=== Let's Drone Out — Episode 445 === Title: LDO 445 - Wing Racing League UK Recorded: 2024-03-07 Hosts: Andrew "Frank" Hyams, Tony "TheTonstar1" Marchant, Jack "Brightontillifly" Nash Guest(s): Brady Stewart, Matt "Stubbsy" Stubbs Total audience: 907 Platforms: YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTgjJb0bojY); SoundCloud (http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/feeds.soundcloud.com/stream/1769344827-letsdroneout-ldo-445-wing-racing-league-uk.mp3) ===================================== Check out WRL UK Online: https://wrl-uk.com/ [0.0] Jack: Hello, and you're listening to Let's Drone Out, a special thank you to our lovely patrons [6.28] Jack: that help donate so that we can pay the editor to remove the swear words and silly things [11.36] Jack: we say. [13.0] Jack: Massive thank you to… [14.48] Jack: Carlos Campos! [16.68] Jack: Art Faulkner. [18.0] Frank: Sam Dahmer. [19.68] Frank: On with the show. [20.68] Stubbsy: Hello, I'm a TV cover. [21.68] Stubbsy: Let's Drone Out. [22.68] Frank: Good evening, and welcome to Let's Drone Out, episode 445. [59.16] Frank: This week, we are joined by Stubsey representing the WRL UK Wing Racing League UK. [66.64] Frank: Hello. [67.64] Frank: Thank you for coming on, Stumpley. [69.0] Frank: We have Tony Bonjour, and we have Jack's bed without a Jack in it. [77.36] Frank: What happened? [78.36] Frank: And I'm Andrew Schlefrank. [82.08] Frank: A Jack might not appear at some point, a wild Jack might not appear, but we'll find out. [86.96] Tony: It's like the Yeti, he's just living up to his name. [91.72] Tony: Is he real? [92.72] Tony: Is he not? [93.72] Tony: I know he's big in hair, isn't he? [95.72] Frank: Yeah. [96.72] Frank: Point of order, for anyone listening on the audio-only podcast and wondering where episode [102.56] Frank: 444 went, if you refresh your RSS feed and try and re-download it, it will now be an [111.48] Frank: hour long instead of five seconds long. [114.48] Frank: Yeah, sorry about that, but it's all there. [119.84] Frank: It just may have been slightly delayed, but yes, this week, we have Stubsey on talking [126.72] Frank: about the Wing Racing League UK. [129.92] Frank: Thank you for coming on. [132.52] Frank: We had one, I think, back in August, but it sounds like you've been quite busy over winter, [142.32] Frank: you and Brady. [144.04] Stubbsy: Yeah, we've been doing a little bit. [145.28] Stubbsy: We've managed to get ourselves affiliated with the BMFA now, which is all well and nice. [150.24] Stubbsy: Hasn't really changed anything in the way we operate, but given us a couple of nice little [154.12] Stubbsy: insurance bits and pieces, which is nice. [158.04] Stubbsy: We've got a couple of, we've got an event coming up in May now, a couple of year marks, [162.44] Stubbsy: hopefully coming out shortly after. [164.76] Stubbsy: So things are starting to move on for 2024, luckily, I think. [168.96] Stubbsy: So we're getting there. [171.2] Tony: And the weather took off right now. [175.96] Frank: Yeah, well, that's what it's build weather, right? [178.8] Frank: So now's the time to get more people interested and get them building their wings out, ready [183.16] Frank: for some racing. [185.4] Frank: So maybe we should start off for people who didn't catch it back in August or if we've [190.0] Frank: gotten or whatever. [192.96] Frank: Wing Racing, what is an acceptable wing to be racing? [198.08] Frank: What do you need? [199.08] Stubbsy: Well, to be honest with you, we're pretty open. [201.48] Stubbsy: It's pretty open. [202.48] Stubbsy: It's a pretty open class at the moment. [205.04] Stubbsy: All we ask is any wing basically up to 40 inches. [208.48] Stubbsy: There's a little bit of leeway on now. [210.56] Stubbsy: We don't mind if you turn up with a wing with like 40, 41 inches, as long as it's a pusher [215.6] Stubbsy: and it's made of foam. [216.88] Stubbsy: And basically, there's no carbon fiber or anything on there that can catch our bouncy [221.0] Stubbsy: geeks. [222.0] Stubbsy: We ask for a 4-cell maximum and I think it's a 23 or 2400 kV motor, but it's all pretty [230.8] Stubbsy: relaxed, to be honest with you. [232.6] Stubbsy: It's all pretty relaxed. [234.08] Stubbsy: We've had like nano goblins turn up the race and all sorts. [238.28] Stubbsy: So just more for fun than anything, really. [241.92] Frank: I think FPV drift at some point, right? [244.8] Stubbsy: Yeah, I think we've had a drift as well. [247.48] Stubbsy: I think we've had a drift out at Avago. [249.84] Stubbsy: So yeah, yeah, it's pretty open, to be honest with you, as long as you've got a pusher [255.48] Stubbsy: wing and basically anything at the 4-cell. [260.12] Stubbsy: We capped it on 4-cell, just due to the fact we had a couple of public events, bits and [264.08] Stubbsy: pieces. [265.08] Stubbsy: And obviously, when you start with 5-6-cell, the speeds involved and everything, it was [269.68] Stubbsy: just looking a little bit dangerous. [271.68] Stubbsy: Not that we wouldn't like an open class later on. [274.76] Stubbsy: We're all pretty much hoping for once. [276.64] Stubbsy: So watch this space with that pretty much. [278.96] Stubbsy: But at the moment, we're keeping it pretty simple. [281.28] Stubbsy: It doesn't got to be a spec wing. [282.84] Stubbsy: Anything you're happy to fly, as long as it's up to 40 inches, they're about 4-cell and [288.0] Stubbsy: it's got a pusher prop and obviously Corex tips. [291.08] Stubbsy: So that's about it, really. [293.48] Frank: Yeah, like you were saying, the main thing is that it's not about safety. [298.56] Frank: It's about protecting your lovely gates, right? [302.56] Stubbsy: Oh, yeah. [303.56] Stubbsy: Brady would be panicking a little bit, I think, to cut about the big gate, to be honest with [310.56] Stubbsy: it. [311.56] Stubbsy: Not that we have a couple of good goals, mind, even with phone, but we've got a couple of [318.28] Stubbsy: trays on it now with a couple of rips. [321.6] Frank: How big are the gates now? [323.88] Frank: I mean, I know I've walked through them, but I don't know off the top of my head what the [329.72] Frank: dimensions are, but they're pretty big, aren't they? [331.76] Stubbsy: The one in a lot of the footage we post out was basically up until the middle of last [336.44] Stubbsy: year, which was a white gate, which was about 5'6", I'd say about, well, probably about [342.44] Stubbsy: 4-5 metres wide, if I remember rightly, about 3 metres tall. [345.88] Stubbsy: The new one we've got now is about three-quarters of the size of the one that yanks you. [350.76] Stubbsy: So you're a good 8 metres wide, 4-5 metres tall. [355.12] Stubbsy: You can literally fit three or four wings of breath through it. [358.76] Stubbsy: So it means things are obviously a lot faster and a lot more exciting now. [363.68] Stubbsy: We haven't got to slow down quite so much while you're into the gate. [370.76] Frank: I will say it's not so much the size of it as just getting your height right. [376.6] Frank: That was always my tricky trick in this, is getting the height right to go not into the [381.92] Frank: ground, not into the top of the gate, not over the gate, just through the gate. [386.84] Frank: They all shrink as you're heading towards them. [393.32] Frank: What about FPV wise? [395.52] Frank: Do we know what the requirements are? [399.36] Stubbsy: Yeah, well, literally at the moment, obviously, we do an analogue, 5.8-25 milliwatt. [406.32] Stubbsy: I know we have got the capability of holding DJI pilots, but what would basically happen [413.56] Stubbsy: if we get an interest and people wanted to race DJI, we just put them in the heat together. [419.48] Stubbsy: We're looking at walks now. [420.84] Stubbsy: Definitely, we'd accept walk snail pilots, we'd have a go. [425.24] Stubbsy: Any problems, we would just literally do the same as DJI. [428.36] Stubbsy: We put them in a heat together. [430.4] Stubbsy: And like at the moment, unlike obviously the drone racing where you've got your [434.0] Stubbsy: different heats and then you've obviously got your mix finals at the end, all we do [439.56] Stubbsy: with the wing racing is we can't lapse the whole weekend. [442.6] Stubbsy: So literally, the person then with the most laps obviously wins the event. [447.72] Stubbsy: So it's no problem literally putting people in different heats, [452.2] Stubbsy: do you know what I mean, with DJI or anything, if there's any problems, then that sorts it. [457.16] Stubbsy: We're hoping pretty much we can time it. [460.12] Stubbsy: So far, we