=== Let's Drone Out — Episode 496 ===
Title: LDO 496 - Birmingham Tiny Whoopers
Recorded: 2025-02-27
Hosts: Andrew "Frank" Hyams, Jack "Brightontillifly" Nash
Guest(s): Cerberus "Cerb" Velvet, Matt "minirollsrule" Snell
Total audience: 1,003
Platforms: YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GU1udU_ywQ); SoundCloud (http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/feeds.soundcloud.com/stream/2043751040-letsdroneout-ldo-496-birmingham-tiny.mp3)
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Follow BIRD / Matt Snell / Cerberus online:
https://www.btwclub.co.uk/bird
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzco_2fBoeypvqpnh3QnniQ
https://www.facebook.com/groups/birminghamtinywhoopers/
https://www.ifpv.co.uk/events/334
https://www.instagram.com/btw__whoop/

[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] Frank: Art Faulkner.
[18.0] Frank: Sam Dahmer.
[19.68] Frank: On with the show.
[20.68] Cerb: Let's Drone Out.
[52.16] Frank: Good evening and welcome to Let's Drone Out.
[56.36] Frank: It is Thursday, the 27th of February, I am Andrew slash Frank, and tonight you are joined
[65.0] Frank: by Brighton's biggest tricropter aficionado, Jack, PV Racing Solutions Master, Serb, and
[78.24] Frank: Mrs. Serb.
[79.24] Frank: And Mrs. Serb in the background there, hiding away.
[83.24] Frank: And we have got mini-rolls rule meant good evening.
[88.68] Frank: Thank you for joining us tonight because tonight we are talking about your big event, the Birmingham
[95.72] Frank: International Race Day 2025.
[98.4] Frank: You came on late last year to sort of give us a preview, and it's now happened and hopefully
[106.0] Frank: all three of you are vaguely recovered from the event.
[110.16] Frank: How are you feeling?
[113.68] Cerb: I've still got three more counselling sessions booked in, but after that I think I'll be
[118.96] Matt: okay.
[119.96] Matt: Yeah, his voice has only just recovered from like 24 solid hours of live streaming.
[126.48] Frank: Yeah, because I guess it's the Friday, Saturday, Sunday, right?
[130.64] Frank: And you've got eight hours of day streaming, so yeah, 24 hours of streaming, is that right?
[134.72] Matt: We had set up from 5 p.m. on Friday with some testing and stuff going on in the evening.
[141.32] Matt: We got out there about, what, 10 or 11 o'clock, 10 o'clock, and then we had the first people,
[149.0] Matt: we arrived at like 7, 4 past 7 Saturday morning, went live at like what, 8, 30 years, 8 o'clock,
[155.8] Matt: something like that.
[156.8] Matt: And then we went all the way through to like 8 p.m., 9 p.m., and then we had the whole
[161.32] Matt: thing again the next day.
[162.64] Matt: So it was literally two 12-hour shifts of live streaming.
[166.28] Matt: It's just a monumental effort that goes too fast.
[170.24] Matt: Wow.
[171.24] Cerb: YouTube does that thing where you can only actually do a live stream for 12 hours and
[175.72] Cerb: like we were starting to look at our watches and go, are we going to be all right here?
[180.88] Cerb: That was good fun.
[182.88] Matt: Yeah, it was such a good laugh.
[185.36] Matt: I mean, there's a lot of effort that goes in in the background, but you get the swing
[189.12] Matt: of it and it just absolutely blew.
[191.8] Cerb: The Saturday was the hardest because, like Minnie Rose was saying, we were doing set-up
[195.76] Cerb: till 11 o'clock and you jump in the car and it's three quarters in our home and then try
[200.92] Cerb: and have something to eat because you haven't fit that in yet and then like get to bed about
[204.24] Cerb: one and then lie there looking at the ceiling going, are my OBS scenes okay?
[208.96] Cerb: Have I set my microphone?
[209.96] Cerb: Did I plug everything in?
[211.92] Cerb: Very little sleep that night.
[215.16] Cerb: You fall into a fitful sleep about half past 4 a.m. and then the alarm goes off at 6 and
[219.8] Cerb: you start.
[220.8] Matt: And it was hit the ground running, wasn't it?
[225.16] Matt: We arrived, switched on, surprisingly, we break the pilots into three groups, right?
[231.8] Matt: If we were listening, we don't know, but we had 48 pilots from eight, I think, in the
[237.36] Matt: end different countries because one, I think, decided they were from a different country.
[242.56] Matt: And then we split them into three groups of 16 and the first group of 16 needed to arrive,
[248.72] Matt: back in and be ready to fly, I think it was 20 past or half past 8 was their first flight.
[255.16] Matt: So they had to be there about an hour before that to get set up, all pits, have the track
[258.64] Matt: walk, check them all in, do technical inspections, stuff like that.
[262.8] Matt: So it's an early start for those guys, but then they have eight batteries, two, you know,
[269.84] Matt: back-to-back batteries, four times to get their best qualifying and we did that three
[274.24] Matt: times over.
[275.24] Matt: Oh, cheers, man.
[277.24] Jack: We've been calling you Daddy Matt in the chat and I don't know whether that's a sex thing
[281.76] Jack: or not.
[282.76] Matt: Daddy Matt?
[283.76] Matt: It should be Daddy Woop.
[285.76] Matt: Well, the drone racing Cornwall guys call me Daddy Woop because I'm a bit nuts on Woop's.
[291.36] Matt: Interesting.
[292.36] Cerb: Hey, man.
[293.36] Cerb: Nice petuning in.
[294.36] Cerb: What happens in Woop House stays in Woop House?
[296.68] Matt: Yeah, I have got a Spezzy.
[299.52] Matt: So this, I'll hold it up a little bit.
[302.76] Matt: This is the Spezzy drink that is, oh, I'll hold it back up again.
[307.36] Matt: This is the Spezzy drink that Spezzy Lover took his name from and he was the first chap
[315.6] Matt: to challenge the UK to put on a drone race, so we did that back in 2020.
[321.2] Matt: And the Germans this time very kindly drove over in their van via Cornwall to have a race
[327.08] Matt: down there and they brought a case of Spezzy Lover for us.
[331.28] Matt: So I'm tucking it on now.
[333.8] Cerb: And I have discovered you can import it by the crate on Amazon.
[341.88] Cerb: It's not bad actually.
[342.88] Cerb: It's only 20 quid a crate, but it is 25 quid postage and I imagine every single bottle
[348.64] Cerb: will be smashed by the time it gets here, but I might try it at some point.
[353.48] Matt: So did you guys check out the live stream?
[355.96] Frank: Yeah, yeah.
[356.96] Frank: Yeah, caught quite a bit the live stream.
[359.68] Frank: Yeah, it was good fun seeing all the racing going on and seeing like you had a big crowd
[365.68] Frank: there.
[366.68] Frank: It looked like it looks a very kind of very busy, busy venue.
[372.2] Matt: The guys, when people finished their group, they sort of hung around and checked out the
[376.44] Matt: other things that were going on there.
[378.52] Matt: So by the end of the day, you had like a big group of people like cheering people on, which
[382.2] Matt: was really nice.
[383.96] Matt: Especially on the Sunday, everyone really obviously stayed for the finals, the elite
[387.68] Matt: finals, which is the end of the day on Sunday.
[390.04] Matt: And by the end, we had pretty much, I think every pilot that was there and all these spectators
[393.88] Matt: hanging on because through that day, it just got faster and faster and faster.
[400.0] Cerb: Yeah, the finals day commentary was great.
[406.2] Cerb: We started off okay at the start of Sunday, didn't we?
[409.6] Cerb: You know, commentating the first bracket, we were quick, but then we would, it was just
[414.96] Cerb: like gradually turning up the speed control on the commentary and the last race of the
[421.76] Cerb: last final of the day.
[423.48] Cerb: I think I was talking Swahili at some point.
[425.92] Cerb: I was going so fast.
[427.64] Cerb: It was crazy.
[428.64] Matt: Yeah.
[429.64] Matt: Serves the man for commenting fast, fast-paced racing, Jesus, I don't know how you did it.
[433.88] Matt: Like I gave it a go with Sam for a while when he stepped up to get some lunch at one point.
[437.48] Matt: And I was like, I was tripping over myself.
[439.32] Matt: I think we were in advanced class at that point, where am I, Sam?
[442.24] Matt: I was like, these are quick.
[444.24] Matt: It's like so far.
[445.72] Matt: And that's it.
[446.72] Matt: So when everyone buys their tickets, the tickets sold out in like 12 hours, which is unbelievable.
[451.76] Matt: But I think through them after they're gone, I'm like, you're going to be an elite, you're
[455.24] Matt: going to be an elite, you're going to be an elite, you're an elite, elite, elite, elite,
[458.64] Matt: all right.
[459.64] Matt: We've run out of elite spaces, like advanced is going to be properly quick.
[462.48] Matt: And it was so fast.
[464.12] Matt: There was some incredible racing in advanced class.
[467.88] Frank: I remember when you were on giving us the preview, by that point, you'd already sold
[472.52] Frank: out the racing tickets.
[474.28] Frank: That's pretty good going.
