessman who created successful video games, including Doom and Quake."

    Dugg for creating manufacturing and research jobs in America.
  • MattDell, on 04/14/2008, -0/+2How is this better than the Red Bull Air Race that's already been established? Buried for being the XFL of airplane racing.
    http://www.redbullairrace.com/
  • RustyJ, on 04/14/2008, -1/+3I never knew carmack had his own aerospace company! He went from rocket launchers to building rockets.
  • bbrasky, on 04/15/2008, -0/+2Go hug a tree.
  • bbrasky, on 04/15/2008, -0/+2Reno's been going on for 45 years...
    http://www.airrace.org/indexJS.php
  • habenneas, on 04/16/2008, -0/+1LynxCache mirror: http://www.lynxcache.org/usr/1/Look_In_the_Sky_It_ ...
  • jjustice, on 04/15/2008, -0/+1These things are like the ultimate Hummer O.o
  • Whalen25, on 04/15/2008, -0/+1When you see it, you'll ***** a brick
  • erkokite, on 04/15/2008, -0/+1I'm actually kinda wondering about the going faster part. The rockets appear to be quite small, and judging by the aerodynamics of the aircraft shown (non-retractable landing gear and unswept canards), it doesn't appear that they would get very far into the transonic region (mach 0.7 to mach 1.2). The P-51 could reach mach .8 in a dive I know. I am not sure what type of airfoil they are using either. At the root, it appears that the max thickness is around the 1/2 chord length, and at the tip it looks to be about the 1/4 chord length. A 1/2 chord max thickness throughout would produce less drag. Judging by the large LERX's and the canards (which appear to be moveable), I would say that they were aiming more for maneuverability than speed. Also judging by the very low fuel efficiency of rockets, they would really only gt a couple minutes of thrust tops out of the entire race. So they would have to thrust and glide throughout the course, which would suggest an unimpressive top speed.
  • TrevorPace, on 04/15/2008, -0/+1Well seeing as these guys are the best pilots around..and probably the same people that do the Redbull competitions I don't see many accidents.

    But there will be at least one I think.
  • prattstick, on 04/15/2008, -0/+1Afternoon delight!
  • onionoino, on 04/15/2008, -0/+1i've been dreaming of this since slipstream 5000
  • jjustice, on 04/15/2008, -0/+1If you're in a rocket, "flipping" is the last thing you want to "literally" happen.
  • kkDonut, on 04/14/2008, -1/+2I'm gonna be glad to see this fly.
  • nubnub, on 04/14/2008, -1/+2Pretty cool but I'm not sure if it'll catch on
  • groonk, on 05/01/2008, -0/+1can you say, 'awesome way to die!'
  • kidcodea, on 04/15/2008, -1/+2***** you and your eco terrorism
  • mnemy, on 04/14/2008, -0/+1Oooo great! Like NASCAR crashes weren't spectacular and dangerous for spectators as it was, now when one of those suckers falls to the meaty scene of the crash, we'll all get to see the "tragic" videos of those who were dumb enough to watch in person rockets racing in circles!
  • motorbikematt, on 04/15/2008, -0/+1It isn't, by any means, except it goes faster and oooh, you can see a flame shoot out the back.
  • inactive, on 04/15/2008, -1/+2Can we say 'carbon footprint'
  • Jlaw09, on 04/15/2008, -0/+1Its Pole Position of the FUTURE.
  • straightflava13, on 04/14/2008, -1/+2Inaccurate. Rocket Racer is a black man on a skateboard.
  • chkdg8, on 04/15/2008, -0/+1Here are some clips.
    Promo video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsMyiIL3ObU
    Prototype: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRqJc4fCbt4
  • AKron, on 04/14/2008, -0/+1Good times for all
  • salvadorwii, on 04/15/2008, -0/+1F-Zero?
  • pyrotix, on 04/15/2008, -0/+1Dugg for the full moon in the background of the photo
  • insomniacal, on 04/15/2008, -0/+1Oh, that's scary. Just a few days ago I was wondering how we got to the 21st century without air races. Then this hits the headlines.
  • Jordan117, on 04/15/2008, -0/+1But... but I thought rocket racing involved SPNKr-toting Spartans on ATVs...
  • inactive, on 04/15/2008, -0/+1ROCKETTTTTTTTTTTTTTT RACCERRRRRR

    USE THE BOOST TO GET THROUGH!
  • amdforever, on 04/15/2008, -0/+1I screwed your mom so hard last night, she gave birth to you piece of *****.
  • stephenmeb, on 04/15/2008, -0/+0only 4 months until an exhibition race... so they say
  • schneb, on 04/14/2008, -1/+1Rather than a loop race, make it a drag race from dead stop takeoff to pass the finish line. Zzzzooooooom.
  • stephenmeb, on 04/15/2008, -0/+0The races are head to head, and they use rockets!
  • inactive, on 04/14/2008, -1/+1Each team can get extra points for a flaming fireball finish...
  • inactive, on 04/15/2008, -0/+0*ASCII art facepalm*
  • bbrasky, on 04/15/2008, -0/+0Anybody ever been to the Reno air races? I have not, but hear they are friggin amazing.
  • icantdrive75, on 04/15/2008, -0/+0Great...Now all the southwest pilots are gonna have big number 8's on the tail fins.
  • bbrasky, on 04/15/2008, -0/+0Cry me a river. Thanks for not attending - makes it easier for the rest of us to get tickets.

    http://www.airrace.org/indexJS.php
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