Rocket Racing is ON!

April 14, 2008 8:10 AM PDT
Rocket Racing League announces August takeoff
Posted by Caroline McCarthy | 1 comment
A Rocket Racer lifts off for a test flight.

(Credit: Rocket Racing)NEW YORK--Top Gun and Ender's Game fans take note: Rocket Racing is here.

It'll be like Formula One or Nascar in the sky, or at least that's what the leadership of Rocket Racing said at a press conference at the Yale Club here on Monday morning. The aeronautics entertainment start-up announced the debut of its long-awaited Rocket Racing League, which will have its first exhibition race on August 1-2 at the EAA AirVenture air show in Oshkosh, Wis.

The science fiction-like Rocket Racing pits aircraft called Rocket Racers against one another in a high-speed dash around the sky. The pilots are equipped with 3D helmets and navigation panels to visualize the virtual "raceway" they follow, and spectators on the ground and at home will have access to footage from remote and rocket-mounted cameras. This is accomplished through "cockpit-based augmented reality," which the Rocket Racing League ultimately wants to bring into general aviation as a way to make navigation easier and more efficient for pilots.

Rocket Racing, which hopes to have a formal racing season in 2010, simultaneously announced the acquisition of Florida-based Velocity Aircraft to produce the frame for all its aircraft.

"If you're going to race Ferrari in your league, why not own Ferrari?" Rocket Racing CEO Granger Whitelaw said of the acquisition.

April 14, 2008 8:10 AM PDT
Rocket Racing League announces August takeoff
Posted by Caroline McCarthy | 1 comment
A Rocket Racer lifts off for a test flight.

(Credit: Rocket Racing)NEW YORK--Top Gun and Ender's Game fans take note: Rocket Racing is here.

It'll be like Formula One or Nascar in the sky, or at least that's what the leadership of Rocket Racing said at a press conference at the Yale Club here on Monday morning. The aeronautics entertainment start-up announced the debut of its long-awaited Rocket Racing League, which will have its first exhibition race on August 1-2 at the EAA AirVenture air show in Oshkosh, Wis.

The science fiction-like Rocket Racing pits aircraft called Rocket Racers against one another in a high-speed dash around the sky. The pilots are equipped with 3D helmets and navigation panels to visualize the virtual "raceway" they follow, and spectators on the ground and at home will have access to footage from remote and rocket-mounted cameras. This is accomplished through "cockpit-based augmented reality," which the Rocket Racing League ultimately wants to bring into general aviation as a way to make navigation easier and more efficient for pilots.

Rocket Racing, which hopes to have a formal racing season in 2010, simultaneously announced the acquisition of Florida-based Velocity Aircraft to produce the frame for all its aircraft.

"If you're going to race Ferrari in your league, why not own Ferrari?" Rocket Racing CEO Granger Whitelaw said of the acquisition.