[475.28] Matt: Yeah, it was not.
[476.28] Matt: To give you an idea, so in 2020, I think it was 22, Dan Carpy, UK, fella, properly quick.
[486.28] Matt: He was the fastest in the UK in 2022.
[488.84] Matt: He came first in the advanced class.
[491.04] Matt: So there's a whole other class of elite pilots now, faster than our fastest racer in 2022.
[496.6] Matt: Like that just shows, like he knows he's quick.
[501.0] Matt: Everybody loves that.
[502.0] Matt: But he's now there's a whole nother class now faster.
[505.28] Matt: And that is incredible thing.
[507.84] Matt: So we had a credible race, but this was the biggest one this year ever.
[514.36] Cerb: I think we could have sold it out twice over.
[516.76] Matt: Yeah.
[517.76] Cerb: We could have sold more frequencies and more space.
[523.84] Frank: That's the challenge, isn't it?
[525.36] Frank: But you've, you know, that's that's the right way to be, right, is to have more people wanting
[530.24] Frank: to go than you can fit in.
[531.56] Frank: And especially when you've got all the other stuff going on alongside the racing, like
[536.72] Frank: the racing isn't everything at that event, like you've got all that other stuff that
[541.76] Frank: people can go along.
[543.32] Frank: And to have people that are that interested go along not to race, but to spectate and
[549.32] Frank: join in and build that kind of atmosphere and do all the other things that are around
[553.08] Frank: the racing.
[554.08] Frank: I think that's a really good kind of way to build up the event.
[558.12] Cerb: If we had have added all, you know, like I say, we could have sold it out twice, but
[561.52] Cerb: if we'd have done that, we'd have spoiled it.
[563.52] Cerb: Yeah.
[564.52] Matt: There's a limit at the moment, the size the technology can cope with when you've got analog
[569.8] Matt: loops flying around inside.
[572.0] Cerb: Yeah.
[573.0] Cerb: It's that number of pilots, it just about financially makes sense.
[579.12] Cerb: And OK, so we could we could pull more ticket money in and sell a bunch more tickets.
[583.6] Cerb: But it would be to the detriment of the event.
[585.88] Cerb: So it's it's, you know, we can only do that when we're sure we can still do a good event
[591.32] Cerb: with that many tickets sold.
[592.72] Matt: So he's coming for his title back.
[595.56] Matt: He switched to Acro devil mode.
[599.36] Cerb: His problem was that he wasn't oven ready this year.
[602.36] Matt: That's it.
[603.36] Matt: He was missing his foil packaging.
[608.36] Cerb: Sorry.
[609.36] Cerb: You're not going to understand that if you weren't there.
[612.36] Matt: You have to watch.
[613.36] Matt: You have to watch 2023.
[616.36] Frank: The the other benefit of having all these people that are so enthusiastic about going
[621.16] Frank: to the event, even if there isn't a space for them to race, is that it meant you had
[625.96] Frank: more volunteers, right?
[627.96] Matt: Yeah, so that was the big challenge this year was I think I said in my last chat is
[632.76] Matt: that we wanted to get more people to volunteer to step up to help us make that like the best
[637.56] Matt: event we can.
[638.56] Matt: And we we learned a lot from last year to bring to this year.
[643.76] Matt: And it meant a lot more people would need it.
[646.16] Matt: And luckily, like thanks to everyone who stepped up because, oh, my God, like the number of
[650.56] Matt: people we had, you know, put in the hand and say, yeah, I can definitely help do stuff.
[654.76] Matt: We had 20 volunteers who were involved this year, you know, doing various things from
[660.26] Matt: really simple stuff, just like make sure people like cups of tea, making sure I had food,
[664.16] Matt: like making sure it was like fed and watered, like, you know, really simple stuff up to
[669.56] Matt: running, you know, on the pilot line, making sure the pilots are sat in the right chairs.
[674.26] Matt: All of these things, there were a whole range of things people were doing.
[677.26] Matt: Everyone just stepped up and got on with it and just people really it was just mad.
[682.76] Matt: It was it was so good.
[683.76] Matt: Yeah, Adam, a big shout out to you, Adam, when you stepped up onto the pipeline, we
[688.96] Matt: found like an absolute like mesh of people like you and Ed working together with my brother
[696.56] Matt: as well, like all corralling the pilots onto the pilot line made a massive difference.
[702.46] Matt: And that was the big thing this year, getting the right people in the right seats, making
[706.96] Matt: sure everyone's doing a little bit to make the event as good as it could be.
[712.16] Matt: You know, we didn't grow the event in terms of pilots this year, but the team exploded.
[716.66] Matt: And, you know, every year we have a chat about what we could do better.
[722.46] Matt: And this year, it's like, well, we could polish this.
[726.56] Matt: And it's like there's a little bit there.
[728.16] Matt: We can do it pretty well as far as we can.
[733.76] Cerb: We we kind of discovered in in the wash up of the previous race of Millennium Point,
[739.66] Cerb: which was amazing.
[741.26] Cerb: We were kind of like I was running about 110 percent that weekend.
[746.96] Cerb: Matt was like, yeah, about 125 percent.
[749.46] Cerb: I'm like, great.
[750.46] Cerb: That's that's good that we proved that we can overspeed ourselves.
[754.66] Cerb: Yeah, but I want to add another 25 to 30 percent to my workload because I want to do
[760.46] Cerb: this, this, this and this extra.
[762.26] Cerb: So then I'll be running 150.
[764.46] Cerb: This isn't viable.
[766.76] Cerb: So it was very much, yeah, we have to find people.
[770.16] Cerb: And we did really find such a good team.
[773.26] Cerb: People slotted into their seats so well.
[777.56] Cerb: There were a lot of changes that we made with the line judges, the way the spotting was
[783.96] Cerb: done, the way the flight line was managed all over the event.
[789.16] Cerb: Everything was just tweaked up 10 percent and things were tightened up and changed.
[794.76] Cerb: And it and that took months and months and months of planning.
[799.26] Matt: Yeah, there was a whole other level of organization going to find the role to do, think about
[804.96] Matt: how they're all going to fit together and then get the right people to do it.
[808.06] Matt: And he thinks it's going to work well together.
[809.76] Cerb: And you know, it's worth you know, it's worked if on the day nobody notices.
[816.66] Cerb: Yeah, that was it.
[818.16] Cerb: It just ran smoothly.
[819.66] Cerb: But we were we were so lucky.
[821.56] Cerb: We owe so much to our to our helpers.
[824.16] Cerb: We really do.
[825.96] Matt: Yeah, and then there are some helpers that nobody even really saw as well.
[829.96] Matt: So on the day, we had a few people that had done all the work in the lead up or were running
[834.76] Matt: around in the background that nobody saw.
[836.36] Matt: So like Paul Jagger is on social media, 90 percent of the social media that went out.
[842.16] Matt: I was able to just have weekly catch up to Paul to write.
[845.06] Matt: We need these, these, these, these sponsors, these like shout outs, these out to local groups.
[849.86] Matt: And he just went off and did it.
[851.46] Matt: And that, believe it or not, the social media behind something like this takes a lot of time.
[857.16] Matt: So Paul just kind of stepped up, took on that chunk of work.
[859.96] Matt: But yeah, remember that and he did, which was awesome.
[863.16] Matt: So thank you for Keira as well, who is only a recent addition to Birmingham Tiny Whoopers.
[869.56] Matt: She came along during this summer to train for and just kind of showed up and was like, yeah,
[875.26] Matt: I can do that.
[876.06] Matt: Yeah, I can do that.
[876.76] Matt: Oh, I do filmography as well.
[878.16] Matt: Oh, I've got a lot of students that can man cameras and stuff.
[881.16] Matt: And oh, you want some, yeah, I can do that.
[883.06] Matt: So this graphic was Keira's and is incredible.
[888.76] Matt: It's like one of the best stickers we've ever had.
[890.56] Matt: And so we made it into a t-shirt.
[891.66] Frank: So and that's that's also the graphic, right?
[897.16] Frank: If I'm not much mistaken, it's very similar to the trophy, right?
[900.46] Frank: Are they sort of inspired by each other?
[902.46] Frank: I guess.
[902.96] Matt: Yeah, so Keira did the graphic sort of October time.
[909.96] Matt: And then we've got a trophy made 3D kind of extruded out to match sort of the graphic.
[916.86] Matt: So it was kind of a bit parity there, which is nice.
[921.46] Matt: But yeah, so if you want to get a t-shirt, they are on sale.
[925.36] Matt: The proceeds go back into the event for next year.
[928.26] Matt: They will go on sale at the end of March.
[930.76] Matt: So there is a limited time to get one.
[933.96] Matt: You can pick one up on BTWclub.co.uk if you want one.
[939.66] Matt: Just a little plug there.
[941.46] Frank: BTW, as in Birmingham Tiny Whoopers Club, right?
[945.66] Matt: BTWclub.co.uk, yeah.
[948.36] Cerb: The more merchandise the bigger the track gets next year.
[950.86] Cerb: So buy the merch.
[952.86] Frank: Yeah, Numskull was saying, because he was watching on the stream,
[956.46] Frank: that the inflatables and the flow of the track definitely added to the buzz.
