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What is Drone Racing missing?

May i make a suggestion that many may moan and groan about but I feel is very important. Very simply put, drone racing is often conducted with the pilot seated. Who usually spends a lot of time sat down? People in wheelchairs. Put the two together and you get a whole new audience, and a whole new set of pilots who would welcome the opportunity to do something so enjoyable and yet needs no special equipment .
Just a thought from someone who does spend a lot of time sat down.
 
educated responses?
How about an educated opinion:

FPV racing and why it’s stupid.
Sure FPV racing is fun, maybe with a small group of about 8 pilots where you might actually get some stick time and not care who wins. Otherwise, it’s become nightmare, designed and born from the vision of $’s and fame dancing in the minds of any charlatan as he saw it for the first time on YouTube or Facebook posts. “This is the future” they muttered in unison as they drew a logo and laid plans for world domination of the subject, and that meant pioneering standards. Those who pioneer the standards of any new activity or sport put their name forever on the budding sport, like anything else that came before it. In order to implement those standards these charlatans needed leagues and organizations, official only in appearance, in order to dupe the world into adopting FPV racing hook-line-and-sinker.
I watched as the those people threw down their own funds in order to launch those very leagues and hold events so grand in appearance that they could not be ignored by the existing FPV industry, pilots and even the public. Drone Racing, as we know it today, is not what was seen in those very 1st examples. As I type, another event with international implications is making waves around the world. Money is being spent at an alarming rate; pilots are spell bound by the magnitude of it all. It seems every FPV pilot in the world has joined a small team and thrown themselves and their hard eared cash in the ring in order to win a prize, gain fame, more sponsorships or simply say they were the best at something on a given day. I do not see one worthy reason for any FPV pilot to get involved. Unless those things are what you seek from your hobby and free time. Typically we choose to escape through our hobbies instead of creating more stress and anxiety in our lives. Is this a sport or a hobby, make up your mind.
FPV racing as it stands today has lost touch with the very culture and people that bore it. Even the most famous, the most skilled pilots held up as its super stars are beginners to the rich and lasting heritage of FPV radio controlled flight. Much of the influx into the hobby has been driven purely through FPV racing videos, new RTF racing aircraft and the excitement drummed up for events. They have created an entire new market of people who want to race and fly but have no idea how to solder, and frankly, they don’t want to learn and have zero interest in our hobby as it was yesterday. We have invited the worst of our populace into our home, and we have failed to guide them appropriately. We have allowed the charlatan to lower the bar of entrance, to bring the mountain down to the size of the common man in order to grow the market and dup even more pilots into the sport. The pile of broken props, for an unworthy cause, grows deeper every single day. For that mistake we will lose the culture, traditions and the very hobby that built FPV racing. But I think we can still turn it around if we wish.
Chad, the US National Drone champion, posted a video recently expressing much of the same thing with much more tact than I. Charpu showed to the US Nationals last year and felt it then; I watched it in his eyes as he scanned the scene upon arriving and soon left to find a quiet park to fly. Every day during that week long event the pilots met in a park or go-kart track afterwards and enjoyed FPV and each other more than they did the races themselves. That event became famous and great for one main reason. The networking and off the track experiences that everyone felt and wrote about, were grand to say the least. The drone racing was not the take away and the media and organizers (even the pilots) failed to realize the value of what they had when they all 1st met. Like minds formed innovative partnerships that day behind the scenes to push the hobby forward, only distracted by the racing events on the world stage. All the public remembers is who won, and I find it quite ironic that Charpu noticed it 1st (and never said a thing) and now Chad. Each the most famous pilot in FPV at the time it was expressed.
