Red Bull Air Races eyes Gold Coast for World Champs

It’s one of the world’s most spectacular sports - and the organisers have the Gold Coast in their sites.

IT’S one of the world’s most spectacular sports and the organisers have the Gold Coast in their sites.

The Red Bull Air Race, a turbo-charged stunt plane version of Formula One, is an eight-race series attracting millions of spectators and organisers want to expand the calendar to include a return to Australia for the first time in almost a decade.

The Gold Coast has emerged as a potential host destination with the Broadwater creating a perfect natural circuit with crowds to line the foreshore.

Matt Hall of Australia performs during the finals at the sixth round of the Red Bull Air Race World Championship in Wiener Neustadt, Austria on September 16, 2018. Organisers are eyeing the Gold Coast for a leg. Picture: Andreas Langreiter / Red Bull.

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Red Bull Air Race’s general manager Erich Wolf has touched down on the Gold Coast for this week’s SportAccord summit and said the Glitter Strip would make a spectacular destination to host a round of the elite flying series.

“It is a business like Formula 1 or Moto GP so there are a lot of costs, but there are a lot of benefits to the host city too,” he said.

“The Gold Coast is beautiful, it would be a spectacular destination for a host city.”

Matt Hall of Australia performs during finals at the second round of the Red Bull Air Race World Championship in Cannes, France on April 22, 2018.

It is understood the costs associated with staging a Red Bull Air Race would total several million dollars, but Red Bull figures claim a return of investment of almost two to one, with some crowds totalling more than one million people for a single race day.

Races are beamed to 185 nations and territories with a reported fan base of 300 million people.

Red Bull Aussie pilot Matt Hall was just starting his career the last time Australia hosted a race in Perth nine years ago and said it would be awesome to bring the sport to the Gold Coast.

Matt Hall of Australia performs during the finals at the sixth stage of the Red Bull Air Race World Championship at Eurospeedway in Lausitz, Germany on September 4, 2016. Picture: Marc Müller/Red Bull

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“The Gold Coast has the capacity to support the tourism that would be generated,” he said.

“The Broadwater would be a fantastic place to host the race and the weather and conditions are perfect for it.

“And the Gold Coast knows how to host major sporting events.”

Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate said he was more than willing to talk to Red Bull officials about bringing a race to the Gold Coast.

“If Red Bull is looking for an Australian destination for a round of its air race, it would be difficult to find a more high-energy city than the Gold Coast,” he said.

Red Bull stunt pilot, Matt Hall: “The Gold Coast has the capacity to support the tourism that would be generated.” Picture: Sam Ruttyn

“Having these world-class aerobatic pilots show off their skills over our coastline would create millions in free-to-air publicity for the Coast – and give us a further advantage when it comes to luring national and international visitors.

“I’d be more than happy to take any proposal to Council for consideration.

“The Air Race season is flexible, with any Gold Coast event likely to be held in autumn, to reduce the likelihood of wet weather or cyclones.”