have successfully timed DJI. [463.08] Stubbsy: Can't see any problem with walks now, basically, because it's the same frequencies. [467.32] Stubbsy: There shouldn't be a problem. [468.76] Stubbsy: But it's all touch wood at the moment. [472.92] Stubbsy: But the testing is going pretty well with it, to be honest. [479.0] Stubbsy: Good to hear. [479.64] Stubbsy: Good to hear. [481.32] Tony: How many pilots go off at once? [484.6] Tony: What was our story, Tom? [485.96] Tony: How many pilots go off at once? [489.16] Stubbsy: At the moment, we're comfortably doing about four to five, to be honest with you. [493.4] Stubbsy: Comfortable flying. [495.08] Stubbsy: We've had a couple of heats at the last event, literally towards the end, [498.84] Stubbsy: where we're having six pilots up. [501.16] Stubbsy: But generally, we're racing about four to five pilots a heat, normally. [505.4] Tony: Oh, cool. [506.76] Tony: I have seen it. [507.56] Tony: I've watched it. [508.36] Tony: It's pretty good and fast. [510.2] Tony: I do like it. [511.0] Tony: I just can't fly wings that fast. [514.76] Stubbsy: That's the same as the rest of us, Tom. [516.28] Stubbsy: Don't worry about it. [517.0] Stubbsy: We won't be doing that. [520.92] Tony: You've got some wings behind you, haven't you, Frank? [524.28] Frank: Oh, yeah. [525.08] Frank: Yeah, that is a note of that shoulder. [527.48] Frank: That is my race wing, recovered and reinforced, ready for this coming season. [533.24] Frank: I push it out for another season. [535.08] Frank: It's a Raven, and it was from like 2017, and I built it last year, I think. [541.08] Frank: So there we go. [541.96] Frank: It's been sitting around for a while. [543.24] Stubbsy: I think that is what I started with the Raven. [546.44] Stubbsy: Yeah, it's good. [547.56] Stubbsy: It's good. [548.68] Jack: I would have loved to have seen your control rods. [554.04] Jack: Before you changed them out, because I am shocked at what you replaced them with. [560.68] Frank: Yeah, because the last event that I flew that out, it ended not in a flying condition, [570.84] Frank: and it was the control rods that just become so fatigued. [574.52] Frank: They just kind of went a bit like wet spaghetti. [580.28] Frank: They weren't really pushing the control surfaces around, [584.04] Frank: so I replaced them with carbon fiber tubes, so it's now pretty solid. [590.92] Stubbsy: Back in the day, obviously, we must have fly a lot of loss. [593.24] Stubbsy: We used to basically do a lot of slope combat with foam wings, [596.6] Stubbsy: and that was a regular one. [597.88] Stubbsy: If you could literally impact them from on top, you were aiming for the control rods. [601.96] Stubbsy: Try to take the control rods off on the slope. [604.84] Stubbsy: Pray and they go down to pick up the wing, because then they were everybody's targets. [608.36] Stubbsy: You'd have them come from in front, beyond. [611.4] Stubbsy: I've actually put an ant, when we used to be on 35 meg, [614.04] Stubbsy: put an antenna up noses. [615.4] Stubbsy: We've had everything going on there. [620.12] Stubbsy: The control rods, yeah. [622.12] Frank: Yeah. [623.4] Frank: But that was after basically a season of racing, and flying in some very high winds. [630.84] Frank: That was a marathon, wasn't it? [633.24] Frank: Yeah, that was some gusty weather. [636.04] Frank: So you don't have to go straight to reinforcing everything. [641.56] Frank: You can do. [643.48] Stubbsy: Most of my race wings are just normal M2 pushrods, [647.8] Stubbsy: and just your cheap, normal, like your rip max control horns and stuff. [653.72] Stubbsy: Just carry a bag of them, and you know you're good then. [657.64] Stubbsy: Because there's nothing more snapping that pushrod, [661.56] Stubbsy: and that lovely carbon control rod ends up in the bush, never to be found again. [666.2] Frank: That is a feature of the wing racing days, [672.92] Frank: is that there's quite a lot of repairing going on. [675.96] Frank: Oh yeah, definitely. [679.56] Frank: Chris G is one of the top racers, and it's not because he's got the shiniest, newest wing. [690.28] Frank: It's because he just flies it so much. [693.88] Frank: It's now like more hot glue than foam. [696.92] Stubbsy: I'm going to be keeping an eye on him this year, [698.6] Stubbsy: because I honestly reckon with his repairs, whichever way the course tends to turn, [703.8] Stubbsy: whether it's left or right, he puts a bit of that into his repairs. [711.0] Stubbsy: Sounds about right. [711.8] Jack: Right, he's a legend. [713.08] Jack: I don't know, I'll have no bad words said about Chris G on the show. [719.0] Tony: Can we have a look at your wing behind you? [722.12] Tony: Is that your race wing? [724.92] Stubbsy: No, no, that's one of my son's fly wings, that is. [727.96] Stubbsy: That's 50 inch. [731.32] Stubbsy: That's why you generally tend to see me fun flying, my little race wing. [735.96] Stubbsy: The spec wing is one of the prototype RC ones. [741.0] Stubbsy: Still working on a camera and everything for it at the moment from Carrick's. [747.32] Stubbsy: That's the spec wing, which is generally what we tend to race. [750.52] Jack: Well, you're a DC shoes, man. [758.78] Jack: DC shoes, you've got wide feet. [763.02] Tony: Have they got stickers on them? [764.38] Jack: I'm not blessed, I'm afraid. [766.62] Tony: I think he's talking about the sticker on your wing behind you. [769.18] Tony: Oh, the stickers, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. [772.78] Jack: You've got a DC shoes one. [774.78] Stubbsy: Right, that one is it? [777.42] Stubbsy: No, not that one, but there, I just like the look of it. [781.5] Stubbsy: Just like the look of it, I probably don't. [783.26] Stubbsy: Walking the front DC shoes, trust me. [787.42] Jack: Not that bad up there, is it? [790.54] Stubbsy: I am wild. [791.66] Stubbsy: As wild as I know, they're being rather tight. [798.3] Jack: I didn't say that, but they didn't have to. [804.78] Tony: I've seen some of your videos stubsy, flying around valleys and stuff. [808.54] Tony: Lovely. [809.58] Stubbsy: Yeah, yeah, I've got to be honest, we lucked in pretty well, [812.3] Stubbsy: falling in the valleys. [813.34] Stubbsy: A lovely bunch of guys, and they pretty much welcomed us, to be honest with you. [818.94] Stubbsy: A couple of them are even having a go at FPV themselves now. [821.82] Stubbsy: So, we've got a couple of old DJI fly wheels and God knows what's going up there. [826.54] Stubbsy: So, they've fallen in pretty well. [830.86] Stubbsy: Nice. [832.06] Frank: Well, I think Caroline was saying earlier as well, [834.94] Frank: the affiliation with the BMFA gets you a bit of an elbow in at club fields. [842.94] Stubbsy: Is it, I'm guessing that's kind of the main reason for doing it? [846.94] Stubbsy: Yeah, it just sounds a lot better than there for approaching clubs and whatnot, [850.78] Stubbsy: saying, oh yeah, we are an affiliated BMFA club, after all. [854.86] Stubbsy: So, obviously, abiding by all the rules and this, that, and the other. [859.02] Stubbsy: But plus as well, obviously, for your liability insurance. [862.38] Stubbsy: Before, obviously, we were covered liability by the pilots. [867.1] Stubbsy: But if anything happened, like the gazebo fell over and hit anybody, [871.74] Stubbsy: that was the case. [875.18] Stubbsy: We're just ticking those boxes, to be honest with you. [877.9] Stubbsy: But I can see why you would want those boxes to be ticked. [881.18] Stubbsy: Oh, that's so nice. [882.14] Tony: Oh, you said it could be exciting to come out in wilds, I have. [886.94] Stubbsy: Especially in Camardan, when we had the thing in 50 mile an hour winds, [890.22] Stubbsy: I think that was the end of it. [891.42] Stubbsy: That was, I think we'd better be looking at this now. [894.54] Stubbsy: After it chipped inside out. [895.82] Tony: This is the sort of thing I would thought you would like, Jack, [901.1] Tony: because you were more into wing flying than me when we've had wings. [905.98] Tony: Have you not thought about having a little racey race with your wings? [910.86] Jack: One word, Camardan cheer. [913.1] Jack: Royal Life Book Hotel. [914.94] Jack: No chance. [916.54] Jack: One McDonald's, one way in, one way out. [920.62] Jack: It's bad that I've done my type in my steak. [923.5] Jack: Classic. [925.18] Jack: I can't go back there. [927.1] Tony: Do you have hot sweats when people say wilds? [930.54] Jack: Yeah, just hearing Stubbsy's Valley accent, I've got hives, mate. [936.38] Jack: I've got hives. [942.94] Frank: Well, on that note, would you be interested to hear that there's the potential of maybe [949.34] Frank: there being an event pop them later this year? [953.5] Frank: Yes. [954.06] Stubbsy: Fingers crossed, fingers crossed. [956.3] Stubbsy: Come on, Chris. [957.9] Stubbsy: We're praying on it. [959.34] Stubbsy: We'd love to get the pop them. [960.86] Tony: That's a bit nearer for us, isn't it? [965.02] Stubbsy: Yeah. [966.22] Stubbsy: That's what we hope. [967.98] Stubbsy: It's all been in deepest dark as Wales. [970.06] Stubbsy: Basically, we want to get over the border. [972.54] Stubbsy: We really want to get over the border. [975.02] Jack: Do you think now that the bridges free both ways, you'd be right over here? [981.5] Stubbsy: You're not wrong. [982.14] Frank: If anyone else knows any clubs or venues or anything like that where we could potentially [992.15] Frank: hold a wing race, then get in touch. [996.15] Stubbsy: We're always looking for new venues, places that would host us. [999.43] Stubbsy: There's club open days, anything like that, to be honest with you. [1003.27] Stubbsy: We've been pretty lucky so far. [1006.23] Stubbsy: We'd like to get a little bit more further afield. [1009.99] Stubbsy: Obviously, we've had a lovely offer off Caroline, which we'd love to take her up on. [1013.75] Stubbsy: The pandas, so hopefully, fingers crossed, that will play on a little bit later on in the year. [1021.11] Stubbsy: And pop them as well, which is hopefully, we're really hoping we can get over there. [1026.15] Stubbsy: If we can get another race back over Birmingham, way over at Fackenham would be nice. [1032.23] Stubbsy: It'd be nice to get out of Wales a little bit. [1035.27] Stubbsy: I should see Brady's in the chat. [1036.63] Stubbsy: Are you Brady? [1041.05] Tony: The Brady he was supposed to be on. [1043.61] Tony: I'm sure it's someone else. [1048.25] Stubbsy: That's my partner in crime. [1050.41] Stubbsy: That is Brady who does all the timing and the other side of WRL. [1057.61] Stubbsy: So thank God he's on because he can take all the technical stuff in the chat. [1062.89] Frank: Caroline says August 31st to the 1st of September, [1066.09] Frank: presumably that's for Panda's event. [1068.57] Frank: Yeah. [1071.53] Stubbsy: So still have yet to put it in the calendar, [1073.29] Stubbsy: which will be going up very shortly, very shortly indeed. [1077.45] Stubbsy: Where abouts is it? [1080.33] Stubbsy: Pontrefact in there. [1081.61] Stubbsy: Pontrefact, which is up north. [1085.61] Stubbsy: That's about two hours past Birmingham. [1089.61] Stubbsy: So come on, Caroline, help me, please. [1094.81] Tony: He's going faster in the chat. [1097.69] Tony: We'll get nosebleeds when we go that far. [1102.65] Stubbsy: Probably. [1104.09] Stubbsy: We'll need to acclimatise here. [1107.61] Stubbsy: Oh, lovely. [1110.41] Tony: I haven't got a formal, but it's 90%. [1114.09] Frank: 90%, yeah. [1115.45] Frank: So yeah, so when all these events do get confirmed, [1120.97] Frank: presumably they'll go on the WRL website. [1124.97] Stubbsy: Yeah, they'll go on the WRL website. [1127.69] Stubbsy: I'm also, as they pop up, putting them on IFPV as well, [1131.77] Stubbsy: obviously with a link then over to the WRL website, [1135.77] Stubbsy: obviously for the pilot sign-up. [1137.45] Stubbsy: So you will see them both on IFPV and on the WRL site, [1141.85] Stubbsy: obviously as well as the Facebook group when they come up like. [1145.85] Stubbsy: So hopefully. [1148.09] Stubbsy: And that is WRL-UK.com. [1152.81] Stubbsy: Indeed it is, yes. [1154.65] Stubbsy: WRL-UK.com. [1159.37] Frank: There we go. [1161.21] Frank: Excellent. [1163.69] Frank: What else? [1165.13] Frank: The other thing, if people want to keep up to date with things, [1168.17] Frank: I guess would be the Discord. [1170.81] Stubbsy: Yes, yeah. [1171.37] Stubbsy: We have a Discord group as well. [1176.49] Frank: How do people find my days? [1180.41] Frank: Pardon? [1181.61] Stubbsy: Is there a link to the Discord somewhere? [1184.65] Stubbsy: There is on our Facebook group, to be honest with you. [1187.77] Stubbsy: It's quite a way back. [1188.89] Stubbsy: There we go. [1191.13] Stubbsy: I can have a little look. [1192.65] Stubbsy: I'm trying, but I'm not very great at this, [1194.81] Stubbsy: but I'll try and pop it in the comments. [1196.89] Stubbsy: Richard Walrick has put a link to the website in the chat. [1201.21] Stubbsy: Yeah, I popped that up. [1205.43] Tony: So you're big racegate. [1212.31] Tony: Was that made? [1213.91] Tony: Did you get that made for the wing racing? [1216.63] Stubbsy: No, luckily, we bought a second hand, to be honest with you. [1219.99] Stubbsy: We bought a second hand. [1222.71] Stubbsy: Always keeping an eye out for racegates. [1225.35] Stubbsy: But we had quite a lucky deal with it, to be honest with them. [1229.83] Stubbsy: What was it for? [1232.31] Stubbsy: It was a marathon gate. [1233.51] Stubbsy: It was a marathon gate. [1235.35] Stubbsy: But both of them are good marathon gates. [1237.35] Tony: Oh, right, yeah. [1239.51] Tony: Quite big then, aren't they? [1241.67] Stubbsy: Yeah, yeah. [1242.63] Stubbsy: The new one, like I said, is roughly around about eight meters. [1245.83] Stubbsy: Eight meters wide by about four meters tall. [1249.35] Stubbsy: Quite a bit bigger than the old one, to be honest with you, [1252.15] Stubbsy: which was the problem we were finding with the old one [1254.79] Stubbsy: was we were very restricted on where we could put it. [1257.75] Stubbsy: Unlike your drone racing, we had to put it facing in the wind, [1261.83] Stubbsy: to be honest with you, [1262.63] Stubbsy: because obviously the winds get blown off course. [1266.95] Stubbsy: If you had anything like a 10 mile an hour crosswind [1269.51] Stubbsy: or anything coming up to the gate with a little one, [1271.27] Stubbsy: it was nigh on near impossible to get through it. [1273.91] Stubbsy: Or hence, the big one now, [1275.19] Stubbsy: it gives us a little bit more leeway on track setup. [1279.99] Stubbsy: So plus, as well, the Yanks were taking the mix [1283.67] Stubbsy: because we couldn't get through the gate. [1284.71] Stubbsy: So we were like, yeah, well, it is like a third the size of yours. [1288.47] Stubbsy: Which didn't work very much. [1290.39] Stubbsy: It's like, oh, you should really get through it. [1291.99] Stubbsy: You're like, okay, then we'll have one the same size as you lot. [1300.07] Frank: The other feature of the WRL tracks is your LED strings. [1305.99] Stubbsy: Yes, quite a collection of LEDs. [1311.19] Stubbsy: Now, to be honest with you, [1312.39] Stubbsy: we've got about 150 meters of ground LEDs for the main runway. [1318.79] Stubbsy: And then we've got quite a few LED flags [1321.67] Stubbsy: and literally light it all up at night then [1323.91] Stubbsy: after the races for a bit of a fun flight. [1326.63] Stubbsy: Which seems to go down very well. [1329.03] Stubbsy: Okay, a few LED wings. [1331.83] Stubbsy: I'm seeing in the group being made up ready for this year. [1334.31] Stubbsy: So thankfully, you won't just be one or two of us running around. [1340.47] Tony: What about an actual just wing race at night? [1346.07] Stubbsy: We're hoping, to be honest with you, [1347.83] Stubbsy: we're hoping if enough people turn up with LED wings and everything. [1351.11] Stubbsy: Yes, that is something I would love to get a wing race on at night. [1354.55] Stubbsy: That would look really cool. [1356.79] Stubbsy: Yeah, it would look really good to be true. [1360.39] Stubbsy: Is there any way I could? [1362.39] Stubbsy: I got a little bit of night footage here, Frank. [1364.23] Stubbsy: Is there any way I could put it on? [1367.03] Frank: Yeah, there's a little present button in the bottom of the call window. [1372.31] Frank: I think it's in the same place for you as it is for us. [1374.95] Frank: Oh, okay. [1375.67] Frank: Let me have a little look. [1380.38] Frank: Brady says he's got some new lighting coming to events this year too. [1385.02] Frank: Lights being tied to the timer for timer controlled scenes. [1388.94] Stubbsy: Yeah, Brady has been mad at it, to be honest with you. [1392.86] Stubbsy: He I know he's got quite a few tricks up his sleeve for this year. [1396.94] Jack: Yeah, so if you do share footage, [1399.82] Jack: please commentate and talk us through it for the audio listeners. [1404.14] Stubbsy: Yes, no problem. [1405.58] Stubbsy: Of course. [1406.06] Jack: Okay, ready? [1409.82] Stubbsy: We've got the promo Brady made for our first race