[961.66] Frank: I mean, that was a sort of a, you know, you've had previously,
[966.56] Frank: you've had Millennium Point, which just by itself is already like quite a dramatic thing.
[972.76] Frank: How was adapting Birds to the school?
[977.86] Frank: How did that go in the sports hall?
[979.86] Matt: I mean, every year we had a different venue and there were different sort of challenges.
[984.76] Matt: This is, believe it or not, the first time it's just been a square sports hall,
[990.16] Matt: which I'm quite proud of because it means it's always been something a bit quirky
[993.36] Matt: and a bit architecturally interesting.
[995.06] Matt: But having a square sports hall means you can do anything.
[998.86] Matt: Like, there's no pillar in the way.
[1000.26] Matt: There's no, like, guardrail there.
[1002.06] Matt: There's no, you know, set of stairs in the middle of your racetrack,
[1004.96] Matt: which is fun, but also, you know, kind of dictates part of the route.
[1010.56] Matt: So I did give a lot of thought to the racetrack and the inflatables
[1015.66] Matt: which was just a random idea I had in the summer, 2024.
[1020.66] Matt: I thought, I wonder, you know, how this will go.
[1022.86] Matt: And I brought it along to Western Park and it was really fun.
[1025.76] Matt: We had Puff the Magic Dragon named by Sam back there,
[1031.56] Matt: which has now gone on tour to Germany.
[1033.96] Matt: So they picked him up and took him home and he's back.
[1035.76] Matt: So Puff's going around Europe now, visiting all the tiny wood braces.
[1039.56] Matt: But yeah, the track, it took, you know,
[1046.76] Matt: everyone draws on experience from watching different races,
[1049.36] Matt: but the flow of it was really important.
[1051.26] Matt: Last year, we took the feedback that it was too long.
[1054.06] Matt: There were a couple of really complicated sections in there.
[1056.76] Matt: There were some bits that were, you know, not, didn't flow very nicely, maybe.
[1063.46] Matt: And that's, that's fine.
[1064.36] Matt: That's good feedback for us.
[1065.36] Matt: So this year, I made sure, like, there was a decent flow to it.
[1069.06] Matt: And I was, I took ages working out how to get the dragon, Eric,
[1074.16] Matt: the sea snake to flow into it.
[1076.26] Matt: But it seemed to work quite well.
[1077.96] Matt: I've actually got a really cool photo because the university students from VCU.
[1083.06] Matt: Can I share a screen?
[1083.96] Matt: Is that possible on this?
[1085.16] Frank: Yeah, there's a little present button at the bottom.
[1087.86] Matt: Oh, working.
[1090.46] Cerb: Oh, you're asking Matt to do technical now.
[1092.46] Cerb: That's going to end in tears.
[1095.36] Frank: How was, how was the Sports Hall for you, sir?
[1098.76] Frank: As you're sort of, you know, the stream is your baby.
[1102.66] Frank: I like to now be sort of slightly daunted, I imagine, with kind of the backdrop of the Sports Hall
[1110.26] Frank: instead of, like Matt says, this beautiful architectural style.
[1114.76] Cerb: I don't think I mentioned it at all on the stream.
[1118.26] Cerb: I'm pretty sure I kept it under wraps, but I was so cold.
[1121.46] Matt: Don't forget about turning the sun down as well.
[1128.76] Cerb: Oh my gosh.
[1130.86] Cerb: Yeah, because we're just sort of sitting still and it's a concrete floor.
[1135.26] Cerb: Eric, the sea snake.
[1137.96] Cerb: Yeah, there he goes.
[1139.76] Cerb: So yeah, our feet were like blocks of ice on the first day.
[1145.36] Cerb: It was really, really, really cold.
[1146.76] Cerb: And because of course, everybody coming in and out, that space gets cold.
[1151.36] Cerb: Very quickly at that time of year.
[1154.56] Cerb: So the next day we were okay.
[1155.76] Cerb: I had thermal socks and long johns and all sorts on them.
[1159.86] Cerb: They were a bit better.
[1161.06] Cerb: The internet was challenging because, you know, it's a school's internet and it kind of started to fall apart.
[1170.26] Cerb: And we had to make a decision early doors to drop the bitrate on the stream.
[1176.26] Cerb: So we did have a few people in chat who always know better saying turn the bitrate up
[1180.86] Cerb: and say, if you turn the bitrate up, it's just going to lag and you will get three frames and wait five seconds and get three more friends.
[1186.76] Cerb: I'd rather drop the bitrate and keep it flowing, which I think was the right call.
[1192.86] Cerb: And yeah, in the Eric shop, you can see the lighting in the roof.
[1199.16] Cerb: So you see that big square light that so many people in the YouTube chat going, guys, turn those lights off.
[1208.16] Cerb: It'll be so much better if you turn those lights off.
[1210.56] Cerb: We're like, yeah, what we're going to do is we're going to gradually turn those lights down as the day goes on because they were windows.
[1216.76] Cerb: They were sky lights.
[1221.66] Matt: We would love to run it in sort of a semi-darkness.
[1224.56] Matt: And when we did our test event, it was it was like 6 to 10 p.m.
[1228.26] Matt: Yeah, it was after work time.
[1230.56] Matt: So it was in winter.
[1231.76] Matt: So it was pitch black.
[1233.06] Matt: We actually did it once pitch black.
[1234.66] Matt: And it looked amazing, but there just was any way you could run it through the night.
[1238.26] Matt: I mean, I'm sure the Americans would have loved the time difference, but not really for us.
[1244.16] Cerb: The guys in chat on the whole were absolutely awesome.
[1246.86] Cerb: It was we had such good, such good spectators there and such good spectators on YouTube as well.
[1254.06] Jack: Can I just say Jesse owes me a care package?
[1257.36] Cerb: Jesse, yes.
[1259.46] Jack: I haven't forgotten.
[1260.66] Jack: Yeah, me a care package.
[1261.86] Cerb: Jesse, if you're watching and you should be watching.
[1263.96] Cerb: Well, he's he's packing boxes right now.
[1266.06] Cerb: I know he's hard at work sending out all your woop motors and woop frames and woop things.
[1271.76] Matt: Yeah, he was he was meant to join us.
[1274.16] Matt: But unfortunately, you know, family certainly couldn't, which is a shame because we're really
[1279.06] Matt: looking forward to having him back again.
[1280.16] Matt: But I'm sure next year we'll be back.
[1283.06] Cerb: And he did a lot behind the scenes as well.
[1285.36] Cerb: So it would have been so good to have him with us because he'd worked so hard on it.
[1289.56] Cerb: So he he missed out on being with us, but he also missed out on like the fruits of his
[1293.56] Cerb: labors.
[1294.56] Cerb: So he he put in a lot of hard work behind the scenes and he let us hijack his YouTube
[1300.36] Cerb: channel.
[1301.36] Cerb: We definitely helped us because it broadened our audience.
[1305.56] Frank: He spent a lot of time in chat supporting it.
[1308.56] Frank: Yeah.
[1309.56] Cerb: Yeah.
[1310.56] Matt: Yeah.
[1311.56] Matt: It was it was good to have him there in spirit at the time.
[1315.56] Frank: How was the sort of stream audience?
[1318.06] Frank: It sounds like it it went quite wide, quite big.
[1322.56] Matt: It was international.
[1325.36] Matt: We had what was it?
[1326.36] Matt: 11 people in the Czech Republic.
[1328.36] Matt: Bear in mind, there was no one racing from the Czech Republic.
[1330.36] Matt: I think it was 11 people in the Czech Republic who watched for an average of eight hours
[1336.58] Matt: or something.
[1337.58] Matt: And I'm like, 11 people averaged eight hours.
[1341.28] Matt: I was like, what?
[1342.28] Matt: That's mad.
[1343.28] Matt: Like they watched the whole thing.
[1344.88] Matt: So well done Czech Republic.
[1346.88] Matt: You got to come to the next one.
[1347.88] Matt: We want to see some Czech representation of the next one.
[1351.16] Jack: You need to buy yourself a flag to hang for them.
[1355.72] Cerb: Thank you.
[1356.72] Cerb: I hope you enjoyed it.
[1359.26] Cerb: When we checked the figures, you know, the YouTube stats like a couple of weeks afterwards,
[1363.56] Cerb: we went back and looked at it and it was for me, it was record breaking in terms of the
[1371.3] Cerb: number of likes that we got, the interactions that we got, the retention, the time that
[1376.28] Cerb: people stayed tuned in, which is that's a really important stat to my heart, how long
[1381.6] Cerb: people will stay and watch.
[1383.88] Cerb: And all of the numbers were just so good.
[1387.28] Cerb: That sounds very big headed.
[1389.0] Cerb: It's not meant to sound big headed.
[1391.36] Cerb: That's what it was.
[1392.36] Cerb: And it was it was really nice to put all that work in and, you know, see those numbers afterwards.
[1398.04] Cerb: And we've had great interactions with all of those helpers.
[1402.68] Cerb: They've not disappeared.
[1403.68] Cerb: We went we took them all out for dinner and yeah, the kind of the team grew a lot.
