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Corvus Racer 540

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Wingspan
  
7.4 m

Manufacturer
  
Corvus Hungary

Length
  
6.57 m

Corvus Racer 540 Corvus Racer 540 Pawe Makiewicz Flickr

Andrea sasso corvus racer 540 ozzano 2013


The Corvus Racer 540 is a single-seat, low wing, high performance aerobatic aircraft produced by Corvus Aircraft Ltd in Hungary.

Contents

Corvus Racer 540 httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediacommonsthu

Corvus racer 540 59 70e on fire


Design and development

Corvus Racer 540 Red Bull Racing Team Corvus Racer 540 N806CR czechairspotterscom

The Corvus Racer 540 design was started in 2007 when Corvus Aircraft signed a contract with Red Bull to develop a new airplane for Peter Besenyei, designed especially for air racing. It was designed by Andras Voloscsuk and the Hungarian University of Aviation. After limited success improving the power output of the existing engine, Besenyei decided to focus on the airframe to reduce drag and improve aerodynamic efficiency. The development engineering time was more than 15,000 hours over two years, and the result was an airplane that was "very nice, nice to control" although potentially hindered by a heavy engine.

Corvus Racer 540 Introducing Goldwing RC Electric Extreme Series 61in Corvus VG

The Corvus Racer 540 first appeared at the Apr 2009 AERO Friedrichshafen show in Germany, with initial flight testing in Feb 2010 and its racing debut in June 2010 at the Red Bull Air Race in Windsor, Ontario, Canada during the fourth race out of six in the 2010 Red Bull racing season. Besenyei placed 10th at Windsor, 8th at New York, and 9th at Lausitz all with the Corvus Racer 540. Unfortunately, the 7th and 8th races of the 2010 race series were cancelled and as of April 2012 the series had yet to resume, thus reducing motivation for further development of the design.

Specifications

Data from Corvus Aircraft website

General characteristics

Corvus Racer 540 Corvus Racer 540 Wikipedia

  • Crew: 1
  • Length: 21 ft 6.7 in (6.571 m)
  • Wingspan: 24 ft 3 in (7.4 m)
  • Height: 8 ft 2 in (2.5 m)
  • Gross weight: 1,510 lb (685 kg)
  • Powerplant: 1 × Lycoming AEIO-540 6-cyl air-cooled horizontally-opposed piston engine, 325 hp (242 kW)
  • Propellers: 3-bladed MTV-9-B
  • Performance

  • Cruising speed: 193 mph; 167 kn (310 km/h)
  • Never exceed speed: 280 mph; 243 kn (450 km/h)
  • G limits: +12/-12
  • References

    Corvus Racer 540 Wikipedia