in Bali. [1417.83] Stubbsy: Calling recently the dates and information on it. [1422.39] Stubbsy: A few pictures. [1424.87] Stubbsy: Here's our new big gig. [1426.39] Stubbsy: That is a big guy, isn't it? [1427.75] Stubbsy: That's cool. [1428.31] Stubbsy: Yeah. [1430.23] Stubbsy: And there we go. [1431.11] Stubbsy: That's the first one. [1432.71] Stubbsy: Nice. [1434.63] Tony: Have you got any pictures of that guy? [1437.43] Stubbsy: Pardon? [1438.23] Tony: Have you got any pictures of the guy? [1441.27] Stubbsy: Yes, I have. [1445.67] Tony: That looked really cool. [1447.67] Stubbsy: Let me see. [1448.87] Jack: That was quite impressive. [1450.95] Tony: Oh, I thought she really said. [1452.71] Jack: Oh no. [1455.5] Jack: How are you doing? [1456.06] Frank: I'm looking through my photos now to see if I can find a picture of a gate with like a human for scale. [1464.62] Stubbsy: There's another video file with I think a certain high wind glider going through it. [1470.22] Stubbsy: All lit up at night. [1471.9] Stubbsy: Now I'm just trying to find a way of sharing photos at the moment. [1476.78] Stubbsy: Be careful. [1487.69] Tony: More you're looking for that. [1489.21] Tony: What are you preparing to race there, Frank? [1491.45] Tony: Just one. [1492.25] Tony: One. [1493.93] Tony: One. [1494.41] Tony: Just got my wing. [1496.17] Tony: That was hard to say. [1498.65] Frank: Yeah, I've just got my one wing built. [1501.29] Frank: Yeah. [1502.51] Frank: I should probably get some new batteries because I've been [1505.63] Frank: finding that my batteries are a bit worse for wear. [1509.55] Frank: So that should be on my list before May, definitely. [1513.79] Tony: Yeah, what sort of size are you going to fly? [1517.79] Frank: I have to do. [1521.84] Frank: It's always two minutes, three minutes, I can't remember. [1526.32] Frank: There's a time limit and you're trying to get as many laps in that time limit as you can. [1531.36] Frank: I've been flying [1535.6] Frank: poor S1500s because that's what I've had and that has done me really well. [1543.04] Frank: They've been coming down like the level I would want them to after a race, [1548.48] Frank: but that's with me being fairly conservative when I'm flying. [1553.44] Frank: So if you're really pushing it, I imagine you need a bit more than that. [1558.24] Stubbsy: Yeah. [1559.7] Stubbsy: Yeah, generally, it is about three minutes. [1562.42] Stubbsy: About three minutes. [1563.46] Stubbsy: I fly with 1500 4-sales. [1566.58] Stubbsy: That's generally 1500 to 1800 4-sales normally. [1570.34] Stubbsy: So it's pretty easy to get into wing racing from quadracing, isn't it? [1573.7] Tony: All quadracing. [1574.74] Tony: Absolutely. [1575.22] Tony: It's all batteries just by a wing. [1579.14] Stubbsy: We all pretty much are all 4-sales drone racing packs, to be honest with you. [1583.86] Stubbsy: Yeah. [1585.86] Frank: My wing uses a motor and an ESC and a receiver and FPV system that I pulled out of a quad. [1594.18] Frank: So it's just a couple of servos and the foam and everything else was just what I had from a quad anyway. [1604.26] Frank: This episode was recorded in front of a live online audience, downloaded and edited to make sense when [1609.46] Frank: it played audio only, censored to please the iTunes people, hosted on the internet, [1613.86] Frank: forwarded through to your podcast provider, downloaded, playing on your device, and is [1617.86] Frank: now playing in your ears. All thanks to our Patreons. [1621.46] Frank: Consider joining them and you'll also get other online benefits. [1624.9] Frank: Find out more at patreon.com forward slash let's drone out. [1629.7] Frank: Hey, we're Brady with us. [1632.5] Brady: Yeah, hi guys. [1633.54] Brady: Hello. [1635.0] Brady: Happy New Year. [1636.92] Brady: Hopefully it's working, but I'm on 4G in the unit, so hopefully it works fine. [1643.4] Frank: It's looking good. [1644.12] Frank: Absolutely. Coming in loud and clear. [1646.2] Frank: So you were saying you've been spending the winter building out even more stuff. [1653.56] Brady: Yeah, it never stops. It's me. [1656.52] Brady: I can throw more technology at it, I will. [1658.92] Brady: So yeah, I've been playing around because we use Rotohazard now for the timer. [1666.2] Brady: I'm in the middle of building a second one as a backup slash play around with maybe doing [1674.68] Brady: split laps and jokers and stuff like that if we need to. [1678.36] Brady: But yeah, I've been working alongside one of the guys that's doing some dev work, [1683.24] Brady: Jesse from Dutch Drone Racing. [1686.44] Brady: He's got a couple of plugins that he's been developing. [1689.4] Brady: One of them is FPV scores, so it's kind of like a lifetime equivalent website for Rotohazard. [1696.52] Brady: Really cool, so integrated that so all of our results can get pushed up to that live. [1701.8] Brady: And then also there's like a back end plugin that ties in with DMX controls for lighting. [1709.88] Brady: Kind of lighting and doing crazy stuff. So if it's beeping, [1713.24] Brady: ready staging for races, then it can do red lights and all that kind of stuff. [1718.12] Brady: And then flash screens and move all the lights around and do all fancy stuff. [1722.92] Brady: So have a bit of play with that. [1726.04] Frank: So it's going to be even fancier for the people there in person, [1729.96] Frank: because you've spent a lot of effort into the streaming last year, didn't you? [1736.12] Brady: Yeah, and that's kind of still growing legs and arms. [1742.84] Brady: That rack's getting heavier as I live now. [1745.64] Brady: So I've just been putting more, because I feel it's great for in person, [1751.24] Brady: but also on the stream and then night flying as well. [1754.36] Brady: So we can do some cool stuff at night. [1757.8] Brady: For people that are in the show at the event, [1761.0] Brady: and I've now kind of got a cool feature so they can just use their phone or tablet, [1765.56] Brady: whatever they've got with them to actually watch the stream live without needing to that as well. [1769.64] Brady: Obviously, some insights were out. [1771.72] Brady: Getting into that connection is a bit of a pain. [1775.0] Brady: So people want to watch the stream, which obviously means they can get the feeds, [1779.0] Brady: then not able to see them from a TV or whatever. [1782.44] Brady: But there is also a nice big 120 inch projector screen now. [1788.76] Tony: You can probably project that onto the gate, can't you? [1794.92] Brady: Quite likely. [1796.12] Brady: I think it'll probably just fit under the old gate. [1799.16] Brady: So we can kind of put the projector screen up, put the old gate up around it. [1804.44] Brady: But yeah, so got that as well. [1806.04] Brady: So at the event is going to be really cool, as well as obviously watching it on the stream as well. [1812.84] Brady: But yeah, just kind of trying to make it a bit more lively, but more eventful. [1816.36] Tony: Have you thought about doing some kind of different laps where [1823.8] Tony: every time you fly, say if you're doing six laps, but you've got to do a joker lap, [1829.56] Tony: where one of it's a bit longer and harder to fly? [1833.64] Brady: I think it has been talked about, hasn't it, Matt? [1836.6] Stubbsy: We were talking about using the smaller gate room for a joker lap. [1841.8] Stubbsy: If you were brave, you're going to have to have a go at it. [1844.52] Stubbsy: We have actually had a little chat, maybe on some bigger sites, definitely, definitely. [1851.32] Tony: Bring some more crashes in and stuff like that. [1855.32] Tony: Do we need any more crashes? [1857.8] Brady: I don't think we need any more crashes. [1859.88] Brady: We're lucky if we get people making it through an event. [1863.64] Brady: That big gate definitely does help, as Matt was saying. [1866.52] Brady: The smaller gate was getting a bit of a challenge, especially kind of, [1869.24] Brady: I think for newcomers or new people to win racing, it was kind of a challenge. [1873.56] Brady: But the big gate gives a lot more opportunity now. [1877.8] Frank: Especially with the British weather, I feel like having a nice big gate is helpful. [1886.68] Stubbsy: I'm trying to start finding some stuff with a big gate in it, [1889.0] Stubbsy: but I think all my files I've got are oversized. [1892.12] Stubbsy: I can't hear them. [1895.4] Frank: Hopefully, though, Chris Gee will come through with an event at Poppam, [1902.12] Frank: and we'll be able to use a lot of space there and really