"Most of our challenges have to do with nature," says Marko van Es, who as Head of Racetrack Operations leads the setup at every stop with his colleague Ivanka Kösters. He has seen a lot since he first got involved in the sport back in 2005.

The six-cylinder Lycoming engine has a solid history in the world of competition aerobatics. However, the versions used in the raceplanes have been customised to the exact specifications of the Red Bull Air Race and were built in Lycoming's Advanced Technology Center.

After each flying session the pilots can be found sitting down in front of a computer next to their analyst trying to work out the smallest of changes they could make to improve the next flight.

Nigel Lamb was one of the first pilots to see the benefit of adding a race analyst to his team. He brought in his son Max, an engineering graduate, who played his part in Lamb becoming the 2014 World Champion.

One of those questions has been answered by Kirby Chambliss, after he recently announced that engineering and aerodynamic professor Paulo Iscold has joined Team Chambliss for 2016.

Much like every member of Team Chambliss, Iscold lives and breathes aviation. He received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerias (UFMG) in his hometown, Belo Horizonte, Brazil and is now a renowned specialist in aircraft design. Students at UFMG know Paulo as a professor, where he teaches multiple courses on aircraft design and applied aerodynamics.

"As soon as we got the raceplane into our hangar we did an unbelievable number of modifications in a short amount of time," said Goulian.

t's a fact that's hardly surprising when you consider their differences in physical frame, and 29kg might not seem like much of a weight difference, but when undergoing a 10G turning manoeuvre that weight equates to a hefty 290kg.