RI Drone Racing

Season is getting under way. Many things happening.

• Forums available on the website. Let me know who wants to be a moderator and setup channels/topics. http://ridroneracing.com/community/
• NEIT Drone club is being formed to begin meetings.
• Meetings will also be put out as a Meet Up to cast a larger net.
• Indoor Whoop racing is probably going to start the season off…in as short as a couple weeks. Watch MultiGP for races.
• Indoor Racing series for beginners will be starting on Sunday afternoon as soon as we can get WWIS. Watch MultiGP for race schedule.
• Outdoor races is being sorted. We have feelers out for local fields to see who will give us permission to run outdoor races this season. Contact me  on FB if you have land/permission/ideas.
• Formalization of RIDC and RIDR and NEIT DC needs writers. As you can imagine, allot of paper work needs to be done. If you are good/enjoy that… let me know.

Thanks

Art

Just got this in. Greg Bender, who won our Father’s day race t N.Smithfield WWIS, shows us how he did it. This is our “fish hook” course which gives alot of high speed and then ends in a chicane to form the hook.

He edited a number of his best clips together. I love the mid air collision with Sawn. No damage occurred and made for a great clip.

Hope you enjoy the video and it gives you an idea of what Drone racing is all about. Come join the fun.

Click here to go to FaceBook video.

Season is under way with the first race completed at North Kingstown and the Fathers Day race happening today.

Looking forward to a good turn out… and getting some solid heats in today. Got a bunch of equipment in to make everything go smoother.

• Got the RF Explorer so we can do tech inspection and trouble shoot any interference in the building.
• Got the red checkered flags in for turn markers, very visible, very tall.
• Got the security DVR in to capture 4 racers at a time, downside … the 4 in 1 receiver we got does not support raceband frequencies… so will need to buy separate receivers. Donations now being accepted 🙂
• Carry case, got a big place to put everything. Should be able to role onsite with fewer trips to the car.

So just to recap. The plan is now to fly the first Sunday of the month at North Kingstown WWIS and the third Sunday of the month in North Smithfield. We may also pick up the CT facility depending on feedback from attendees.

Keep an eye out on MultiGP for current schedules.

Thanks

Art van Meeteren

401-234-4586

3 weeks into the racing and we are running gates and got the timing system sorted out. Don’t get me wrong… its not quite at the level of the global race in Dubai ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZ0viMxYDA4 ) but we got a couple guys that know what they are doing going through gates… and about to start posting some times.

Biggest challenge so far is the narrow gap between the ground and ceiling. Indoors is definitely harder than expected. Currently I am in the process of modifying a craft to have barometer control of altitude to help get off the ground or out of the ceiling net.

Another challenge is getting the people to show up… good weather is our enemy as people choose to practice outdoors and work on honeydew lists. We think every week … may be too frequent for people to race. IMO it is not frequent enough for practice but is way too frequent to host races. We may go to a weekly meetup outdoors for practicing and then go to a monthly indoor race. Problem with this is we may loose our slot for the facility if we can not present a weekly commitment.

Check us out on Facebook ( Rhode Island Drone Club ) for latest info…

Thanks

Art van Meeteren

artsycs@yahoo.com

401-234-4586

Indoor drone racing is about to start in Rhode Island. Wide World of Indoor Sports in Quonset has agreed to try it out in their facility after it was noted that their facility would be ideal for indoor racing. This was mainly observed because the entire inside of the building is protected with netting and soft turf field that would eliminate damage to the facility and greatly reduce damage to the drones. The glassed off observation/operation area also protect operators and spectators from any drone flying off line.

A soft start open house will be on Sunday April 10th with racing occuring every Sunday after that unless noted in the events tab of this website. Swing by the open house and fly for free. We were hoping to have some area drone businesses show up and do some demo work. Have not gotten confirmation that they will attend. The unanimous response so far has been they want to come to fly instead of pitch their companies. There will be a flying simulator onsite if you have never flown in addition to instruction given in a flyaway free zone.

After the Open House, we will be hosting Sunday afternoon leagues. At the moment the day will be split into two sections. Open fly which will allow beginner pilots to practice and gain confidence with their craft and the course. The second part of the day will consist of timed racing. Due to the timing aspect, a transponder will need to be registered/purchased/rented onsite. We will be using the I-laps solution so if you have a transponder, just need to register the number. Racing will be broken down into qualifier heats with top 2 pilots at a time. Top half of the pilots ( based on time ) will advanced to the next round. Rounds will continue until top 2 pilots remain. Final round will be best out of 3 races to determine the winner for the day. Classes will be Micro, Mini and Open. Micro will be <200mm, Mini will be >200mm <300mm and Open will we >300mm.

Pricing details is still being finalized and is dependent on turn out. Current pricing is $20 per day or $30 per day if you need to rent a transponder. Each session will be 3 hours depending on attendance. Fewer people show up, open fly will be extended. In addition.Prize money for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place will be 20%, 10% and 5% of the take from the door respectively.

Transponders will be for rent for $10 for the day or for sale for $50. Please contact us prior to the event if you will be buying/renting the transponder.

Stay tuned to this website as well as Rhode Island Drone Club on Facebook.

Questions… contact me at artsycs@yahoo.com