play around with some of the track layouts. [1911.24] Frank: As Clive was pointing out earlier, hopefully, we'll also maybe get some [1916.28] Frank: X-Class along at the same time, perhaps? [1920.28] Frank: We would love to. [1921.32] Frank: Stop that you've been itching to get yours. [1924.12] Stubbsy: Yeah, I've been built now for over a year and I'm literally itching to have a fly in it. [1929.96] Stubbsy: It's only popping around valleys, flipping over a couple of trees. [1935.8] Stubbsy: I'm itching to try and get it in a race and smash it up, to be honest with you. [1942.12] Stubbsy: That won't be difficult. [1944.44] Stubbsy: It's already been smashed up twice. [1950.04] Tony: Yeah, that'd be cool. [1950.84] Tony: Is yours race ready, Tony? [1952.84] Tony: One of them definitely is, but it's been on my wall for probably a year and a half. [1960.28] Tony: When was the last time I flew that? [1961.72] Jack: Is it the Cappy 1? [1966.52] Jack: Your wing. [1967.88] Jack: Oh, are you talking about your X-Class? [1969.4] Tony: X-Class, what are you talking about? [1971.56] Tony: I don't know if I've still got, I think I've got a Cappy 1 somewhere in the loft. [1976.6] Tony: Well, I could turn up and try flying it, but yeah, no, one of my X-Class is definitely ready. [1981.0] Tony: The other one, that one over that shoulder. [1985.48] Tony: Yeah, not ready yet. [1986.92] Tony: But yeah, I could take that one off my wall and probably race it. [1993.72] Tony: And I've got some new batteries for it. [1995.72] Tony: And I've only used them a couple of times and so much faster with not having three-year-old batteries. [2004.68] Stubbsy: We'd love to have the X-Class along, to be honest with you. [2007.32] Stubbsy: It's just literally without busy, the events normally are throughout the year. [2011.64] Stubbsy: Every time we seem to hold one, there's another event on somewhere. [2017.4] Stubbsy: Literally, obviously, with the drone racing and everything, [2021.48] Stubbsy: everybody wants to get the points luck. [2022.92] Stubbsy: So it just hasn't come off yet. [2026.36] Stubbsy: That's literally all it is. [2028.2] Tony: All right, we'll be all right getting through them gates. [2030.12] Tony: So you're not worried about anyone smashing into the gates with the X-Class? [2034.52] Stubbsy: Well, with the X-Class, I don't think we'd use them for the X-Class. [2038.12] Stubbsy: No, I can go for a five-year-old. [2040.6] Stubbsy: You can use that one. [2041.48] Brady: I don't know why, but you can use that one. [2044.84] Brady: My last one round. [2048.2] Stubbsy: Nice. [2048.68] Stubbsy: You've got the edge there. [2049.88] Stubbsy: Vally, obviously, you can see the old gate there, the size of that. [2053.16] Tony: Is that the old one? [2054.04] Tony: That's the old one, yeah. [2055.72] Tony: That's pretty big, isn't it? [2057.32] Tony: Yeah. [2057.72] Stubbsy: That's a small one, yeah. [2061.64] Brady: I've managed to find a couple of photos from the Facebook group of the big one of me, [2065.8] Brady: stood underneath it. [2067.16] Brady: To put it into perspective, I can fit my high-top three and a half ton transit [2073.32] Brady: underneath the big gate. [2074.52] Stubbsy: Oh, wow. [2075.56] Stubbsy: We've got a big deal. [2076.6] Stubbsy: No problem. [2077.24] Brady: Yeah, drives on straight through it. [2081.2] Tony: All right, we'll get the X-Class through there. [2084.16] Brady: And I'd probably say it's one and a half between fans width as well. [2088.48] Brady: So if you can't fit through that, he says, because he's also crashed into that gate. [2095.36] Brady: It was the wind. [2097.36] Brady: Yeah, yeah. [2098.16] Frank: Yeah. [2098.8] Frank: Yeah. [2099.44] Frank: Always my excuse. [2101.2] Tony: God damn wind. [2102.0] Tony: The ground was too high. [2103.6] Stubbsy: The sky was too low. [2106.16] Stubbsy: We just want to walk snow in DJI so I can see the gate. [2109.92] Stubbsy: That's literally all it is around the log. [2111.6] Stubbsy: It's like, oh, look, there's a pixel. [2113.36] Stubbsy: There was a gate top of it. [2115.44] Tony: I've seen Chris G's video footage of how he can fly through that. [2120.48] Stubbsy: He can fly through anything though, can't he? [2122.08] Stubbsy: Let's be honest. [2124.0] Jack: I think he flies with a sense of smell. [2128.48] Jack: He must be. [2129.12] Stubbsy: He was actually in the sun fly. [2131.2] Stubbsy: In the sun fly, we were watching him fly in his aqua walk, inverted, [2135.12] Stubbsy: two foot off the floor, coming through the gate, peering through it. [2138.48] Stubbsy: So I don't think he's got any problems getting through them. [2142.88] Tony: Brilliant. [2144.72] Tony: He needs the Joker lap. [2146.16] Tony: That's what they need. [2147.04] Tony: Yeah, he does, yeah. [2148.64] Tony: He needs the Joker lap. [2151.44] Jack: He only has to do it in words. [2153.12] Jack: Yeah. [2153.84] Stubbsy: Yeah. [2154.64] Stubbsy: I think the Joker lap has to involve some spinning bleeds or fire or something. [2160.48] Brady: So a couple of next classes. [2161.76] Brady: Yeah, I don't know if you've mentioned it already, Matt, [2168.8] Brady: but we're looking at bringing walks now in board as well, all on board. [2175.2] Stubbsy: Yeah, that was why I was rather hoping you were going to come on Brady to talk [2178.8] Stubbsy: about walks now and DJI, which we are hoping to bring it in definitely. [2183.04] Brady: Yeah, DJI is already kind of in there. [2187.04] Brady: We're quite confident with it. [2188.64] Brady: So just kind of have to disable your temp control. [2192.4] Brady: So it kind of sets your power more of a static power rating and dynamics. [2198.88] Brady: But walks now I'm confident with, but not tested it fully yet. [2203.28] Brady: But from what people have been chatting to, from what I've been researching, [2209.12] Brady: pretty confident with it. [2210.0] Brady: I've got the stream side of it sorted. [2213.04] Brady: So a single pilot at the moment. [2216.48] Stubbsy: It also helps with us basically with the heats with everybody staying in their own heats, [2221.28] Stubbsy: obviously counting the laps that you haven't got to worry about with basic, [2226.48] Stubbsy: what do you call it, finals at the end with mixing pilots and everything. [2230.08] Stubbsy: So if there is a problem, we can just literally pop all the walks near all the DJI and eat together. [2236.08] Stubbsy: And we haven't got to worry at this. [2238.72] Stubbsy: It's different to obviously the BDRA and the drone race in the way, [2242.72] Stubbsy: the way they've said everything up look. [2244.8] Stubbsy: So it's a little bit easier, easier to incorporate everything. [2249.36] Frank: Yeah. [2249.92] Frank: Keep it simple, right? [2251.04] Stubbsy: Yeah, we like simple. [2253.92] Brady: Like box of magic does my four DJ pilots at once. [2259.84] Brady: So they just plug in with USB cables. [2264.24] Brady: So stream the four pilots at once. [2267.28] Brady: Timing is not a problem with that as well. [2269.84] Brady: And it'll be kind of a similar thing for walks now as well. [2274.16] Brady: So yeah, moving forward and getting a lot on the go. [2279.68] Brady: Sometimes you come back to this in my workshop and sometimes you come back and [2282.8] Brady: like, right, what was I working on last time? [2285.52] Brady: And I've forgotten what I was up to with everything. [2289.36] Frank: I'm always impressed with how much you managed to fit in your vehicle. [2293.68] Brady: That's why I've got a van now. [2296.8] Brady: But even then, it still ran back last time. [2299.36] Brady: So I'm hoping to put a bed in there for now for this year. [2305.44] Brady: I was having a van that I could actually sleep in as well, [2307.52] Brady: but whether I'll fit it in on top of everything. [2310.48] Brady: There's another story. [2311.92] Brady: We'll see. [2312.96] Tony: I want to see Jack race. [2314.72] Tony: Jack, I want to see if the pop them goes ahead. [2318.4] Tony: I want to see you break out on your wings. [2323.52] Jack: I'm not going to wings anymore. [2325.04] Jack: Thanks. [2326.64] Frank: But they're here, no? [2328.64] Frank: Where are they? [2329.2] Frank: They're almost out of shot. [2332.24] Frank: There's somewhere down here. [2333.28] Frank: Well, there's a lot of Jack's wings. [2336.56] Jack: Yeah, they're massively. [2337.76] Frank: I can just bring them. [2339.04] Jack: Yeah, but I updated them like during the first lockdown. [2346.48] Jack: So they could be. [2348.08] Jack: Perfect. [2348.72] Frank: You'll