I think it’s time we take a step back from racing and think about what it’s doing to us as pilots and to our hobby as a whole. Is this the direction we wish to go? Are we being steered by those with money and only a desire to make more? I observe as young people watch their 1st FPV video (racing or not) and they are amazed. “How much?” or “How do I get into this?” The vendors and the industry will not suffer without racing, but our culture will with it. I see those people buy up RTF racing quads and give it their all, they give it their passion and they race for the win. They spend countless millions each year in the USA alone and they bust props every single weekend to the cheering delight of any company with a ABS plastic molding machine. The people enter this hobby because they see Chad and want to be him, because they see Charpu making money and becoming successful in something they love to do in only their free time. I can imagine that almost every vendor in the FPV game has been asked by every single little “racing team” and club in the nation for free gear and sponsorships because they race and want to become the next “winner”. I hate to break it to you, but the jokes on you guys, you are the new market. Not the innovators or even the winners. The innovators are speaking out and trying to tell you all something and some risk reputation and their paycheck to do it. I suggest you listen.
The buying power and numbers of the FPV pilot community is untold, we hold the keys to stopping this madness before it gets even more out of control. It’s time to rein it in and get back to basics. Racing has done its job in promoting FPV and drones in a more positive light to the public, but our culture has already moved past it, and it’s time to let the charlatans know. Now let’s move on and continue innovating, racing is a dead-end. It’s a dead end at a long trail of tears, failure, drama, let downs and busted props. If you are rich have no job and an inner drive to beat and say you’re better than your fellow man, then by all means, drone racing (as a sport) is for you! But I won’t look up to you, and I doubt anyone worth a darn in the FPV hobby will either, so enjoy the fame but understand it’s a fallacy cooked up by people with a desire to make money, nothing more.
Typically, the FPV hobby is made up of passionate, highly skilled and intelligent people. They are well versed in many subjects to be able to innovate in ways many people cannot. They seek challenges, they take their time, and they do it for personal reasons. What we are doing is shutting them out, in favor of the worst types of people. People with zero determination to learn this hobby and overcome its challenges and therefore will never find its intrinsic reward. All they want is a win, and the hobby as we knew it will die with the ushering of a “sport”. I propose, and challenge all FPV pilots, to stop entering races held by any organization. Go out and fly or race your buddies instead, I believe our point can be made to those wishing to profit from you.
We can all stop supporting all racing leagues and organizations by not racing in them, not spending our hard eared money and our valuable time in helping them succeed. You are all literally giving away your passion and value for their success. We can always race on any given weekend with our friends, there’s grassroots groups doing it every single day. If someone wants you to race, make them pay you. We do not need those leagues they need us. FPV racing, otherwise known to the public it’s sold to as “Drone Racing” will evolve and become something unrecognizable to the traditional FPV hobby. We simply do things for a different reason that means our goals; mission and means are all different. It’s time we make the distinction; it’s time we hold ourselves, our peers and our community to a higher standard more deserving of the passion and greatness that is the FPV hobby and everything that makes it so great and worthy of so much of our time and money. Let’s find, highlight and propagate what FPV is all about and stop wasting our time and energy for people who don’t get it and want nothing more than profit from us.
 
