I attended the Red Bull Air Race this past weekend.

Notwithstanding the unpredictable weather – complete with a tornado warning the previous night and 3-days worth of torrential downpours – the event itself was very ho-hum compared to my 2008 experience.

When I think Red Bull events, I think “extreme” and “spectacle”.  And so it was with great shock and awe that I witnessed a near-Mach1 demonstration by a fighter jet in the 2008 pre-race show… greater shock and awe when the filming helicopter ran the course and did things No Helicopter Should Do.  And finally, continual shock and awe as these propellor-driven planes raped the challenging course mere meters above the Detroit River.

I mean, that event was the s–t.

By comparison, this year’s event was s–t.

Even without the lame course adjustments that were made, the course layout itself paled in comparison to 2008.  The pre-race show had fighter jets, oh yes, but they did two low-altitude low-speed passes and bugged the heck out.  The helicopter didn’t run the course, and even the RB105 acrobatics seemed tamed down a few notches.

For a Red Bull event, I was not impressed.  Which really sucked, since I dragged my friend out to Windsor and he spent an unholy amount of money on a jacket to protect him from the elements.  Elements which, by the way, decided to remain at bay for the duration of the event.

So that will likely be it for my Red Bull Air Race attendance career.  This weekend I’m off to Montreal, rather unexpectedly too, to partake of the Canadian Formula 1 GP.  This will likely be the one and only time I ever go to a Formula 1 event, and I am looking forward to it – rain or shine, it will be fun just to be there and feel the atmosphere that goes along with an F1 race weekend.