Red Bull launches Rahlves' Copilot:downhill

Red Bull launches Rahlves’ Copilot:downhill{mosimage}Just in time to whet people’s appetites for the Olympics Winter Games in Torino, Italy, Red Bull unveils Copilot: Downhill (www.redbullcopilot.com), an online immersion in downhill ski racing featuring Daron Rahlves, one of the planet’s fastest skiers.

Using cutting-edge Flash and streaming Internet technology, the Copilot Web site enables users to ‘become’ Rahlves as he rockets down an impossibly steep downhill course at speeds of 85 mph-plus. Users can switch between five different camera angles as Rahlves navigates the same course raced during the U.S. championships at Mammoth Mountain, California. Meanwhile, a dashboard of telemetric gauges shows Rahlves’ real-time speed, lateral G-forces, slope pitch and total running time. In addition, race commentary from Rahlves guides users through the entire course – top to bottom.

‘The objective of the Copilot concept is awesome’ said Rahlves, former world champion and 10-time World Cup winner. ‘Showing downhill through my eyes, through my experiences, lets people see the sport like it’s never been seen before.’

The project was a colossal undertaking, requiring a 20-person production crew which shot dozens of hours of footage in 15 different setups, including helmet cam, chase cam, ski mount and helicopter shots. Web engineers then distilled the broadcast-quality footage to be used with standard broadband connections.

Copilot: Downhill is the latest installment in Red Bull’s three-part series of dynamic interactive-immersion Web sites. The first, Supermoto, puts the user in the saddle with motorcycle-racing legend Jeremy McGrath on a grueling onroad/offroad course. The follow-up, Air Race, is an aerial ride-along with five-time champion aerobatic pilot Kirby Chambliss. All Copilot programs can be found at www.redbullcopilot.com.

– Press release