So... What happened to it being fun? I don't do things that I love because it's cheap, or I can profit on it, or to be famous. I fly fpv because it's expression of freedom, expression of creativity, and it's just flat out enjoyable.
How about an educated opinion:

FPV racing and why it’s stupid.
Sure FPV racing is fun, maybe with a small group of about 8 pilots where you might actually get some stick time and not care who wins. Otherwise, it’s become nightmare, designed and born from the vision of $’s and fame dancing in the minds of any charlatan as he saw it for the first time on YouTube or Facebook posts. “This is the future” they muttered in unison as they drew a logo and laid plans for world domination of the subject, and that meant pioneering standards. Those who pioneer the standards of any new activity or sport put their name forever on the budding sport, like anything else that came before it. In order to implement those standards these charlatans needed leagues and organizations, official only in appearance, in order to dupe the world into adopting FPV racing hook-line-and-sinker.
I watched as the those people threw down their own funds in order to launch those very leagues and hold events so grand in appearance that they could not be ignored by the existing FPV industry, pilots and even the public. Drone Racing, as we know it today, is not what was seen in those very 1st examples. As I type, another event with international implications is making waves around the world. Money is being spent at an alarming rate; pilots are spell bound by the magnitude of it all. It seems every FPV pilot in the world has joined a small team and thrown themselves and their hard eared cash in the ring in order to win a prize, gain fame, more sponsorships or simply say they were the best at something on a given day. I do not see one worthy reason for any FPV pilot to get involved. Unless those things are what you seek from your hobby and free time. Typically we choose to escape through our hobbies instead of creating more stress and anxiety in our lives. Is this a sport or a hobby, make up your mind.
FPV racing as it stands today has lost touch with the very culture and people that bore it. Even the most famous, the most skilled pilots held up as its super stars are beginners to the rich and lasting heritage of FPV radio controlled flight. Much of the influx into the hobby has been driven purely through FPV racing videos, new RTF racing aircraft and the excitement drummed up for events. They have created an entire new market of people who want to race and fly but have no idea how to solder, and frankly, they don’t want to learn and have zero interest in our hobby as it was yesterday. We have invited the worst of our populace into our home, and we have failed to guide them appropriately. We have allowed the charlatan to lower the bar of entrance, to bring the mountain down to the size of the common man in order to grow the market and dup even more pilots into the sport. The pile of broken props, for an unworthy cause, grows deeper every single day. For that mistake we will lose the culture, traditions and the very hobby that built FPV racing. But I think we can still turn it around if we wish.
Chad, the US National Drone champion, posted a video recently expressing much of the same thing with much more tact than I. Charpu showed to the US Nationals last year and felt it then; I watched it in his eyes as he scanned the scene upon arriving and soon left to find a quiet park to fly. Every day during that week long event the pilots met in a park or go-kart track afterwards and enjoyed FPV and each other more than they did the races themselves. That event became famous and great for one main reason. The networking and off the track experiences that everyone felt and wrote about, were grand to say the least. The drone racing was not the take away and the media and organizers (even the pilots) failed to realize the value of what they had when they all 1st met. Like minds formed innovative partnerships that day behind the scenes to push the hobby forward, only distracted by the racing events on the world stage. All the public remembers is who won, and I find it quite ironic that Charpu noticed it 1st (and never said a thing) and now Chad. Each the most famous pilot in FPV at the time it was expressed.
I think it’s time we take a step back from racing and think about what it’s doing to us as pilots and to our hobby as a whole. Is this the direction we wish to go? Are we being steered by those with money and only a desire to make more? I observe as young people watch their 1st FPV video (racing or not) and they are amazed. “How much?” or “How do I get into this?” The vendors and the industry will not suffer without racing, but our culture will with it. I see those people buy up RTF racing quads and give it their all, they give it their passion and they race for the win. They spend countless millions each year in the USA alone and they bust props every single weekend to the cheering delight of any company with a ABS plastic molding machine. The people enter this hobby because they see Chad and want to be him, because they see Charpu making money and becoming successful in something they love to do in only their free time. I can imagine that almost every vendor in the FPV game has been asked by every single little “racing team” and club in the nation for free gear and sponsorships because they race and want to become the next “winner”. I hate to break it to you, but the jokes on you guys, you are the new market. Not the innovators or even the winners. The innovators are speaking out and trying to tell you all something and some risk reputation and their paycheck to do it. I suggest you listen.
The buying power and numbers of the FPV pilot community is untold, we hold the keys to stopping this madness before it gets even more out of control. It’s time to rein it in and get back to basics. Racing has done its job in promoting FPV and drones in a more positive light to the public, but our culture has already moved past it, and it’s time to let the charlatans know. Now let’s move on and continue innovating, racing is a dead-end. It’s a dead end at a long trail of tears, failure, drama, let downs and busted props. If you are rich have no job and an inner drive to beat and say you’re better than your fellow man, then by all means, drone racing (as a sport) is for you! But I won’t look up to you, and I doubt anyone worth a darn in the FPV hobby will either, so enjoy the fame but understand it’s a fallacy cooked up by people with a desire to make money, nothing more.
Typically, the FPV hobby is made up of passionate, highly skilled and intelligent people. They are well versed in many subjects to be able to innovate in ways many people cannot. They seek challenges, they take their time, and they do it for personal reasons. What we are doing is shutting them out, in favor of the worst types of people. People with zero determination to learn this hobby and overcome its challenges and therefore will never find its intrinsic reward. All they want is a win, and the hobby as we knew it will die with the ushering of a “sport”. I propose, and challenge all FPV pilots, to stop entering races held by any organization. Go out and fly or race your buddies instead, I believe our point can be made to those wishing to profit from you.
We can all stop supporting all racing leagues and organizations by not racing in them, not spending our hard eared money and our valuable time in helping them succeed. You are all literally giving away your passion and value for their success. We can always race on any given weekend with our friends, there’s grassroots groups doing it every single day. If someone wants you to race, make them pay you. We do not need those leagues they need us. FPV racing, otherwise known to the public it’s sold to as “Drone Racing” will evolve and become something unrecognizable to the traditional FPV hobby. We simply do things for a different reason that means our goals; mission and means are all different. It’s time we make the distinction; it’s time we hold ourselves, our peers and our community to a higher standard more deserving of the passion and greatness that is the FPV hobby and everything that makes it so great and worthy of so much of our time and money. Let’s find, highlight and propagate what FPV is all about and stop wasting our time and energy for people who don’t get it and want nothing more than profit from us.
 