[1411.96] Matt: The bird team grew a lot.
[1412.96] Matt: We want to make sure that, you know, they worked so hard for us over that weekend that
[1417.72] Matt: we wanted to say, you know, thanks very much.
[1419.32] Matt: So everyone, you know, last week we all went out to dinner together and had a good like
[1424.48] Matt: sort of chin right about what went well, and everyone's already thinking of new things
[1428.16] Matt: to do next year.
[1430.16] Jack: Boring flightables.
[1432.64] Matt: Yeah.
[1433.64] Matt: The biggest one is more infatables.
[1434.88] Matt: As frustrated as it was for those people who did get caught under them, you know, it's
[1438.92] Matt: going to happen.
[1439.92] Matt: Everyone wants more infatables.
[1441.96] Matt: So, you know, that's great.
[1444.68] Frank: Is that where the sponsor money is going to go next next year?
[1447.48] Frank: Yeah.
[1448.48] Frank: Every sponsor is an inflatable.
[1449.48] Matt: I've got a list on eBay and AliExpress of different inflatesports.
[1452.48] Matt: I've got to decide which ones are going to work the best.
[1460.7] Frank: Because you put together quite a few sponsors this year.
[1463.82] Frank: Do you want to give them a shout out now?
[1466.82] Matt: Absolutely.
[1467.82] Matt: Definitely.
[1468.82] Matt: Like, we had three different levels and the supporter level were people that just kind
[1472.9] Matt: of wanted to give something to the event and just say, look, we're on board.
[1476.7] Matt: We like what you're doing.
[1477.7] Matt: And they mostly donated parts, accessories and things.
[1481.3] Matt: So thank you to Tanya, obviously, like, you know, Miss Jessie P, you're always a big supporter.
[1487.5] Matt: Race Tech.
[1488.5] Matt: We got some real racing seats for our pilots to sit on, which was incredible.
[1492.94] Matt: They look very snazzy.
[1496.06] Matt: We had Speedy Pizza Drones in the Italian Woot League coming all the way from Italy.
[1500.5] Matt: HGLRC, very, like, generous guys, along with Diatone, also very generous.
[1506.3] Matt: The BMFA, they were part of our support group.
[1509.3] Matt: They brought their simulators along, so everyone could have a go on those.
[1513.78] Matt: Squeaky Prince, Ian Squeaky Gins.
[1516.34] Matt: He prints basically everything in FPV, it seems.
[1519.34] Matt: So if he needs 3D printing done and you don't have one yourself, give him a shout.
[1524.22] Matt: T-Mosa and BCI, again, donating some nice tasks and prizes.
[1529.22] Matt: Skill Supply.
[1531.5] Matt: They run, like, STEM educational stuff in the Midlands and they supplied all the goggles
[1536.14] Matt: that we had people, just anyone who came along, could just put on a set of goggles and ride
[1540.1] Matt: along with the pros, which was ace.
[1543.66] Matt: And then beat FPV, of course, because they've been supporting us since the very beginning,
[1548.74] Matt: since I was just a bloke with a puck and a couple of friends down at Pub, you know, and
[1553.46] Matt: Speedy and his mates from Germany came over.
[1556.3] Matt: They supported us from the very first one at Games Prize, so we need to have a big shout-out
[1559.62] Matt: to them.
[1560.62] Matt: But that's just the supporting group, so if you want to rattle off the silver ones, you
[1565.86] Matt: can practice at this now.
[1567.86] Cerb: I haven't got the list in front of me, there were four of them, that's what I can remember.
[1573.38] Cerb: There was Hacking Model.
[1575.38] Cerb: Yeah.
[1576.38] Cerb: Test yet.
[1577.38] Cerb: I can't remember.
[1578.38] Cerb: That's terrible.
[1579.38] Cerb: I know they're showing them out for, like, two days straight.
[1583.86] Cerb: That means that the counselling is working.
[1586.3] Matt: Yeah.
[1587.3] Matt: I mean, the silver sponsors, they put their hand in their pocket and them, along with
[1595.38] Matt: the gold sponsors, they put real money into the project, into the event, and it meant
[1600.86] Matt: that we could have a nice sports hall with nearly adequate heating.
[1607.54] Cerb: Well, this is one of the things about sponsorship, is it's, one of the challenges is getting
[1614.74] Cerb: the product is really good, and you pass the product onto the pilot, and that's great.
[1618.94] Cerb: But actually, we are getting into a realm now where cash sponsorship, you know, where
[1624.9] Cerb: a sponsor says, here's a certain amount of cash, put our name on a gate, or, you know,
[1629.62] Cerb: put us here, put us there, because we do need those kind of, I don't want to say real
[1634.5] Cerb: sponsors because all the other sponsors that supply us with equipment are very much real
[1638.5] Cerb: sponsors.
[1639.5] Cerb: But significant sponsors.
[1640.5] Cerb: Yeah.
[1641.5] Cerb: Cash sponsors are, like, absolute lifesavers, and, again, going back to what we were saying
[1646.06] Cerb: earlier about, it means we can keep the numbers where they are, we can look after the people
[1651.02] Cerb: that helped us.
[1652.02] Cerb: So, yeah, go on, Matt, reel off the four, because I can't remember them.
[1656.66] Matt: We had HQ prop, who donated thousands of props.
[1661.7] Matt: Everybody got several packs of HQ props for them, so thank you very much, HQ prop, you
[1666.74] Matt: really helped us out.
[1667.74] Matt: Happy model, donating some HD zero whoops and other prizes, but also putting a hand
[1672.62] Matt: in the pocket for us.
[1673.62] Matt: Thank you very much.
[1674.62] Matt: Happy model.
[1675.62] Matt: Gemfan, also a big support from Gemfan.
[1678.26] Matt: I know they were sponsoring a couple of pilots there, which was awesome.
[1683.18] Matt: We had a chat with Lightsail, which was cool, so thank you very much, Gemfan.
[1686.54] Matt: And Vi Fly, who, again, has been supporting us for a number of years now with their chargers,
[1690.7] Matt: prizes, and also cash sponsorship, so thank you so much, thank you so much, John Quinn
[1696.22] Matt: at Vi Fly.
[1697.22] Matt: But, like I said, we had a gold-level sponsorship, and they came in at the absolute top.
[1701.74] Matt: They really, really did pay for a big chunk of the event and made it actually possible.
[1708.02] Matt: And so, like, the most generous people in FPV are Jeff Grabowski and Nicholas Savage.
[1715.1] Matt: Savage?
[1716.66] Matt: I don't know how to pronounce his second name.
[1718.38] Matt: I don't want to say it, like, you know, Hyacinth Bouquet.
[1723.22] Matt: I don't know if it's like, like, my name's Nicholas Savage.
[1728.78] Matt: I don't want to tell you this, but, you know, I think you just did it, guys, these two guys
[1734.58] Matt: are so, so generous, so like giving and supportive of what we were doing.
[1739.26] Matt: Like, just, it honestly was so, meaning, like, it meant so much to us, particularly Nick,
[1746.94] Matt: who wanted to come along and thought he hadn't got a ticket, and I was like, well, there's
[1750.98] Matt: a sponsorship slot available if you'd like it, and it comes with a ticket, but, like,
[1754.98] Matt: you know, that's it.
[1755.98] Matt: He was like, oh, yeah, I'll get that.
[1756.98] Matt: And I hadn't looked down all the list yet, and it turned out he had already got a ticket.
[1760.74] Matt: I don't know, he must have been doing it late last night and forgot or something.
[1763.58] Matt: I don't know.
[1764.58] Matt: And I said, look, you've got a ticket, don't worry, you've got it.
[1767.26] Matt: He was like, you know, like, I said, you know, I'm happy to sponsor, so I'll sponsor
[1770.94] Matt: you.
[1771.94] Matt: And I was like, you've already got a ticket.
[1772.94] Matt: He was like, oh, that's fine.
[1773.94] Matt: You know, you guys are doing good stuff.
[1774.94] Matt: Like, hey, thank you so much.
[1775.94] Matt: Appreciate it.
[1776.94] Matt: And as well, Jeff, a Weebly, an FPV, like, across the pond, you haven't been here, you
[1782.94] Matt: know, what we're doing, you don't have any hush from anybody, but you've seen what we
[1786.02] Matt: do online, you've seen the races we've put on, and obviously, you know, the support you
[1790.46] Matt: gave us is incredible, so thank you so much.
[1794.34] Cerb: It's really nice.
[1795.34] Cerb: All of our sponsors are all people that we know and we love, and we use their kit, and
[1800.22] Cerb: we stand by their kit, and it's really good to have them on board.
[1805.5] Cerb: Good relationships.
[1806.5] Matt: Definitely.
[1807.5] Matt: And it meant that one of the things we built in this year, we kind of stretched the boundary
[1812.66] Matt: of the just like a race.
[1815.94] Matt: So it's all good having a race as like a showcase of what you're doing, but we stretched out
[1819.94] Matt: to the Challenger activities.
[1824.12] Matt: So we had a whole other side of it, I don't know, on the livestream, which we could really
[1829.48] Matt: see, but the sport was split in two, big net down the centre, all the flying was going
[1833.84] Matt: on one side, and we had activities that people would get involved with on the other side.
