Gamified gold: WRC set to test Red Bull Drone 1 to bring fans a live over the shoulder view in challenging locations
Ralph Hogenbirk, Red Bull Drone 1, and Max Verstappen at Silverstone earlier this year
Getting that over the shoulder view of a racing car whizzing around the track is gamified gold for broadcasters, and World Rally Championship (WRC) is about to test a drone that will give its rally fans exactly that amazing perspective.
It is arguably harder to find a good broadcast drone for rally than for an in-stadium track, as the complete lack of infrastructure, unpredictable weather and huge range of challenging locations add to the complications for the technology and its pilot. If that footage is to be transmitted live, you can multiply the challenges a smidge more, but WRC is undaunted.
WRC has had its attention piqued by Red Bull Drone 1, a creation that could give it the perspective it wants for its live broadcasts. Drone afficionado Ralph Hogenbirk and the Dutch Drone Gods team have built Drone 1, which is custom first-person view (FPV) drone that can keep pace with Red Bull’s new Formula One car, the RB20, around a full Grand Prix lap at the UK’s Silverstone Circuit.
Disruptive for broadcasting
WRC has tried and tested a number of drones for its live broadcast production plans over this season, but it is set to test the Red Bull Drone 1 soon. Florian Ruth, senior director of content and communication at WRC Promoter, is excited about the potential of Red Bull Drone 1 for the rally championship.
He says: “Obviously we’re always looking into new ways and productions. One thing we tested this season and what we still test is several drone options from quite a few drone companies, but one drone system we are yet to test is with our mother company, Red Bull, and its new drone system, the Red Bull Drone 1. They have launched it with F1 and also did a showcase at MotoGP.
“Together with them, we want to run a test to stream footage from this drone live for the first time in a live broadcast,” continues Ruth.
Ruth enthuses that this drone could be extremely disruptive for sport broadcasting: “There have been reports that this drone could be a new way forwards and a revolution in television production. We want to showcase this at WRC because this would be the first time ever for this gaming perspective on television, that view we all know from all computer games where you’re behind and a little bit above the car, and not only for a moment, but for really a long duration. This is something that we are looking into and what we want to achieve and realise in the next couple of rallies.”
Red Bull Drone 1 would offer viewers a new perspective – and the opportunity for exciting new graphics – for replays and analysis. Ruth says while indepth VR or AR graphics would be hard to provide live, “obviously for post production, you can have a lot of things to play with,” and he adds, “also, [we can use graphics] to give the footage a bit more of the gamification character, and the look everyone knows from gaming. If you can transport this gaming feeling more to reality, this is I think quite a nice feature”.
Bursting into flames
On how the drone was created, the development team had to ensure the new drone could rival an F1 car in its acceleration and deceleration around turns, pack a battery that would be able to fly flat out around a 5.8 kilometre circuit, and make sure that it could handle sustained power without bursting into flames.
Red Bull contacted Hogenbirk early in 2023 asking if he would be able to create a drone that could follow an F1 car for a whole lap. Hogenbirk delivered with the Red Bull Drone 1, with the challenge against Max Verstappen in the RB20 taking place in February 2024.
The top speed of Red Bull Drone 1 is 350 kilometres per hour, with an acceleration of 100kph to 300kph in just two seconds, versus most F1 cars which accelerate from 0 to 97kph in roughly 2.6 seconds. This speed generates 6G at max load, with a 2G to 3G average acting on the carbon, glass fibre and 3D polymer body of the drone. The device weighs under one kilogramme. At the time of the race against Verstappen, live streaming from the camera was not possible, but a 4k60fps/5k30fps camera with 10bit colours was used instead.
Comments Ruth: “It’s the world’s fastest flying drone. It flies 350 kilometres an hour and has – out of all those FPV drones – the biggest reach; the drones flying at the moment can follow a car for maybe 45 seconds up to a minute, but the Red Bull drone can follow cars for several minutes if the circumstances are a good, such as if there’s no trees or spectators in the way. And this drone has reached, as we’ve seen at the test in Formula One, up to seven or eight minutes in the air. This is something really, really groundbreaking.”
WRC is hopeful of being able to test Red Bull Drone 1 live at the Central European Rally which is coming up on from 17 to 20 October, pending weather conditions. It will not be tested at the WRC Final in Japan in November because of the terrain and weather there. Testing will continue – or if the drone cannot be tested at the Central European Rally, begin – early next year.
Says Ruth: “There are too many factors at Japan Rally which would influence the performance of the drone. But at Rally Central Europe and obviously in some more tests early next year, we really want to achieve this big target and big project with our mother company, Red Bull, to really push and see this Red Bull Drone 1 come to life.”
The WRC Central European Rally takes place from 17 to 20 October 2024