Red Bull’s latest aerobatic stunt needed a Rimac reversing at 54mph for ‘training’

In another of its rather wacky marketing ideas for an energy drink, Red Bull just helped pilot Dario Costa become the first person to land a plane on a moving train before taking off again.

And yet, there is apparently a motoring link here, because we’re told that in preparation for the stunt Costa trained (geddit?) with a Rimac Nevera R for three days at Pula Airport in Croatia.

Now, Rimac itself says the 2,078bhp electric hypercar was used as a “high-precision moving reference platform” that gave Costa “a real-world moving surface against which to rehearse the cognitive and physical demands of landing almost completely blind on a moving target".

Quite why that blind, moving practice target had to be a £2.3m hypercar we’re not so sure, especially given the landing speed on the train was going to be just 54mph. Apparently that’s actually near-stall speed for the Zivko Edge 540 plane, which would usually land at around 92mph. Impressive, then, but even a Dacia Spring will comfortably do 54mph.

“At speeds directly comparable to those required during the actual landing approach, the hypercars allowed Costa to train speed synchronisation, alignment judgement and reaction timing,” says Rimac.

Oh, and there’s one more thing, because in order to simulate some of the severe wake turbulence that would be created by the moving cargo train on the day of the stunt, the harder, faster Nevera had to complete the practice runs in reverse. Surely a big, blocky SUV could have done the job facing the correct way?

Anyway, feel free to prove us wrong with actual science in the comments below, and do watch the incredible touch-and-go landing and take-off that Costa successfully completed. Serious skill.