[1838.04] Matt: And we had, I think, where's my list, we had 71 people complete the Challenger activities.
[1849.32] Matt: So that includes pilots and people are turned up and stuff.
[1854.2] Matt: So we had loads of people come and take part in the activities and basically get involved
[1861.4] Matt: with FPV because if they weren't there as pilots, like to fly the races, they were there
[1866.24] Matt: to get involved in the sport generally, and hopefully they'll take you out to their kids
[1870.04] Matt: and you know, show what it's all about, and that's really important to us.
[1874.6] Frank: So when we were talking about it back in November, there was the drone soccer, there was the
[1883.52] Frank: slalom, a simulator and some ride alongs.
[1888.12] Frank: Those are the four that I remember.
[1890.6] Matt: Yeah, there was five to start with.
[1892.6] Matt: Unfortunately, drone soccer had to drop out for competing reasons.
[1897.76] Matt: But I'm sure they'll be back because they really didn't want to drop out.
[1900.16] Matt: They were really keen to come along.
[1901.96] Matt: I'm sure they'll be along next year.
[1904.52] Matt: Yeah, we had mini-figs, line of sight, tiny little drones, and basically Nick and the
[1914.92] Matt: mini-figs, me guys, gave us a load of LEGO figures and we put them on line of sight drones
[1920.4] Matt: and meant that people could build a little LEGO figure, put it on a line of sight drone
[1924.48] Matt: and fly around, have a little course set up there for them to fly around, which was awesome.
[1929.52] Matt: So we had loads of people flying these little line of sight drones in the corner.
[1933.4] Matt: We had the FPV hotlaps things, which were the goggles that Skill Supply brought to us,
[1941.68] Matt: which meant anybody could come along, put the goggles on and watch the pros take a lap
[1948.16] Matt: of the course.
[1949.16] Matt: And honestly, if I wasn't organizing it, I would have made sure I was on that stand during
[1953.44] Matt: the elite class and I would have been like, look at them riding on board and trying not
[1958.48] Matt: to vomit while Nightwing's doing a hot lap, like it would have been mad.
[1962.08] Cerb: It was cool.
[1965.44] Frank: This episode was recorded in front of a live online audience, downloaded and edited to
[1969.56] Frank: make sense when it played audio only, censored to please the iTunes people, hosted on the
[1974.4] Frank: internet, forwarded through to your podcast provider, downloaded, playing on your device
[1978.6] Frank: and is now playing in your ears.
[1980.52] Frank: All thanks to our Patreons.
[1982.92] Frank: Consider joining them and you'll also get other online benefits.
[1986.2] Frank: Find out more at patreon.com forward slash let's drone out.
[1990.44] Cerb: Yeah, the entire other side of that, that sports hall that you didn't really pick it
[1996.12] Cerb: up too much on the track cams, you would have seen some of it, but there was as much space
[2001.32] Cerb: as the pits and the track again.
[2004.56] Cerb: And it's something we've not really seen at, well, definitely not in UK events, but other
[2009.6] Cerb: events is stuff for the public, stuff for the spectators, stuff that the sponsors can
[2015.88] Cerb: get involved and show off what they do and, you know, BMFA were there with their sims
[2021.0] Cerb: so people could fly on the sim and people would ride along in the goggles like Matt
[2024.76] Cerb: was talking about and play with the Lego and so there was something for everybody that
[2029.52] Cerb: came and watched, which was really, really changed the atmosphere from, you know, a fantastic
[2035.68] Cerb: atmosphere that you always get with the pilots to so much more because you've got the spectators
[2041.12] Cerb: and they're involved.
[2042.12] Cerb: Big screen up in that area and I looked across at one point and there was like five rows
[2050.24] Cerb: deep of people in seating sitting there watching the streamed output with all the audio over
[2056.72] Cerb: the top and it was, yeah, it was amazing and I really loved that.
[2061.04] Cerb: I love being part of pulling in the public that way and expanding the event that way
[2066.68] Cerb: so it's not just, you know, you and your mates in a sports hall racing with drones,
[2071.56] Cerb: you know, it's a spectacle, it's something everybody can get stuck into and I guarantee
[2077.2] Cerb: two or three or maybe ten, I don't know, people went home and googled whoops and how to get
[2084.8] Cerb: into it.
[2085.8] Matt: Definitely.
[2086.8] Matt: Yeah, I can't remember how many subscribers you and Jesse said you got, but it was loads
[2092.88] Matt: just off the back of that video, so it was amazing to know that people have been watching
[2097.92] Matt: it at home, people have been there, you know, picking it up, getting it, getting the goggles
[2103.12] Matt: on their faces, riding along and enjoying it, which was awesome.
[2107.24] Matt: So we were going to do that and it meant that we're heading in the direction which I'm hoping
[2114.24] Matt: it will grow into me, I don't know how many years, but like a festival of FPV, so you
[2120.08] Matt: have a day event you can bring your family along to and your kids aren't going to get
[2123.6] Matt: bored because they can go and play with Lego, they can play with some nice light trains,
[2127.52] Matt: they can ride along, they can do all sorts of things and we had a couple of families
[2131.28] Matt: there with little kids and there's, I wish I had my photo of the little kid, there was
[2138.2] Matt: one photo I took of this kid who was sat in a hot seat, oh I don't know how to put it
[2146.0] Matt: on there, and he's sitting in one of the race tech seats and he's like, I don't know, three
[2152.96] Matt: or something and he's got his legs like stuck out off the end of it and he's got the goggles
[2159.12] Matt: on his head that are like flopping down, he's having to hold them up and he's just got this
[2161.84] Matt: biggest grin, it's hilarious, so it was great to do that and that's what it is, you know,
[2167.44] Matt: getting, yeah that's right Caroline, getting the kids flying line of sight is the first
[2172.88] Matt: kind of essential part, just seeing what you can do, controlling this thing,
[2180.08] Matt: it was great, it was cool, I got a photo I can show you of the simulators, we've got two,
[2186.88] Matt: we've got a experienced one of the pilots and a little girl flying on the simulator, the BMFA,
[2194.88] Cerb: they brought those along, it's cool, and the guys from the BMFA were,
[2200.72] Cerb: Andy was taken ill, like halfway through the first day, he still managed to get there, you know,
[2208.48] Cerb: get all the kit into the van and get to the event and set it all up, absolute trooper,
[2214.24] Cerb: and then by about halfway through the first day, like he hit the wall, and yeah he had to be, it
[2221.12] Cerb: was Chris, Chris from BMFA had to come and rescue him the next day, but Chris drives a hatchback,
[2227.6] Cerb: so that was all this equipment and we had to like do all the logistics and Matt had to put it
[2234.32] Cerb: in his van and stuff like that, but I mean above and beyond from those guys to turn up and get those
[2240.64] Cerb: sims set up whilst, you know, not being a hundred percent, it was really, they stuck to their guns,
[2246.64] Matt: but like part of the reason we didn't have two sets of line of sight drones, we only had the one,
[2251.2] Matt: is because Dominic from Skill Supply was ill and he was ill in bed, couldn't be for a week,
[2255.84] Matt: and he was like, no I'm not going to make it, but you can have this kit, and he just gave me his kit
[2259.12] Matt: to bring along, like it's like I can't run a whole thing, but like you can have the kit, you know,
[2264.32] Matt: bring it along, make sure people have, yeah Marshall, your infinity tunnel was an absolute
[2270.24] Matt: hit, people loved it, yeah they didn't want to let us down, which was Ace, so he gave us the kit to
[2278.4] Matt: bring along and we had, it meant that we didn't lose a load of activities, because I wanted to
[2282.88] Matt: make sure there was stuff for people to do there. The, what was I going to say, I'm not going to
[2290.88] Frank: try and talk now. Well never mind, because we're almost two-thirds of the way through the show,
[2296.8] Frank: and I feel like we've barely spoken about the racing, which for the Birmingham International
[2301.84] Frank: Race Day shows how much else has been going on. Yeah. So we should really get into that, so what
[2308.08] Frank: was the, what was the sort of the trend of the day, any big battles that sort of continued
[2313.68] Frank: throughout the day, what was the story of the weekend? The story of the weekend is nobody is
[2321.6] Cerb: slow anymore, it's amazing how quick these guys are flying, and then the amount of, for me personally,
[2329.84] Cerb: you can barely fly away, the amount of guys in angle mode, you know, like actually properly
[2335.84] Cerb: inverting through the dive gate and, you know, smashing the tight circles around
[2341.92] Cerb: Puff the Magic Dragon, the quality of the flying was so, so good, and the camera artery and the
[2349.28] Cerb: approach was exceptional, you know, that they were taking it 100% seriously, but we had two issues
[2359.12] Cerb: over the whole weekend that came to the VAR judges and said, I think this, and we looked at it, and
[2365.2] Cerb: there was one particular one where the pilots going through the finish gate were separated by
[2370.88] Matt: one frame of video. Yeah, Marsh we were flying, it was an incredible, incredible bit of a thing,
[2378.88] Matt: and it was an important call as well that Serb was making, because it came down to one frame,
[2385.68] Matt: one of them would be pushed down into the redemption bracket, and the other would carry on
[2388.96] Cerb: in the winner's bracket. Thank heavens for the VAR and the VAR team, the hardware and the people
[2397.12] Cerb: running it absolutely did such a good job, because we were able to literally go frame by frame through
[2404.8] Cerb: full screen feeds of each pilot's onboard and the side by sides, and, you know, a throng gathered
[2411.76] Cerb: around the judges, and I'm like, go away, go away, I will make the call, my guys will tell me,
[2417.12] Cerb: and they'll give me their opinion, I'll look at it, I'll make the final decision, not you lot,
[2421.68] Cerb: and I made the final call, and stand by it, absolutely, and do you know what, all of the
[2427.76] Cerb: guys involved, all the pilots involved went, okay Serbs, that's the decision, and off they went.
