This is coverage of the MultiGP Sebring 2018 Drone Race through Thomas’ eyes. I’ve included 1 practice run and only a few races since the video was going to become way too long. Below are the time indexes for the videos if you want to jump to a specific part.
7:27 Thomas’ first race heat 2/30
10:05 Heat 14/30
12:42 Semi Final 29/30
14:59 Finals 30/30
Firstly a massive thanks to everyone who made the event what it was and that includes, the Organisers, Volunteers through to competitors and spectators. MultiGP were kind enough to allow me to use their footage along with people like Reese who took the amazing shot of the Helix on the starting stand, through to NeOKiD.FpV who allowed me to use his ground footage in the Final which showed the space between Thomas and HeadsupFPV.
OK now back to the beginning! It took two flights and a 2 hour drive to get to Sebring and we arrived on the Monday. Pretty Jet Lagged we didn’t sleep great but ended up falling asleep around 9am through to 12noon. It was raining on and off on Tuesday so we ended up taking a drive to NASA, which was great fun but probably not the wisest idea, since it ended up being around 6 hours of driving in the end up and back.
Wednesday was first practice which turned out to be a struggle since we were both still suffering from Jet Lag. Having said that, practice went well and Thomas managed to make the most of it and pretty much focussed on learning the track. Surprisingly the hardest element was a High Gate, followed by a Dive Gate followed by another gate low to the ground and all the at the beginning of the track. Thomas didn’t have an issue with it, but it made learning the track hell for many pilots.
Thursday was first qualifying session and pilots got to do 3 Packs with their 3 consecutive being used for qualifying. Thomas Qualified 5th fastest.
Friday Thomas had 4 qualifying runs but we were under the impression we had 3, so after the third we left the track only to come back and Thomas did a fun qualifier with Shaun Taylor flying a Helix!! HeadsupFPV Qualified Fastest followed by DolmaFPV and Thomas in Third fastest. It turned out to be an amazing day and both Thomas and I completely in disbelief the Shaun would do his last qualifier with a Helix running Thomas’ Rates and settings. Keep in mind this was a very hard track and no one in their right mind would be crazy enough to even attempt this. I was betting there was no way Shaun would get in a complete lap, however he proved me wrong and managed 2 laps with the Helix!! Totally insane!! and this is why Shaun is a Champion!
Race day was amazing, Thomas won his first race which was fantastic be still wasn’t over his Jet Lag. Second race didn’t go as well. Someone crashed (possibly near the Ground Stations) and he lost video ending up in 7th place putting him in the losers bracket. The next couple off races went well with on small loss of video but he was still able to hold his position and continue through. He had another race where he lost Control link, recovered and managed 2nd place allowing him to continue.
In the Semifinal Thomas decided to pick up the pace and confirm if he was over the jet lag enough to push it and that race was awesome as it boosted his confidence. All he had to do was repeat it in the final which he did.
What was amazing about the final is the race pace was at it’s highest, even faster than qualifying. HeadsupFPV recored the fastest lap and Thomas recored his fastest 3 laps which is pretty amazing when you consider HeadsupFPV crashed on the second lap and Thomas backed off to a safe pace. This kind of gives you an idea of just how fast these guys were going.
Additional footage supplied with permission by:
MultiGP.com
NeOKiD.FpV
External shot of finals quads going through the start gate
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