“Max Power has never felt so good,” said Pete McLeod following test flights in the sunny sky over Chandler, Arizona. The PMR team has temporarily relocated to the Southern United States to take advantage of pristine flying conditions and test the modifications made to the Edge 540 over the past six months.

“We’ve come a long way since this time last year,” said McLeod following the first three days of test flights. “I know they are only training flights over the open the desert, but the plane is much faster and it should be more competitive in the track this season – it’s going to be an exciting year” McLeod added.

It appears six months of late nights in the PMR hangar are going to pay off in the months ahead. Pete is exceptionally pleased with how the plane is flying and is optimistic about the eight races he is scheduled to compete in over the next six months. “We did everything possible with the time and budget we had over the off season, the question now is how much of the gap did we close with other teams. Every team works hard in the off season but all the cards come on the table in Abu Dhabi,” said McLeod.

A focus of the off season was to make the #84 plane more powerful and lighter than the race plane fans saw competing last year and it appears the team has accomplished this goal and hopes to start climbing the ranks during the 2010 season.

By Thursday of this week, the plane will be dismantled and trucked to Los Angeles before being shipped by air cargo to Abu Dhabi for the season opening race.

Pete is scheduled to continue test flights and training in Abu Dhabi on March 18 with the race taking place on March 27. Following training in Arizona, Pete and the team are headed back to London, Ontario to complete final preparations for the season ahead.