[2434.0] Frank: Marcin is in the chat at the moment, and he's not so keen on VAR anymore.
[2437.52] Matt: Yeah, it was a good demonstration of like, when whoops are traveling this, like whoops used to be,
[2447.52] Matt: like 90% of everyone was in angle mode, like say now, there's three, I think, pilots of the whole
[2454.88] Matt: of birds that were in angle mode, everyone else was in acro, and the speed they're going, you need
[2460.96] Matt: VAR, and to be able to go through frame by frame, and literally see, it was quite incredible,
[2468.72] Matt: what Marcin goes through the timing gate first, so the timing picks him up,
[2473.04] Matt: and then Kwak sees him ahead of him, and just tips it over to nine degrees, and full sends it,
[2478.64] Matt: and literally answers him just as he goes into the crash gate, it was incredible.
[2484.24] Cerb: And the tricky thing was, that meant that his video was of the floor,
[2488.72] Cerb: you're having to try and see where he passed the bottom bar of the gate as he went through.
[2493.36] Matt: You just see, like, Marcin's, like, whooped ducks go past him in one frame,
[2498.48] Matt: and then you see him in the crash gate, and Marcin's still got the edge of the crash gate there,
[2502.4] Matt: and you're like, well, that's that. It was really cool.
[2508.16] Matt: Robbed.
[2509.36] Matt: That was probably the one of the most, one of the, like, most dramatic of, like, the,
[2516.64] Matt: was that in advanced class, I think it was? That was probably the most dramatic in advanced class,
[2521.2] Matt: like, the finals was great as well, but in the finals of advanced class was great as well,
[2526.72] Matt: but that one really stuck with me, and I went and had a chat with them afterwards,
[2530.64] Matt: and the university video team came, and videoed a little interview we had with them,
[2536.8] Matt: and it was so good, because they both obviously really wanted it, but they were, like, joking and
[2540.72] Matt: laughing around, like, saying, like, so I've said, Haradri at the event was incredible.
[2545.76] Matt: People were helping each other out. They were racing hard, but it was all really good sportsmanship.
[2551.52] Cerb: Yeah, the sportsmanship was so nice.
[2554.96] Jack: Zero to hear everyone, everyone behave. And Curry Kitten. Curry Kitten's here.
[2561.2] Jack: I tell you what, man, you're bringing, you are bringing out some names tonight, I tell you that.
[2567.12] Jack: Like, you've even had, like, who else have you, have you, like,
[2573.12] Jack: very lovely. I mean, Phil Spin was here first.
[2577.52] Cerb: Sam got very excited on the stream on Sunday, because Bot Grinder dropped into the chat.
[2583.36] Matt: Yeah, we had celebrities in the chat.
[2586.0] Cerb: Sam was like, oh my God, it's Bot!
[2588.4] Jack: Alexander Tear as well.
[2590.8] Jack: Cool.
[2591.6] Matt: But I think the biggest kind of battle that was going on in the race,
[2595.36] Matt: and they're good friends. They, like, laugh about it. But it's fun watching from, like,
[2600.64] Matt: the spectators' perspective, is that Nightwing and Rie FPV had met, I don't know, a couple
[2608.08] Matt: months ago in Poland, where they had had a race. So Nightwing was over. They had a huge race over
[2614.0] Matt: in Poland. I think they had, like, 70 or 80 pilots. Massive event, like, absolutely huge.
[2620.24] Matt: And they went all the way through to the finals. And they had a battle in the finals.
[2624.88] Matt: And Rie was picked to the post there. And Nightwing won. And so when they came,
[2629.6] Matt: when they were going through in the elite class finals, and they were both edging forwards,
[2633.84] Matt: and then all of a sudden, Rie got knocked down into the elimination bracket, and was like, no!
[2638.96] Matt: Come on, you can do it!
[2643.2] Cerb: I love double elimination. I love it, love it, love it so much.
[2647.12] Matt: I have to admit that I've been reticent about it. I have pushed back. And so will
[2652.32] Matt: no. And Jesse, we had discussions about it. I was all for single elimination. So I was like, no,
[2657.2] Matt: you race your fastest. And that's it. That's your race. But honestly, I am a convert. It is a very
[2663.68] Matt: exciting format. I have to hold my eyes up and say that I've learnt the reason why.
[2669.52] Cerb: Jesse and I had Matt's arm up behind his back, like, the month before the event,
[2672.96] Cerb: like, with double elimination. Whether you like it or not. And we were initially kind of worried.
[2679.44] Cerb: Like, I've never, I've never commentated double elimination. I've watched it. I know how it works.
[2685.68] Cerb: But to commentate, it was like a new challenge. And we did a bunch of graphics and overlays,
[2690.8] Cerb: try and make it explainable. And actually, commentating it was really good fun. And I think,
[2699.36] Cerb: tell me out in chat if you disagree. I think we commentated it in such a way that it made sense.
[2705.36] Cerb: And you knew who was where and pretty much why they were there. And some of the battles it created
[2711.92] Cerb: when people slipped into the the kind of loser's side of the bracket and had to fight their way
[2716.16] Cerb: back in. There were some great stories there to tell you know, I was placing bets that light sale
[2721.36] Cerb: was going to go the long way round. So drop into losers, but win overall. So so then because I'd
[2727.84] Cerb: made that bet like we were like, he started winning, he didn't drop into the loser's bracket.
[2732.16] Cerb: And I'm like, well, that's that's ruined my theory. And then he lost a race and dropped
[2735.68] Cerb: into the losers. All right, here we go. Here comes the fight back. You get to tell these
[2740.24] Matt: great stories. It's really good fun. It was really good. It was so fun. And that
[2746.0] Matt: because we had dropped down into the loser's bracket and had to come back, he had I think
[2751.36] Matt: to win two races to come back into the finals. Yeah. There was like jeopardy. It was like,
[2758.48] Matt: you either win or you go home. And he was like, I was on the final podium in Poland. I want to be
[2763.76] Matt: here a bird as well. And he got there. And they went up against each other. And it was so fast.
[2769.28] Matt: These two knew how each other flew. They were absolutely chasing each other.
[2773.92] Cerb: They came down to the last corner. It is the last corner of the last lap.
[2778.24] Matt: Yeah. Because I think on the third lap or something, because they did four laps.
[2783.28] Cerb: Thank you, GFPV.
[2785.12] Matt: The third lap, always the third lap, Nightwing was leading. And it was fast. They were right.
[2790.24] Matt: Rhee was right on his ass. And then he made a bottle. They both made a couple of bottles
[2795.68] Matt: on the dive on Puff the Magic Dragon. Rhee took him, led him for a whole lap. And it was like,
[2801.44] Matt: holy crap, he's going to get him. He's going to get him.
[2805.68] Matt: Just a little bit wide on the last corner. And oh, my God, he just didn't need another excuse.
[2811.36] Matt: He just whipped around and just absolutely sent it into the crash gate. It was awesome.
[2816.48] Matt: And the whole hole erupted. It was awesome.
[2820.56] Matt: It was so good.
[2822.48] Frank: That's good. That is always the best sign of some good FPV racing is when everyone's so invested in
[2830.72] Frank: it that a cheer comes up at the end. That is definitely the sign that things are going well.
[2837.36] Frank: So, Matt, as you've got results in front of you, do you want to give us a quick rundown
[2842.24] Frank: of where sort of the final results ended up?
[2846.64] Matt: Yes, give me a moment because I'll stick it up on screen because I've got photos as well.
[2852.29] Matt: Because that would be nice to have them on screen.
[2858.21] Frank: So tailspin says he flew angled mode with extreme limits, 89 degrees. He could do spiral dives.
[2865.41] Cerb: I honestly didn't know you could fly a whup in Acro mode. I was so blown away by the guys
[2871.33] Cerb: by the Acro.
[2872.45] Matt: I'm an Acro maximalist. I'm an angle maximalist. I still fly in angle mode.
[2879.57] Matt: So does Mike and Tom Mundy. And Dan Carpy let us. He's gone now. He's gone over to the Acro side.
[2889.97] Cerb: Thank you, Bagzilla.
[2891.33] Matt: Oh, thanks, man. That's good. Well, this is the hobbyist class. A couple had to go home because
[2896.69] Matt: they had unfortunately had obligations to me. But in hobbyist class, first place was Archie FPV.
