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Video: Extreme Hang Gliding With The Nikon D300s

Danny Allen — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:25:00 +0000

This isn’t the first time Nikon has teamed up with sports photographers to showcase the D300s‘ new 720p video capabilities, but this footage of the world’s top hang glider surfing Australia’s mysterious “Morning Glory” wave-cloud phenomenon, is just as spectacular.

The D300s was mounted to the front of the hang glider and fitted with a 10.5mm fisheye lens. A custom hardwired trigger and release mechanism was used to fire both video and stills.

Of course, the $US1800 D300s now has some serious semi-pro competition from the $US1900 Canon 7D. And the 7D is an 18-megapixel, 1080p video beast. Click through the links above for our in-depth primers. [YouTube via CrunchGear]

A Virtual Look At The New Red Bull F1 Racing Car

Nick Broughall — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 06:00:41 +0000

I typically find F1 to be as exciting as watching snails mate. However, this clip which virtually unveils the new Red Bull 2009 F1 car actually raised my right eyebrow (that’s the interesting one), especially the brief moment that you see that the driver’s control panel looks like an Xbox 360 controller from hell.If you find F1 more exciting than me (which you are almost statistically guaranteed to), head on over to PopSci to check out Damian Francis’ analysis - the guy loves his F1 and offers some insightful info for racing fans…

[PopSci AU]

Video: How Do You Build a Massive 30 Metre Snowboarding Ramp in New York City?

John Mahoney — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 22:40:00 +0000

The folks behind Red Bull’s Snowscrapers event this week in the city will tell you, as they’re building the biggest ramp ever in an urban area in New York City’s East River Park.

It consists of a 30 metre main landing ramp, with a takeoff point that’s 2.1 to 2.7m below that–so if you get off on a bad foot, or whatever it is in snowboarding lingo, you could very well get a face full of ramp.

Snow wise, the ramp will use three different types (four, if the weather keeps doing Thursday night what it’s doing right now): snow machine output, shaved ice and, my favourite–snow made from liquid nitrogen. It looks like a pretty good time, and it’s all going down on Thursday night–I’m not as big a snow bunny as Brian Lam (West Coasters make sure you check out the Snowmodo 2009 details!), but I’m going to try to be there to see it up close. [Red Bull Snowscrapers]

Three Cups of Coffee Makes You Three Times More Likely to Hallucinate

Mark Wilson — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 15:20:00 +0000

Maybe you aren’t at work right now. Maybe you aren’t wearing a suit. Maybe that giant polka dot bunny can’t hear your thoughts. Maybe you just drank too much coffee.

Researchers from Durham University (queried, we believe) 200 non-smoking participants, taking into account their intake of tea, coffee, energy drinks, caffeine pills or coffee consumed on an average day as well as their propensity to see things that were not there, hear voices, and/or sense the presence of the dead.

It was found that 315 milligrams of caffeine (about what you’ll find in three standard cups off coffee) increased hallucinations by three times, though it’s unclear as to whether or not this data could be correlational with crazy people simply drinking more caffeine to begin with. [LiveScience and image]

Rhys Millen Trying to Backflip a Truck Again, Releases Video of Spine-Breaking Botched Attempt

Adam Frucci — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 22:20:00 +0000

If you’re a longtime Giz reader, you may remember that on last New Years Eve, Rhys Millen was supposed to perform a backflip in a truck on live TV. One problem: he broke a bunch of his vertebrae during a practice run and had to cancel. Well, he’s gonna give it another go this year, and to get you all amped up for it, Red Bull has released the video of his crash. Want to see a dude do half a backflip in a pickup truck? Follow me, ye of strong stomachs.

Yep, about what you expected, eh? Here’s hoping he’s learned a thing or two during those painful months of rehabilitation.

Red Bull Gives Your DJ Table Wings (and Balls)

Sean Fallon — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 15:15:00 +0000

Red Bull has teamed up with Canadian design company Cocoon to develop a functional DJ table that represents “Red Bull’s sponsorship of an actual nightlife experience.” The table features a backlit logo panel, ventilation for laptops and slots for vinyl records and large CD booklets. As you will see in the image after the break, it also features a curious cutout on the undercarriage where you feed your cords. I am shocked and appalled that a wholesome product like Red Bull could be the catalyst for such immaturity.

[Cocoon via Designboom via Josh Spear]

Reminder: Red Bull Air Race Pilots Are Absolutely Nuts

Jesus Diaz — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 15:15:00 +0000

Maverick, schmaverick. Here’s a Red Bull Air Race pilot showing that, to participate in these races, you don’t only need to know how to control these perfect flying machines–handcrafted and engineered with the latest technologies–while doing 12 g turns. You also have to be absolutely nuttastically crazy. And while these aeroplanes are not rocket powered, their weight-power ratio is scary.

There are three kinds of aircrafts in these races. The MXS, with only one prototype and two production models in the world; the Extra 300SR, only two worldwide; and the Edge 540, with 40 units produced.

MXS

• Length: 6.28 m (20.6 ft)
• Wing Span: 7.31 m (23.9 ft)
• Weight: 590 kg (1300 lbs.)
• Power: 350 hp
• Top Speed: 426 km/h (265 mph)
• Roll Rate: 450 °/sec
• Max G: +/-12
• Motor: AEIO 540 EXP
• Wing design: Symmetric, carbon fiber
• Propeller: Hartzell “Claw”
• No. aircraft worldwide : 1 prototype, 2 planes (for the Red Bull Air Race), 6 more in production.

Extra 300SR
• Length: 6.70 m (21.9 ft)
• Wing Span: 8.00 m (26.2 ft)
• Weight: 550 kg (1212 lbs.)
• Power: 340 hp
• Top Speed: 407 km/h (253 mph)
• Roll Rate: 340 °/sec
• Max G: +10/-8
• Motor: AEIO 580
• Wing design: Asymmetric airfoil
• Propeller: MTV 9-B-C-198-25
• No. aircraft worldwide: 2

Edge 540

• Seats: 1
• Length: 6.30 m (20.7 ft)
• Wing Span: 7.43 m (24.4 ft)
• Weight: 530 kg (1168 lbs.)
• Power: 340 hp
• Top Speed: 426 km/h (265 mph)
• Roll Rate: 420 °/sec
• Max G : +/-12
• Motor: AEIO 540 EXP
• Wing design: Symmetric, carbon fiber
• Propeller: all Hartzell “Claw” except Dell: MTV9-203
• No. aircraft worldwide: 40

The next race is on November 1st in Perth, Australia. If you are around, go see it. You will love it. [Red Bull Air Race]

The NES Was Never Designed for Flight

Mark Wilson — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 21:20:00 +0000

I was lucky enough to attend Red Bull’s Flugtag event in Chicago last Saturday, but like most other attendees, I wasn’t lucky enough to actually watch the event as these flying machines (not really intended for flight) launched off a 30-foot pad that was perpendicular to the shoreline, facing into the water. Regardless, had I the pleasure to watch the event, I would have loved the Nintendudes who crafted a giant NES, Zapper and Duck Hunt duck for flight. To their dismay, vintage gaming gear does not scale to aircraft.

The Nintendudes did not place in the competition, though to be fair, the designer of their 115kg plane had no experience designing planes. As he explained:

I didn’t necessarily study the laws of aerodynamics when I designed it. It may fly, but it wasn’t necessarily designed with that in mind.

We’re sure the NES and Zapper would have floated just fine if they weren’t weighed down by that useless bird. [Midstate News and Flugtag via Kotaku]