Air racing

Air racing is a type of motorsport in which aircraft compete over a fixed course, with the winner being the pilot who returns the shortest time, completes it with the most points, or comes closest to a previously estimated time. The first heavier-than-air air race, the Prix de Lagatinerie, was held on 23 May 1909 at the Port-Aviation aerodrome at Viry-Chatillon south of Paris, and the Grande Semaine d'Aviation de la Champagne at Reims later that August staged the first Gordon Bennett Trophy, won by Glenn Curtiss. The first Schneider Trophy seaplane race followed in 1913. In the United States the National Air Races ran from 1924 until 1949, and Bill Stead organised the first Reno Air Races in 1964; the National Championship Air Races have been held at Reno Stead Airport every September since 1966, with six classes of aircraft racing around pylon courses. In 2003 Red Bull created a series of pylon races known as the Red Bull Air Race World Championship.