[2906.52] Matt: Stand up there taking home the trophy. Second place was James TX. Third place was RC Maniac.
[2912.12] Matt: And fourth was Inferno, who for some reason in the photo, he was there.
[2918.76] Cerb: That was our hobbyist class.
[2920.36] Cerb: Some fat old man in third place.
[2925.4] Jack: Are they stonewashed jeans? Or was that ice forming on your jeans?
[2930.04] Cerb: That was actually the ice that had formed on my legs.
[2937.48] Matt: There's the, I'll come one way.
[2939.88] Matt: Okay, well, that's a nice trophy.
[2943.8] Cerb: I'm so glad I didn't have to print that trophy.
[2946.04] Matt: It was a monster to print.
[2947.64] Cerb: My hat is off to the person that printed that.
[2951.32] Matt: That was that was Kai.
[2953.16] Matt: It was Kai, wasn't it? Yeah, he's got a white, purple, and blue and black.
[2964.92] Matt: It was mad.
[2965.96] Cerb: And the support material came off so cleanly. It was so good. Well done, Kai.
[2970.76] Matt: So moving on to the advanced class, as I said earlier, advanced class.
[2977.4] Matt: I always think like all of these guys are worthy of being in a league.
[2980.6] Matt: They were so quick.
[2982.76] Matt: But we had in first place was Dan Carpy.
[2987.16] Matt: In second place from Holland, El Dorondo.
[2990.76] Matt: Third is Rich.
[2992.76] Matt: And fourth is Dirty McStinky.
[2996.36] Matt: So well done, advanced pilots.
[2999.0] Matt: And then I think I'll hop back one more.
[3001.4] Matt: There we go.
[3002.04] Matt: There's our elite, third 2025 elite pilots in their glory.
[3008.44] Matt: First place, Nightwing, one on the last corner.
[3011.4] Matt: Incredible flying all weekend, to be fair.
[3015.48] Matt: Second place, Ree.
[3016.44] Matt: He's going to have to chase him down at another event and see if he can be him.
[3019.96] Matt: But Ree got second place from Latvia.
[3022.92] Matt: His fellow American daylight in third place.
[3026.2] Matt: And in fourth place, holding the torch for the Brits.
[3029.24] Matt: B.B. Gilbert, who likes to hide inside a chicken's head for some reason.
[3035.48] Matt: I'm not sure where that joke comes from.
[3038.12] Matt: I'm sure it means something to somebody.
[3039.56] Matt: I've clearly missed something.
[3041.08] Cerb: Who knows?
[3042.52] Cerb: But it's good.
[3043.64] Matt: But it's good.
[3044.2] Matt: Yeah.
[3044.6] Matt: So well done, guys.
[3046.36] Cerb: And as Marsham was just saying in chat, having all the features and the fun and the madness
[3053.24] Cerb: makes it really good fun.
[3054.2] Cerb: That's what Tiny Rooping is about.
[3055.8] Cerb: It's what all racing should be about.
[3058.04] Cerb: Serious but fun.
[3060.36] Cerb: Bird and the other Tiny Roop events.
[3063.56] Cerb: There's something about them that just the sportsmanship, the camaraderie, the good fun,
[3070.2] Cerb: the just silliness.
[3073.08] Cerb: It's so nice to see.
[3074.52] Cerb: And long may that continue.
[3076.6] Matt: Yeah, the silliness helps.
[3080.68] Matt: Way back, I don't know what the word is, but I made people dress up
[3087.16] Matt: if they wanted an extra second off their laps.
[3089.08] Matt: Because I was like, let's have some fun with this.
[3091.16] Matt: Let's enforce some fun.
[3092.92] Matt: And this year, there was no bonus for dressing up, you know.
[3096.68] Matt: They still did it.
[3097.88] Matt: But they still did it anyway.
[3099.0] Matt: People came along dressed up.
[3100.12] Matt: We had Jesus there.
[3101.16] Matt: We had Pokemon there.
[3102.76] Matt: We had, you know, all sorts coming along.
[3105.32] Cerb: So it's very strange when Jesus comes to the VAR desk to raise a question.
[3114.2] Matt: Everyone got on board, which was awesome.
[3115.96] Matt: So we want to keep that kind of spirit of fun alive.
[3120.2] Matt: And that's part of having the extra activities.
[3122.84] Matt: You know, making sure people are racing fairly and safely.
[3126.76] Matt: And also having fun and looking after each other.
[3129.64] Matt: And I think we got the balance exactly right.
[3131.72] Matt: Which we're lucky.
[3134.92] Cerb: We've got very robust systems and the timing and all that stuff we've worked.
[3140.44] Cerb: We've developed that forwards another step this year as well.
[3144.2] Cerb: And so everything was, you know, spot on.
[3148.36] Cerb: But even then, you're going to get those one frame video calls.
[3152.6] Cerb: And, you know, did I did that pilot miss that gate?
[3156.28] Cerb: And how do you how do you determine it?
[3158.12] Cerb: And and everybody was just, yeah, they took the decisions and said, right.
[3164.68] Cerb: Yeah, that's good.
[3165.4] Cerb: And went off and flee the next round.
[3167.96] Cerb: They took it absolutely 100 percent seriously.
[3170.6] Cerb: But nobody got stressed out and upset or weird about anything.
[3176.12] Cerb: It was so good.
[3177.08] Cerb: It was so nice.
[3177.96] Frank: Perfect. That is what you need.
[3181.32] Matt: Matt Vlogs.
[3182.92] Matt: Yes. But there are a few more things about the event that we need to do.
[3188.36] Matt: One of them is a prize draw for the bird challenge activities that were done,
[3195.56] Matt: because there were I think 10 activities in total,
[3198.68] Matt: including ones you could do on your phone.
[3201.24] Matt: Because we had our very own light sail create a whole web app for the event.
[3206.76] Matt: Another one of the volunteers had kind of stepped up and said,
[3208.84] Matt: yeah, I'll help out.
[3209.8] Matt: You know, I want to make this an amazing event.
[3212.36] Matt: Built us a whole web app for the activities.
[3215.0] Matt: So you could log your activities and completed and get little achievements as you went around.
[3220.12] Matt: Like I said, we had a load of people complete those.
[3222.28] Matt: So we had a prize draw where they can win a beta FPV,
[3227.24] Matt: Cetus FPV kit, like a whole kit, ready to fly.
[3231.32] Matt: BCI hat, HGLRC t-shirts, the bird limited edition sticker,
[3236.84] Matt: of which there was only 100.
[3238.36] Matt: So you get one of those.
[3239.32] Matt: That's good.
[3240.36] Matt: Props from HD prop and gem fan,
[3242.2] Matt: battery strap from Weebly, HGLRCV and BCI,
[3245.4] Matt: and stickers from most of every one of our sponsors.
[3248.76] Matt: So there's a whole load of prizes up for grabs.
[3251.48] Matt: So I guess I should probably share my screen again.
[3253.64] Matt: I keep doing that.
[3254.92] Matt: Right.
[3256.92] Matt: Random name picker.
[3258.2] Matt: Are you ready, guys?
[3260.12] Cerb: This is the list.
[3261.56] Cerb: So for those that aren't seeing pictures,
[3263.88] Cerb: this is Matt listing up all of the entrants
[3267.16] Cerb: and he's going to pick a winner using some online computer thing.
[3273.08] Cerb: So drum roll, please.
[3275.16] Matt: Drum roll, please.
[3276.04] Matt: I've scrolled down somewhere down here.
[3277.4] Matt: Pick a random winner.
[3278.28] Matt: Okay, you ready?
[3279.24] Matt: Here we go.
[3279.88] Matt: This is for the challenge activities and all those prizes.
[3283.16] Matt: Ready?
[3289.06] Matt: It is Max Cropper.
[3293.7] Matt: Max Cropper.
[3294.34] Matt: That is one of the German pilots.
[3297.46] Matt: So we'll have to send a care package over to Germany.
[3299.94] Matt: Might be a very good excuse to go to Germany
[3301.78] Matt: and check up on Puff the Magic Dragon.
[3306.58] Matt: So well done, Max.
[3308.02] Matt: Congratulations.
[3310.9] Matt: I'll get that sorted with you soon.
[3315.78] Matt: The other one to reveal is the best V-log winner.
[3321.54] Matt: So we had three V-logs submitted.
[3327.06] Matt: I need to stop sharing for a second.
[3331.14] Matt: Okay, it's gone away.
[3331.86] Matt: Good.
[3333.86] Matt: We have three V-logs submitted by the RoboPilots team,
[3338.9] Matt: by Joshua Thornberry, and by Edward Davies.
[3342.26] Matt: And if I can bring up the right thing, zero.
[3352.58] Cerb: So these are the video V-logs that all the pilots went away
[3357.3] Cerb: and put together after the event, right?
[3360.5] Matt: Yes.
[3360.82] Matt: So they had a spec of up to five minutes long
[3366.5] Matt: of basically their experience at Birds 2025
[3370.82] Matt: to show us what they got up to, how they got there,
[3372.82] Matt: what their racing was like, how they enjoyed the time.
[3376.74] Matt: And basically to share the event with as many people as possible,
[3379.94] Matt: but in their own sort of, in their own video, how they want to do it.
