I first spotted this over at Bangersandnash.com, and couldn’t believe I hadn’t spotted it yet, because I’m always looking at the awesome stuff Red Bull gets up to. But other than the Red Bull Stratos Project, which is pushing the levels of insanity, this is their other crazy project.

I can’t imagine the mindset those guys need to be in to do that stuff, or the lives they have lived to get to that single moment…dropping off choppers and cutting through the snow in the most extreme conditions ever. It’s just insane, and I’d love to see some background history on these guys, almost like a lead up to that point in their lives, with interviews and clips of past endeavours. I should have become a documentary maker, I LOVE this sort of stuff, for the insanity of it all, but also for the visuals that the team deliver us. Here is the Red Bull Art Of Flight:

There is nothing further that I have to say, I think we all need some silence now.

The Red Bull Rampage 2010 is unlike anything you’ve seen in free ride, a course set to take riders on a thrilling free fall of sorts where no one quite knows what will happen. It’s mountain biking at it’s most extreme and in 2010, Cameron Zink came off the winner in the Red Bull Rampage. This from Red Bull:

Launched in 2001 and held annually through 2004, Red Bull Rampage brought the creative, unrestricted ethos of freeride mountain biking to the contest arena while staying true to the sport’s core ideals. Poised on a sandstone ridge in the brutal landscape near Virgin, Utah riders were free to chose whatever line they dared between an established start gate and the finish line 1,500 vertical feet below. Exactly what happened between those two points has become legendary.

With wild skies above him and 1,500 feet of vertical drop below, Cameron Zink persevered over the obstacles to become the 2010 Red Bull Rampage champion. Twenty-one of mountain biking’s best riders threw down all they had while battling wild weather, but when the skies cleared it was Zink who took home the trifecta — the contest win, Utah Sports Commission Best Trick Award and the Freeride Mountain Bike (FMB) World Tour season overall title.

Check out the finals:

Yowzer! How waa the guy bailing at the 1:33 mark…insane! That takes ball of steel. Most men look like little girlie men next to those guys.

Click here for the Red Bull Rampage website.

Red Bull are always thinking up some crazy stuff, and that’s why we pay R18 a can for the stuff! Because their marketing budget will blow your mind. In fact, if you look at it, their energy drink is probably a small part of what they do. They are like some sort of marketing and research and development company who happen to sell energy drinks to pay the bills.

Kind of like McDonald’s. McDonald’s happen to sell burgers, but the fact is, they are a real estate company. Look at the Green Point Stadium, that McDonald’s never moved an inch, because that is valuable land that McDonald’s own. They merely buy real estate…and then franchisees run the actual McDonald’s. Think of all the McDonald’s in the world, and think of how much land they own around the world. Hmmmm…

Anyway we’re getting lost here! I promise I’m not that dumb, I just act it, you know, it throws people off of what I’m really doing.

What is Red Bull Stratos? It is an insane project that is set to break and surpass all limits that we believe exist. Felix Baumgartner will take a stratospheric balloon flight to 120000 feet and then attempt to freefall and reach supersonic speeds.

Felix Baumgartner: This is what a real man looks like!

When you look at it, it is an absolutely insane stunt that is going to present a landmark in human history, it’s as big as anything humans have ever done and by far the biggest feat that Red Bull has been involved in. Experiencing this is one of those rare times in human history where we really are seeing limits being broken. Where something phenomenal is happening, something that future generations will speak about. Like we speak about man walking on the moon, so future generations will speak about Felix Baumgartner reaching supersonic speeds.

The sheer logistics of this mission are unfathomable, I cannot even begin to think about going that high, and then simply jumping, waiting to be saved by my parachute. This from the Red Bull Stratos website:

Red Bull Stratos, a mission to the edge of space, will attempt to transcend human limits that have existed for 50 years. Felix Baumgartner plans to ascend to 120,000 feet in a stratospheric balloon and make a freefall jump that rushes toward Earth at supersonic speed before he parachutes to the ground. His feat holds the potential to provide valuable medical and scientific research data for future pioneers.

After completing a record-breaking crossing of the English Channel with a carbon wing in 2003, famed Austrian athlete Felix Baumgartner decided to explore becoming the first parachutist to break the sound barrier. Felix and aerospace expert Art Thompson shared this vision with Red Bull – an organization noted for its keen interest in the possibilities of human flight – and the Red Bull Stratos mission was born.

The Red Bull Stratos team brings together the world’s leading minds in aerospace medicine, engineering, pressure suit development, capsule creation and balloon fabrication. It includes retired United States Air Force Colonel Joseph Kittinger, who holds three of the venerable records Felix will strive to break. Yet not even Joe can be sure how Felix’s body will react in a 35-second acceleration to Mach 1.

When the flight is complete, the mission will be far from over. Findings will be widely shared, with the hope of inspiring young learners and informing seasoned researchers who will create the next generation of aerospace crew protective equipment. World records are only part of the story.

It is honestly something that I’m looking forward to so damn much I don’t even have words to describe it. We’re going to experience one of these times in the evolution of the human race, where we just cannot comnprehend what is going on. I’m super stoked that I’m going to be around to see this! I feel as if I haven’t really seen anything amazing in my lifetime, and this is set to be it. Let’s end this off with the trailer for Red Bull Stratos:

And this is the suit they’re going to use:

Seriously, you’re going to experience ‘one of those moments’ in human history. You’re going to be around to see it!

Click here for the Red Bull Stratos website.