I love building some from scratch and then going out on a nice day burning a bunch of batteries. PrIce doesn’t matter to me as long as I am having fun
 
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Just to be clear I didn't compose this synopsis, but he shares some of my views of RC racing in general. Having coming from 3 decades of racing cars and trucks, I've seen a lot of changes.
 
How about an educated opinion:

FPV racing and why it’s stupid.
Sure FPV racing is fun, maybe with a small group of about 8 pilots where you might actually get some stick time and not care who wins. Otherwise, it’s become nightmare, designed and born from the vision of $’s and fame dancing in the minds of any charlatan as he saw it for the first time on YouTube or Facebook posts. “This is the future” they muttered in unison as they drew a logo and laid plans for world domination of the subject, and that meant pioneering standards. Those who pioneer the standards of any new activity or sport put their name forever on the budding sport, like anything else that came before it. In order to implement those standards these charlatans needed leagues and organizations, official only in appearance, in order to dupe the world into adopting FPV racing hook-line-and-sinker.
I watched as the those people threw down their own funds in order to launch those very leagues and hold events so grand in appearance that they could not be ignored by the existing FPV industry, pilots and even the public. Drone Racing, as we know it today, is not what was seen in those very 1st examples. As I type, another event with international implications is making waves around the world. Money is being spent at an alarming rate; pilots are spell bound by the magnitude of it all. It seems every FPV pilot in the world has joined a small team and thrown themselves and their hard eared cash in the ring in order to win a prize, gain fame, more sponsorships or simply say they were the best at something on a given day. I do not see one worthy reason for any FPV pilot to get involved. Unless those things are what you seek from your hobby and free time. Typically we choose to escape through our hobbies instead of creating more stress and anxiety in our lives. Is this a sport or a hobby, make up your mind.
FPV racing as it stands today has lost touch with the very culture and people that bore it. Even the most famous, the most skilled pilots held up as its super stars are beginners to the rich and lasting heritage of FPV radio controlled flight. Much of the influx into the hobby has been driven purely through FPV racing videos, new RTF racing aircraft and the excitement drummed up for events. They have created an entire new market of people who want to race and fly but have no idea how to solder, and frankly, they don’t want to learn and have zero interest in our hobby as it was yesterday. We have invited the worst of our populace into our home, and we have failed to guide them appropriately. We have allowed the charlatan to lower the bar of entrance, to bring the mountain down to the size of the common man in order to grow the market and dup even more pilots into the sport. The pile of broken props, for an unworthy cause, grows deeper every single day. For that mistake we will lose the culture, traditions and the very hobby that built FPV racing. But I think we can still turn it around if we wish.
Chad, the US National Drone champion, posted a video recently expressing much of the same thing with much more tact than I. Charpu showed to the US Nationals last year and felt it then; I watched it in his eyes as he scanned the scene upon arriving and soon left to find a quiet park to fly. Every day during that week long event the pilots met in a park or go-kart track afterwards and enjoyed FPV and each other more than they did the races themselves. That event became famous and great for one main reason. The networking and off the track experiences that everyone felt and wrote about, were grand to say the least. The drone racing was not the take away and the media and organizers (even the pilots) failed to realize the value of what they had when they all 1st met. Like minds formed innovative partnerships that day behind the scenes to push the hobby forward, only distracted by the racing events on the world stage. All the public remembers is who won, and I find it quite ironic that Charpu noticed it 1st (and never said a thing) and now Chad. Each the most famous pilot in FPV at the time it was expressed.
