  Generic inspirals and mergers of binary black holes produce beamed emission
of gravitational radiation that can lead to a gravitational recoil or kick of
the final black hole. The kick velocity depends on the mass ratio and spins of
the binary as well as on the dynamics of the binary configuration. Studies have
focused so far on the most astrophysically relevant configuration of
quasi-circular inspirals, for which kicks as large as 3,300 km/s have been
found. We present the first study of gravitational recoil in hyperbolic
encounters. Contrary to quasi-circular configurations, in which the beamed
radiation tends to average during the inspiral, radiation from hyperbolic
encounters is plunge dominated, resulting in an enhancement of preferential
beaming. As a consequence, it is possible to achieve kick velocities as large
as 10,000 km/s.