[3384.02] Matt: And we had some amazing submissions and the votes were in.
[3390.58] Matt: And the winner is, I share my screen.
[3397.16] Matt: The winner is from RoboPilots.
[3400.92] Matt: They had 89 votes out, if I did my math properly, 89, 17.
[3412.58] Matt: 117 votes.
[3414.18] Matt: They got 89 votes, which is incredible.
[3416.66] Matt: So three quarters of the votes went to RoboPilots.
[3419.06] Matt: Well done, guys.
[3420.02] Matt: You have secured yourself the prizes.
[3422.1] Matt: A happy model, Mobula 6 Eco HD0, a Vifly Woopstore V3 charger,
[3428.26] Matt: VTR-FPB Super Nano ERS transmitter module, a HGLRC GPS M100,
[3435.94] Matt: an HGLRC LED controller and LEDs, a limited edition sticker,
[3441.7] Matt: props from HQ prop and from Jampan,
[3444.18] Matt: battery straps from Wheel Lead FPV, HGLRC and VCI,
[3448.18] Matt: and stickers from all the rest of our wonderful sponsors.
[3451.22] Matt: So well done, RoboPilots.
[3453.94] Matt: Again, you guys are over in Latvia.
[3455.78] Matt: I've seen your races.
[3457.38] Matt: They look great fun.
[3458.26] Matt: This might be a very good excuse to go over there.
[3460.34] Cerb: I'll have to see what it says.
[3462.74] Cerb: I'm officially wearing my RoboPilots goggles to celebrate.
[3466.26] Cerb: Oh, yeah.
[3469.62] Frank: Now, I've put the link to the winning entry in the trap.
[3473.86] Frank: And so anyone that is currently watching,
[3477.54] Frank: go watch that after this finishes.
[3480.18] Frank: Go check it out.
[3481.38] Matt: It's really good.
[3482.26] Matt: It's really good.
[3482.9] Matt: It's in Latvia, parts of it.
[3484.66] Matt: So it's a bit tricky to understand,
[3485.78] Matt: but you'll definitely get the vibe of what was going on.
[3487.86] Matt: They had so much fun.
[3489.3] Matt: And they were one of our only teams
[3492.02] Matt: that came over in full regalia.
[3493.62] Matt: They had their full team properly seared t-shirts and stuff,
[3499.86] Cerb: which is great.
[3500.66] Cerb: They've got the kit.
[3501.78] Cerb: They'd take proper headshots.
[3504.74] Cerb: All of their pilot logos are all branded up.
[3507.46] Cerb: It's like, yeah, bottom.
[3508.82] Cerb: These guys are doing it right.
[3510.82] Matt: Yeah.
[3512.82] Matt: Nice.
[3513.38] Matt: So, yeah, so those were the announcements to make.
[3516.98] Matt: So thank you for letting us hijack your podcast.
[3521.06] Frank: Great to have you on.
[3525.7] Frank: Such a broad and energetic event is going on.
[3530.82] Frank: And we're very happy to have you on and spread that word.
[3535.14] Matt: Thank you so much, guys.
[3536.42] Frank: Yeah, it's great.
[3537.7] Frank: So hopefully, this all sounds like it's on the cards
[3542.18] Frank: for a 2026 bird, right?
[3545.38] Cerb: No, never again.
[3546.66] Cerb: Never again.
[3547.14] Matt: No, no, no.
[3549.78] Matt: That's so hard.
[3550.82] Matt: Like, he was so, like, burned out by the end of it.
[3553.14] Matt: He's, like, saying, going to counseling.
[3557.62] Matt: We'll definitely be a bird 2026.
[3559.86] Matt: Definitely.
[3560.26] Matt: We had so much fun doing it, like, the jokes we make.
[3563.06] Matt: We had so much fun doing it.
[3564.42] Cerb: So, yeah, we will be back bigger and better every year.
[3569.46] Frank: Excellent.
[3569.94] Frank: Where can people follow to get the first word
[3573.86] Frank: that there might be some tickets available
[3575.54] Frank: so they can get them before they sell out?
[3577.46] Matt: The first place to look will be the BTW Facebook page,
[3582.34] Matt: followed very swiftly by the Killer Quads Facebook page.
[3584.9] Matt: Those would be the best places to look.
[3587.54] Matt: We're developing out the btwclub.co.uk website.
[3593.14] Matt: That will get bigger and stronger and have more updates
[3595.94] Matt: and links and things and will eventually be the first place
[3598.5] Matt: to find stuff.
[3599.78] Matt: In the meantime, join the Facebook groups.
[3602.9] Matt: You'll see photos up there, videos that people have put together.
[3607.62] Matt: There's so much going on.
[3608.66] Matt: So, come and join the gang of whoopers.
[3611.54] Matt: Even though we're going into, like, the new year
[3613.54] Matt: and it's just going to get warmer,
[3614.66] Matt: people are going to want to fly outside.
[3618.42] Matt: We're going to whoop through the summer
[3621.06] Matt: and we will see you.
[3622.74] Matt: Yeah, he's got his five inches parked on the wall over there,
[3625.62] Matt: ready to go.
[3626.98] Matt: But we will be whooping through the summer
[3630.18] Matt: up and down the country.
[3631.22] Matt: There are clubs doing stuff all over the place.
[3634.58] Matt: So, if you want to come and join us, please do feel like
[3638.26] Matt: you're welcome.
[3638.98] Matt: We would love to see you.
[3640.42] Cerb: It's worth mentioning super fast if we've got a moment.
[3643.54] Cerb: The whoop scene across the UK is now having a UK league.
[3650.1] Cerb: So, there are now events where you can score points
[3652.98] Cerb: and there are clubs popping up.
[3655.06] Cerb: There's a new club every week and there are events
[3658.5] Cerb: and they're going to run through the summer as well.
[3660.34] Cerb: The whoop scene is really exploding in the UK
[3663.3] Cerb: and big thanks to Matt for the part he plays in that
[3666.26] Cerb: in the background.
[3666.9] Cerb: He works very hard liaising with everybody
[3669.7] Cerb: and helping everybody get their clubs started and together.
[3672.26] Cerb: And yeah, the whoop racing is going to be amazing this year.
[3677.06] Cerb: It's just starting.
[3678.98] Matt: Yeah, the level we saw in the international community,
[3681.86] Matt: like, has meant the UK wants to up its game
[3684.82] Matt: and they're doing it big time.
[3686.18] Matt: There's some serious competitions coming.
[3688.58] Matt: We've got, I think it's 23rd of March.
[3691.22] Matt: There's one down in London.
[3693.06] Matt: There's definitely one planned for Bucky FPV.
[3696.82] Matt: There's, I believe, one, I don't know if it was the other one.
[3701.38] Matt: I can't remember.
[3701.94] Matt: But they're all on IFBB.
[3703.62] Matt: So, have a look then.
[3705.62] Matt: Norfolk guys did a great event.
[3706.82] Matt: Yeah, they did it earlier in the museum.
[3708.1] Matt: You're right.
[3708.74] Matt: That was mad.
[3709.7] Matt: That was so-
[3710.26] Frank: That looked really exciting.
[3712.26] Frank: That was a great venue to have a whoop race.
[3717.7] Cerb: They will be back there in November.
[3721.06] Matt: That's it.
[3721.54] Matt: That was what I was thinking of, yeah.
[3723.3] Cerb: Yeah.
[3723.62] Cerb: And every new racing solutions will be there streaming
[3726.66] Cerb: and helping them race directly.
[3728.18] Cerb: Nudge, nudge, big wing.
[3729.38] Frank: Well, that sounds very good.
[3732.34] Frank: I look forward to seeing more of that.
[3734.74] Frank: Yeah.
[3735.38] Frank: So, great.
[3736.02] Frank: Thank you both for coming on tonight
[3738.34] Frank: and sharing the atmosphere and excitement of your event with us.
[3743.46] Frank: Look forward to seeing this carry on for years to come.
[3748.1] Frank: So, thank you, everyone.
[3749.62] Frank: You have been watching Let's Drone Out.
[3751.86] Frank: You have been joined this week by Matt from Birmingham Tiny Whoopers.
[3757.14] Matt: Thanks very much, guys.
[3758.26] Matt: Looking forward to seeing you next year.
[3760.5] Frank: Serve of FPV Racing Solutions with Sam no longer in the background.
[3767.3] Frank: And the Yeti in Brighton, Jack.
[3774.5] Jack: Thanks for coming on, guys.
[3777.3] Jack: Thank you for everything you're doing for the hobby.
[3780.18] Jack: We really appreciate it.
[3781.54] Jack: Thank you so much for having us, guys.
[3783.46] Matt: Thanks very much for having us, guys.
[3784.74] Matt: It's been great fun.
[3786.26] Frank: I've been Andrew slash Frank.
[3787.38] Frank: Thank you to all our patrons for keeping us going.
[3790.42] Frank: And, yes, see you next week when we will have drone is life taking over.
[3797.78] Frank: Yeah.
[3798.42] Frank: See you then.
[3800.1] Frank: Bye, everyone.
[3801.06] Matt: Bye.
[3801.46] Matt: See you later.