Chrigel Maurer launches from the Gaisberg in a pre-race shoot on Saturday 4 July 2015. Photo: Felix Woelk / Red Bull Content Pool
Cross Country Magazine editor Ed Ewing caught up with Red Bull X-Alps legend Chrigel Maurer the day before the start of the X-Alps 2015 to ask him about his new wing, his broken foot, and the new strategy of Clean and Green – because this time Chrigel and supporter Thomas Theurillat plan to complete the X-Alps using an electric-powered car.
Chrigel, nice to see you here. Tell me about your wing. I saw you flying it yesterday and it looks beautiful, it’s a very smart looking wing.
Yes, it’s a smart wing. Advance have made the new Omega X-Alps, which is a very good wing. It’s optimised for performance and weight. And this is very difficult to do. The development team and designer at Advance made a great job, and finally I’m here with a good feeling to do this X-Alps.
The choice [in a race like this] is to choose a comp wing that is 1.5kg heavier but where you get much performance, or to choose one which is easier but lighter. I prefer the easier option because this is the Alps and here it’s better to every day lose a little bit than to lose everything once and have a catastrophe.
You were involved in the development of the wing weren’t you?
I was involved, and I was able to wish for what I wanted, but finally it was Advance that made the wing and it was their ideas. They finished it quite close to the X-Alps, and so now it’s my challenge to learn to fly with this wing here!
Have you flown it?
For sure I’ve flown it this week. But not for like, one month before.
Chrigel Maurer launching at the Gaisberg. Photo: Felix Woelk / Red Bull Content Pool
How does it compare to what you flew in 2013?
Last race I flew the LM5 from Ozone. Now all the wings are quite similar, the GIN GTO2, the LM5, the Nova Triton 2, and with the Advance X-Alps this is one of the best compromises. To have good performance with a light wing, this kind of construction makes it possible to cross the Alps as fast as possible.
It didn’t look it had an enormous number of cells, what’s the cell count on it?
I don’t know actually, 60, 65, 70, something like. Aspect ratio is 7.0, it’s quite a moderate wing. For sure with less cells you lose performance but you save weight. There are other wings, like the Triton 2, that have more cells but they also have more weight.
The comp wings have even more cells and even more weight, it’s always like this.
Chrigel Maurer and the Advance Omega X-Alps, 4 July 2015. Photo: Felix Woelk / Red Bull Content Pool
So what do you think about US pilot Gavin McClurg taking the Icepeak 7? It’s the only purebred competition wing in the comp. Do you think he’s going to suffer with the extra two kilos?
Mmm, I’m not sure. I’ve never tried these wings in a really hard adventure race. It will be much more stress in a windy take off or a small landing in a village, and this I don’t like.
They’re also harder to bring down…
For sure, if you go really in a place where the wind is climbing all the time, you go gliding, gliding, gliding, it’s not easy to land safe.
Thanks very much. Now, briefly, tell us about your car.
It’s a Tesla, an electric car.
Thomas Thuerillat with their Teslar. Photo: SUI1
You don’t have a van? You have everything in the car! How is this possible?
It’s a normal car. It’s the best electric car. It has a very good battery and a good motor, and it has a range of 350km-400km. We hope it will be possible to last all day and recharge during the night.
So you have a list of all the places in the Alps where you can recharge this car?
For sure, you can find them on the internet, but you never know. But you can charge the battery from a house. But we have to ask people if we can have some power. You can charge it off a normal socket, but it takes a long time.
Why an electric car?
This is part of the adventure. Thomas [my supporter] liked this idea. Because what’s the motivation to prepare for this race? After winning three times, it was time to find a new motivation.
So now we have this strategy Clean and Clever. That means as clean as possible in the movement. I do it by my muscle power, by wind power, and Thomas does it by electric power, which means hydropower from the Swiss lakes.
This is the goal. And clever because we want to bring all our experience from the last races into this game, and do it with teamwork and do it clever. Not just pushing as hard as possible.
And finally, how is your foot? People have been saying you broke your leg but wasn’t it your foot?
I broke my ankle. The problem is not the bone, it’s the straps. The ligaments were completely broken and it’s taken time to recover.
It’s still not perfect, especially the long and fast walks on the road – I do not like this. But I am happy walking up to take off places, and so as long as the weather is possible, I’ll fly.
Thanks very much, have a great race and good luck.
Thank you.
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