The Gordon Bennett Cup is the most famous aviation event in the world. The objective of the race is simple: to fly the furthest distance from the start (Ebnat-Kappel, Switzerland) using the open airspace available.
This international gas balloon competition was initiated in 1906 by the adventurer James Gordon Bennett. This race is the 56th, 106 years after the first one.
The winning country has the right to stage the race two years later.
In 2010 the Swiss team won the race with a straight line distance flight of 2434 km from Bristol, England in 59 hours.
The website is full of interesting information and live tracking is available from the beginning of the race.
Several links are available also to Facebook and Twitter.
Start of the Gordon Bennet 2012 : Saturday 1st September, 22:00 LT
The detailed program is available on the event website.
TEAM AUT
TEAM ESP
TEAM FRA
TEAM GBR
TEAM GER
TEAM RUS
TEAM SUI
TEAM USA
The President of the Organising Committee is Walter Vogel and the Event Director is Markus Haggeney. They are assisted by a very technical and well prepared team.