have no excuse to update them again immediately before the event. [2355.28] Frank: You'll just have to fly them as they are. [2357.44] Jack: I don't know if they will even fly because it's probably [2361.36] Jack: lost their bound binding and everything. [2363.2] Frank: It's all that. [2365.84] Jack: Yes. [2367.04] Brady: Also, there is excuses. [2368.8] Brady: What solution? [2370.16] Brady: All right. [2370.64] Stubbsy: The solution's not popping, is it? [2376.64] Stubbsy: Fingers crossed we were able to get in and pop them, [2379.52] Stubbsy: to be honest with you. [2380.72] Stubbsy: Fingers crossed on it. [2382.48] Stubbsy: So it sounded interesting, didn't it, to be honest? [2386.32] Stubbsy: Definitely. [2390.96] Brady: I'm also working on something around the Midlands as well, [2395.2] Brady: Atherstone area. [2398.08] Brady: So yeah, hopefully see where that comes off as well. [2402.32] Brady: It's a nice big venue. [2404.0] Brady: But I think if that comes off, the track might be over there, [2408.32] Brady: quad biking area. [2409.36] Brady: So it doesn't matter if we crash into the ground. [2413.12] Brady: It should give us some different heights as well, [2415.2] Brady: because they've got different parts of the area. [2417.68] Brady: So it could be cool. [2421.04] Brady: And they've got an in-house toilet. [2424.08] Brady: It's always handy. [2427.68] Tony: Do you guys do the same track every time, or do you change it up? [2434.72] Stubbsy: No, we could change it up as much as possible, to be honest with you. [2439.76] Stubbsy: It all depends on the venue, really, what we can comfortably fit in there, normally. [2445.2] Stubbsy: We try and get like a second and we had a nice in-woman gate, didn't we? [2449.84] Stubbsy: A few chicanes, quite a bit going on at that one. [2453.68] Stubbsy: Farley, last time we had a little bit of a chicane. [2457.12] Stubbsy: This one now, we're hoping this one to get an in-woman in, [2459.68] Stubbsy: lose the chicane and have a high and low line, to be honest with you. [2463.84] Stubbsy: But it all depends. [2465.12] Stubbsy: All depends on what we can fit in at the time. [2467.92] Stubbsy: And obviously, with us, it does depend a lot on the wind direction. [2473.28] Tony: Oh, of course, yeah. [2474.72] Tony: So do you turn up at an event and go, right, this is how we're going to do it. [2480.16] Tony: This is the track. [2481.28] Tony: Or do you plan ahead and then let people know? [2484.72] Stubbsy: Well, a lot of the ones we've had, I've tried to plan ahead, [2488.88] Stubbsy: but then you can never tell on the day with the wind direction. [2492.96] Stubbsy: Like I said, with the smaller gate, that always had to be faced into wind, [2496.56] Stubbsy: plus as well with in moments. [2497.92] Stubbsy: If you're pulling vertical, obviously you want to do that into wind. [2501.2] Stubbsy: You don't want to be belting downwind, pulling vertical and stalling. [2505.36] Stubbsy: So to a certain extent, a lot of it, we can kind of plan 70% of the course, [2512.88] Stubbsy: but the day does really depend upon the wind direction for the weekend. [2518.56] Brady: So this is Valleys from last year. [2522.4] Stubbsy: Yeah. [2523.12] Brady: So Nick Price's video. [2527.28] Stubbsy: Yeah. [2531.52] Stubbsy: So he starts off showing the fun flight. [2534.64] Stubbsy: Obviously he's flying his five-inch around, doing a little bit of the track. [2541.2] Stubbsy: I know he's got some nice takeoffs following John Pickles around and bits and pieces, [2546.16] Stubbsy: and then he goes into actually flying the track, if I remember rightly, on this one. [2550.48] Brady: Yeah, it was a good one. [2553.36] Brady: And obviously we had quite a bit of room, really, as well, [2556.32] Brady: because we ducked out over the back and ran over the trees in the background again. [2561.28] Stubbsy: This year, obviously, like I said, it depends a lot upon the wind direction, [2565.28] Stubbsy: but we're hoping to have the start finish gate in the same position. [2569.2] Stubbsy: You'll be flying high along the tree line, then back to an in moment, [2573.28] Stubbsy: and then back out over. [2574.72] Stubbsy: So there'll be a little bit more to the course this year. [2578.08] Stubbsy: But obviously, we've got to wait to see the wind direction and everything on the deck. [2582.32] Tony: So it looks like the wind does take a... [2586.8] Brady: It does shift you around, and obviously you've got your own control either, [2589.92] Brady: so you've literally just got your left and right to control your direction, [2595.76] Brady: so it does require a bit of skill. [2601.04] Stubbsy: Yeah, that's the only thing, really. [2603.12] Stubbsy: You haven't got that level of your control to spin you on the spot [2606.24] Stubbsy: and get you back into the back. [2607.6] Stubbsy: Everything is flying out the turn to come back into your lines. [2611.84] Stubbsy: There is a lot of wind line charges with it. [2614.24] Brady: Yeah, which kind of negates the... [2617.12] Brady: Well, it doesn't negate. [2618.08] Brady: That kind of requires the extra space, then, as well, [2620.48] Brady: compared to a quad racing track, because you can't just do quick spins. [2626.32] Brady: I mean, you can do relatively quick, but... [2629.44] Stubbsy: You need about two and a half times what a quad racing track would be [2634.56] Stubbsy: for us to basically start with, to be honest with you. [2637.84] Stubbsy: Anyway, beyond then, the bigger we can get, obviously, [2640.24] Stubbsy: the more obstacles we can put in, the more we can do, [2642.96] Stubbsy: and the more spectacular we can have the course. [2645.68] Stubbsy: But this one, obviously, last year, [2648.48] Stubbsy: we only really had a week to kind of come up with a course for this one, [2652.24] Stubbsy: so it was a little bit basic. [2653.84] Stubbsy: But then again, the spectators loved it, [2657.6] Stubbsy: because everything was right in front of them, [2659.84] Stubbsy: which was another thing the guys, when they were watching it... [2663.28] Brady: Yeah, it was quite a good layout for the site. [2666.24] Brady: Lots of spectator areas, so yeah. [2670.4] Brady: And quite a lot of them had never seen it before, either, so... [2674.48] Tony: So you've got the person flying. [2676.56] Tony: Have you got a spotter? [2678.24] Tony: Is the spotter like the one who's next round? [2681.04] Tony: Do you have spotters? [2682.24] Stubbsy: Yes, what we normally do... [2685.36] Stubbsy: Yeah, the guys in the next round spot and launch the guys before, look. [2690.24] Tony: Okay, so someone can say, [2692.08] Tony: oh, he's missed a gate, or he missed a turn, or whatever. [2696.32] Stubbsy: Yeah. [2696.8] Stubbsy: That's the one thing, as well, is literally, [2700.96] Stubbsy: with how visible the wings are, [2702.88] Stubbsy: the spotters haven't necessarily got to be in goggles. [2705.28] Stubbsy: You can actually see a lot better line of sight, [2707.6] Stubbsy: to be honest with you. [2709.28] Stubbsy: Obviously, the bigger course is going to be in goggles, [2711.68] Stubbsy: but that one was pretty easy to spot. [2715.68] Brady: Yeah, it's, like you say, [2717.92] Brady: kind of your next heat all round [2721.44] Brady: will have the spotters for the current one. [2724.48] Brady: So everyone's there and ready, hopefully, [2726.88] Brady: or they're never there and ready. [2730.56] Brady: There's always one that we're waiting on. [2733.2] Brady: Yeah, and then there's a sticker TV off, as well. [2737.12] Brady: So if anyone's struggling with goggles spotting, [2739.28] Brady: then they can watch in the TV, as well, see the feeds on that. [2745.12] Brady: And yeah, I've got a whiteboard, [2746.48] Brady: so if people need to come over and just note down [2750.08] Brady: any adjustments that need to be made, [2751.36] Brady: then I've got 10 people descending on me at the same time. [2754.96] Brady: Slap on the whiteboard, and I'll adjust the heats and that. [2757.84] Brady: But it's really good for being able to kind of retrospectively [2762.8] Brady: go back and adjust heat and pick any of that weren't missed [2767.44] Brady: or drop any off that were. [2770.96] Brady: Shouldn't be there. [2772.24] Tony: OK, and they all launched off of bungees, [2775.52] Tony: or how do you start the race? [2778.48] Tony: Can you launch and fly around and wait and then go? [2782.08] Tony: Or was it all like one, two, three, go, and then? [2785.76] Tony: You rang them. [2786.48] Brady: So yeah, a lot of people just literally [2790.0] Brady: grab one side and chuck it. [2793.84] Brady: They're nice and light, but they go quite easy. [2795.36] Brady: A few people prefer to have lawn trumps, [2799.6] Brady: lawn trumps, so just a set of, basically, PVC tubing. [2805.52] Brady: So I've been like a bit of a frame, [2806.8] Brady: and they can just go straight off the map. [2810.16] Brady: Generally, because obviously with quad racing, [2812.48] Brady: you wait here, you go, and then everyone goes. [2814.72] Brady: But with the wings, generally get everybody up [2818.96] Brady: and then give them a bit of a countdown. [2820.64] Brady: So once they're up and kind of ready, [2824.56] Brady: they're not getting a countdown and straight into the race. [2827.76] Tony: I don't know. [2828.4] Tony: Because I think I had launched something [2831.04] Tony: that pop up before and threw their wing into the ground [2833.84] Tony: a couple of times. [2834.72] Tony: I was like, I'm not doing anything. [2838.56] Tony: Sorry. [2841.36] Stubbsy: Yeah, we've been checking ramps. [2843.44] Stubbsy: Suddenly, a few of the boys have been launching off ramps. [2847.68] Stubbsy: A few of us prefer to hand launch them, [2849.6] Stubbsy: so it all depends, really. [2851.6] Stubbsy: Depends upon the pilot. [2853.04] Tony: Yeah, I wouldn't be able to launch mine, [2857.68] Tony: sit down, get me... [2858.64] Tony: Oh, no, I can't do that. [2862.0] Tony: A bit too much. [2863.28] Tony: Yeah, I'll definitely have one of them. [2864.88] Tony: Princess. [2866.32] Tony: Sit down and then just press a button and it launches it. [2870.4] Tony: That's what I'll do. [2871.04] Jack: You can't get those elastic things, can't you? [2873.76] Frank: Yeah, that's exactly what I'd actually use, one of them. [2878.56] Frank: Caroline was asking if you've had a track [2880.96] Frank: with a crossing in the middle, [2882.72] Frank: so a figure eight. [2884.0] Tony: Oh, spicy, spicy. [2889.04] Stubbsy: Not yet, but I don't see why we couldn't have a high [2891.04] Stubbsy: and low line crossing, definitely. [2893.68] Stubbsy: I've been saying it all. [2896.24] Brady: I know we have talked about it. [2898.72] Stubbsy: Oh, yeah, yeah. [2900.56] Brady: And I know that I said at the time, [2902.0] Brady: I'll stick loads of cameras at that point as well. [2907.52] Brady: A few bin bags underneath. [2910.56] Tony: Well, I suppose you only need one. [2913.28] Tony: Well, I can't say it fast, [2914.88] Tony: so I slowly tell you one wing [2917.84] Tony: because you can just glue them all back together [2920.48] Tony: and keep flying, you know, and you need one. [2922.08] Tony: Like, you know, when drone racers take about five [2924.88] Tony: of the same quads, you can just take one wing [2928.24] Tony: and then glue it all back together, I suppose. [2930.4] Tony: We told me crash. [2931.36] Brady: Yeah, I think people tend to take a few [2933.36] Brady: just because they've got the spares there, [2934.96] Brady: but the glue gun is always at the event [2938.24] Brady: and it's always on. [2939.36] Tony: It's always ready. [2941.52] Brady: I have like a box of 120 glue sticks, the big ones. [2946.72] Brady: Yeah, there's always a queue for the glue. [2951.6] Brady: Probably enough, [2952.08] Brady: Christian is quite quick on the glue as well. [2956.96] Brady: He can normally turn this around pretty quickly. [2960.88] Brady: But yeah, I think generally it's kind of, [2964.0] Brady: you know, people might get motor mounts breaking off [2966.08] Brady: or just splits down sort of one side. [2969.76] Brady: So they're quick and easy to repair. [2972.64] Brady: There's a winglet, that's easily done. [2975.28] Brady: Yeah, winglets are very common for going. [2979.97] Stubbsy: Sounds good. [2982.77] Brady: Chopping up your back end as they fly straight through you. [2990.53] Brady: I definitely have that a few times. [2992.93] Frank: You've also got your sideline in wings themselves, right? [2998.29] Frank: How's crash kits going these days? [3003.2] Brady: I'm not really set up right now. [3009.04] Brady: Yeah, it was a hell of a year last year. [3012.88] Brady: We had to move several times [3014.72] Brady: and we finally found this workshop [3018.0] Brady: and then been kind of setting it all up. [3019.68] Brady: And it was just a blank room. [3021.6] Brady: So I've had to do my own work tops [3024.4] Brady: and shelving and racking and all that, [3027.52] Brady: plus the kids and everything. [3028.4] Brady: So it's just been back burner really. [3030.56] Brady: But I've got the cutter, my 2% set up. [3034.64] Brady: So fingers crossed, the next sort of, [3037.36] Brady: I was hoping something was done by now, [3039.2] Brady: but yeah, life's just dropping up in the way [3042.8] Brady: and apparently you need to power in children as well. [3044.96] Brady: And apparently you won't work, pay you money. [3048.16] Brady: I know, right? [3050.56] Brady: So yeah, I've gone back to a few more days in the office now. [3053.68] Brady: So my work from home is reduced slightly. [3057.76] Frank: So, because that's crash kits with two Ks. [3063.76] Frank: Yes. [3064.8] Frank: K for crash and K for kits. [3067.2] Frank: Stubbsy was earlier showing off his prototype RC wing [3071.28] Frank: because for a while we were bereft of wing cutting in the UK, right? [3076.96] Frank: Because both crash kits, which you and John Pickles with prototype RC, [3082.64] Frank: both were being moved. [3084.0] Frank: And so both cutters were out of action. [3086.48] Frank: But I don't know if John's back up and running yet or not, do you know? [3091.2] Brady: I think he's due back up soon, but not quite yet. [3095.28] Brady: I think he's in a similar situation to me. [3099.84] Brady: So yeah, I need to go and do another foam collection [3105.04] Brady: from the supply of grab a load of foam blocks [3108.08] Brady: and then start getting some wings cut. [3111.76] Brady: I know I've got quite a few of the bigger ones on order. [3115.36] Brady: People after them. [3116.32] Brady: So I know Matt loves flying his. [3121.17] Brady: But yeah, I mean, getting all the specs in the UK can be a bit of a pain. [3124.05] Brady: So that's pretty much where the idea came from, really, [3128.53] Brady: just to make it easy to get hold of. [3131.57] Frank: Yeah, definitely. [3132.69] Frank: It's nice to know that it can be done and you can get them. [3137.33] Frank: Yeah. [3138.37] Frank: Yeah. [3139.41] Frank: I can see Stubbsy's shared a link for a video. [3142.45] Frank: I can't see if we can play it out. [3145.01] Stubbsy: Yeah. [3145.49] Stubbsy: This was one from two years ago at Secondham, [3152.1] Stubbsy: which was one of our larger courses. [3153.78] Stubbsy: It is one of the ramps, the bodies they use, [3156.66] Stubbsy: obviously with a smaller gate again. [3160.26] Frank: We'll see Serb around, directing, [3165.06] Frank: race directing this one while I look at it. [3166.58] Frank: Yeah. [3166.82] Frank: We had Serb into this one. [3173.08] Stubbsy: Going down now into the Immelmann gate. [3176.04] Stubbsy: We'd go up over the top and we had quite a few slalons [3179.16] Stubbsy: and bits and pieces and quite a bigger course this one was. [3182.28] Stubbsy: Yeah, it's quite big, isn't it? [3185.0] Stubbsy: I reckon Andy, I'll see you be good at this. [3188.76] Stubbsy: Yeah. [3189.56] Stubbsy: We'd love to get on behalf of you there, to be honest with you. [3192.6] Stubbsy: That'd be great. [3194.12] Frank: What do you reckon, Andy? [3195.24] Frank: I know he's been watching. [3196.6] Tony: He's been coming to the chat, I think. [3199.64] Tony: That looks good fun. [3202.68] Tony: I might even try it. [3204.92] Tony: Did I say that? [3205.72] Tony: No. [3208.2] Frank: You heard it here first, folks. [3210.04] Frank: 10 star announcers. [3214.04] Frank: To go wing racing. [3215.48] Frank: Get it done. [3218.44] Tony: Andy says sign me up. [3221.08] Stubbsy: Yeah, I reckon he'd be good. [3225.16] Stubbsy: Yeah, definitely, definitely. [3227.4] Brady: And I think one of the things that we do get quite a bit of feedback about [3231.32] Brady: with the events is that a lot of people feel more relaxed [3235.48] Brady: than what they're used to in quad racing as well. [3239.4] Brady: It's not so intense. [3240.52] Brady: There's a bit more of a fun side to it. [3245.16] Brady: And that's what we're after. [3247.32] Brady: It's not all serious and doom and gloom if you don't quite make it. [3252.28] Brady: It is more just have a laugh, have a good weekend, get out, do a bit of camping, [3256.2] Brady: have some drinks, alcoholic or not. [3260.2] Brady: So, normally, someone's got a barbecue on the go somewhere. [3264.6] Brady: And it's just kind of that. [3266.52] Brady: I think it's family friendly as well. [3268.44] Brady: We think, you know, there are quite a lot of people that will turn up [3271.08] Brady: spectating with their kids or some pilots, but their kids as well, which is great to see. [3276.36] Stubbsy: We can do a more of a social thing. [3279.8] Stubbsy: Obviously, we do do a fair bit of racing, but we do just as much fun flying and [3284.44] Stubbsy: general shenanigans with the club and everything. [3287.32] Stubbsy: Yeah, there's hosting normally. [3290.28] Stubbsy: A large percentage is literally just bring what you've got and fly it. [3296.12] Stubbsy: So, obviously, the course is up a lot of the time as well and have a play on the course. [3299.96] Stubbsy: And it's a lot more chill than the drone racing. [3304.84] Stubbsy: The wing racing is obviously what we advertise, but that is literally probably, [3309.88] Stubbsy: 50% of the weekend, to be honest with you. [3312.92] Stubbsy: Yeah, big towns around the field and everything. [3317.0] Stubbsy: It's going to be a cut in and a bit of everything going on, to be honest with you. [3320.76] Tony: Yeah, that's the sort of stuff I missed because when it got really serious, [3324.76] Tony: it's like, it got so stressful, didn't it? [3332.6] Tony: That's why I kind of quit racing because it was just so stressful. [3337.56] Brady: Yeah, it kind of takes, I think it takes the fun out of it and then kind of what am I doing it [3342.36] Tony: for now? Well, yeah, I remember you used to drive miles, you have two minutes of flying, [3349.72] Tony: if you crashed in the first 30 seconds, that's it for an hour and something until you come back [3356.52] Frank: around. It's also the atmosphere, isn't it? It's like, if everyone's just tense the entire time [3364.36] Frank: and just stressing about their next race, then it can be pretty grim. [3371.32] Frank: The wing racing weekends, it's a fairly loose timetable. You've got time, generally between [3379.48] Frank: heats where there's a bit of a fun fly, because we're usually hosted by a club, [3384.28] Frank: so they want to do some flying as well. And we get to fly with them. [3389.88] Frank: And there's time fixing stuff and all that kind of thing. So it's fairly relaxed, [3395.96] Frank: like timing wise, you've got just a bunch of people that aren't hyper competitive about it. [3404.2] Frank: It's not really, we can go through the entire year and be like, who's winning? [3411.0] Frank: Like, we just haven't really, there's not really a point. [3414.84] Brady: Yeah, you know, you don't kind of find yourself straight on to times after it's more kind of, [3422.76] Brady: people will have a chat and a mingle and I'll laugh about it. And I know there have been times [3428.12] Brady: where a few people have crashed out and then others have lent them a wing for just to finish [3433.72] Brady: with. And I don't think it's kind of that community spirit, which we kind of struggle [3442.04] Brady: with in quite a lot of other aspects of life. So it's quite nice to see. And I know it's good [3446.44] Brady: for clubs as well, because they're getting people turning up and they're getting members [3451.16] Brady: potentially from that as well. I know Valleys have had a couple of sign up. [3457.24] Stubbsy: Really, we spent the last couple of years drone racing and everything and basically watching what [3462.04] Stubbsy: the Americans do, what the Yanks do, where they have their big weekends. And literally, [3466.6] Stubbsy: they take everything they take the whole lot with them literally all their feet. [3471.0] Stubbsy: And it's just as much they might have like three, three hours racing in the morning, [3475.48] Stubbsy: three hours racing in the evening. And the rest of the time is just mass tandems around the fields. [3481.32] Stubbsy: Having fun. And literally, that was what we wanted really, to be honest with you. [3486.6] Stubbsy: I have a little bit of racing, a little bit of competitiveness, a bit of banter, but [3490.92] Stubbsy: it's a lot more than that, a lot more than that. [3493.72] Tony: That was what it was like at the start, which was what, eight, nine years ago when it was just fun. [3499.72] Tony: And then it got so competitive. It was so quickly. I loved a lot. Did you remember the weekends at [3506.52] Tony: Hidden Valley and stuff? The long, fun weekends, big fires with all your mates. [3515.08] Stubbsy: I joined after you boys moved from Hidden Valley. I think it was the first or second year at Poppin. [3523.64] Stubbsy: But they were brilliant. The Model A show, I think it was either Model A show three or Model A show [3531.0] Stubbsy: four, I think was my first one. And just a simple, something different like the relay racing. [3539.16] Stubbsy: Obviously, you guys were the only ones that were doing it. And that was just brilliant for me. [3543.24] Stubbsy: I thoroughly enjoyed that. And then literally, you had the line of side boys doing their bits [3549.32] Stubbsy: outside and bits going on here, there and everywhere. And it was the whole chilled attitude. [3554.76] Stubbsy: Do you know what I mean? It was more of a fun weekend. [3557.96] Jack: It was. [3566.6] Stubbsy: A man there is a genius. [3571.08] Stubbsy: They were brilliant weekends, to be fair. And that's kind of the whole thing. Personally, [3576.6] Stubbsy: myself, I enjoyed with it. It was more, I'm too old now for all this hype. Do you know, [3581.8] Stubbsy: I'm coming first, I'm coming second. Let's have a bit of fun. Yeah, have a bit of [3586.6] Stubbsy: racing and have a bit of banter. Do you know what I mean? That's all good fun. But [3591.8] Stubbsy: yeah, literally, it's a lot more than that. A hell of a lot more than that. [3595.64] Stubbsy: It's all your mates having a weekend away, getting a big Chinese in the evening, [3599.8] Stubbsy: or whatever, around the campfire, chuck chuck some LEDs up, chuck an old wing up, [3606.12] Stubbsy: have fun doing that little bit more racing in the morning. [3610.12] Stubbsy: Join the lost the club boys, Jeremy, filming them with the drones, their big petrol stuff [3614.44] Stubbsy: as they fly in that around a little bit more racing in the afternoon. And it's just it's just [3619.24] Stubbsy: a whole weekend thing. It's more of a social aspect of a great thing. Yeah. And like when [3623.56] Brady: the fun flies on the, you know, the stream still generally go in, there's a few cameras [3627.08] Brady: dotted around the track. So you can sell because keep, you know, dialing in and out just to see [3633.0] Stubbsy: what's going on as well. Obviously, there's so much of it, obviously, with Brady stream and [3638.84] Stubbsy: everything going on off camera that literally we're trying we really want this year now that [3644.6] Stubbsy: literally last year, you've seen the racism that eats, and then you just see somebody walk out to [3648.92] Stubbsy: the flight line is trying to get back into the screen, to be honest with you, just to show [3654.44] Stubbsy: literally that everything that's going on there. Yeah. Well, thank you guys, both Brady and [3662.52] Frank: Stubbzy for coming on and talking about wing racing, as it will be in 2024, hopefully. [3670.68] Frank: For people that are listening, where can they find the streams? Because we've mentioned the website [3676.04] Frank: WRL-UK.com. How do people find the streams when they're happening? The YouTube channel is at WRL [3684.28] Brady: UK, but everything is on the website. So if you get stuck, just head to the website, the link's [3688.36] Brady: on there. It's all there. Facebook group, YouTube, it's all there. So yes, again, [3697.32] Frank: that's the place to go to find everything. Yeah. Well, thank you very much. This week, [3701.64] Frank: we have been joined by Brady and Stubbzy. Thank you for coming along. We've been [3708.6] Frank: joined eventually by Jack, as well as Jack's bed. [3712.04] Frank: And we've heard Tony joining in with the X-Class chat and maybe being dragged into [3719.08] Frank: some wing racing later on. Maybe. And I've been Andrew Slanche Frank. Thank you for joining us. [3726.6] Frank: See us again next week when we'll have Cole coming back from Taiwan with a lot of excellent [3731.8] Frank: long range footage. So look forward to that. See you guys next week. Thank you very much. [3736.36] Frank: Thank you very much. Bye.