I think it’s time we take a step back from racing and think about what it’s doing to us as pilots and to our hobby as a whole. Is this the direction we wish to go? Are we being steered by those with money and only a desire to make more? I observe as young people watch their 1st FPV video (racing or not) and they are amazed. “How much?” or “How do I get into this?” The vendors and the industry will not suffer without racing, but our culture will with it. I see those people buy up RTF racing quads and give it their all, they give it their passion and they race for the win. They spend countless millions each year in the USA alone and they bust props every single weekend to the cheering delight of any company with a ABS plastic molding machine. The people enter this hobby because they see Chad and want to be him, because they see Charpu making money and becoming successful in something they love to do in only their free time. I can imagine that almost every vendor in the FPV game has been asked by every single little “racing team” and club in the nation for free gear and sponsorships because they race and want to become the next “winner”. I hate to break it to you, but the jokes on you guys, you are the new market. Not the innovators or even the winners. The innovators are speaking out and trying to tell you all something and some risk reputation and their paycheck to do it. I suggest you listen.
The buying power and numbers of the FPV pilot community is untold, we hold the keys to stopping this madness before it gets even more out of control. It’s time to rein it in and get back to basics. Racing has done its job in promoting FPV and drones in a more positive light to the public, but our culture has already moved past it, and it’s time to let the charlatans know. Now let’s move on and continue innovating, racing is a dead-end. It’s a dead end at a long trail of tears, failure, drama, let downs and busted props. If you are rich have no job and an inner drive to beat and say you’re better than your fellow man, then by all means, drone racing (as a sport) is for you! But I won’t look up to you, and I doubt anyone worth a darn in the FPV hobby will either, so enjoy the fame but understand it’s a fallacy cooked up by people with a desire to make money, nothing more.
Typically, the FPV hobby is made up of passionate, highly skilled and intelligent people. They are well versed in many subjects to be able to innovate in ways many people cannot. They seek challenges, they take their time, and they do it for personal reasons. What we are doing is shutting them out, in favor of the worst types of people. People with zero determination to learn this hobby and overcome its challenges and therefore will never find its intrinsic reward. All they want is a win, and the hobby as we knew it will die with the ushering of a “sport”. I propose, and challenge all FPV pilots, to stop entering races held by any organization. Go out and fly or race your buddies instead, I believe our point can be made to those wishing to profit from you.
We can all stop supporting all racing leagues and organizations by not racing in them, not spending our hard eared money and our valuable time in helping them succeed. You are all literally giving away your passion and value for their success. We can always race on any given weekend with our friends, there’s grassroots groups doing it every single day. If someone wants you to race, make them pay you. We do not need those leagues they need us. FPV racing, otherwise known to the public it’s sold to as “Drone Racing” will evolve and become something unrecognizable to the traditional FPV hobby. We simply do things for a different reason that means our goals; mission and means are all different. It’s time we make the distinction; it’s time we hold ourselves, our peers and our community to a higher standard more deserving of the passion and greatness that is the FPV hobby and everything that makes it so great and worthy of so much of our time and money. Let’s find, highlight and propagate what FPV is all about and stop wasting our time and energy for people who don’t get it and want nothing more than profit from us.
I can understand what is being said here, very few make profits except organisers, middle men, etc. Those that do want to race for the money at least try to win, like the faint hope of buying a lottery ticket. A faint hope for a better future. We all strive for that, and the majority, as always, carry on just being the majority. It will not stop us striving to become something better or different to what we are now. That is human nature, and for those of us who simply enjoy the challenge of flying we recognise there is an associated cost, that will line the pockets of big companies and middle men, but we can go out and fly the quad as we have wanted to do, and even through FPV experience the freedom of the air. Many have no goal in sight save for that. Everything we do, and enjoy, has an associated cost, racing drones is no exception.
If there are those that want to try to fly with the big boys and make money for others then so be it. I am content to fly on my own, or share the experiences with random strangers who want to know all about what I do. It gives me the chance to do things that without the quad I could never do again, and for a short time I no longer feel impaired and disabled, I am the pilot in control, and that feeling is priceless.
F1 racing drivers earn millions for each race but they probably started in go carts or similar, along the way many may have dropped out, followed another path , or decided that the level they were at they were happy with. Without those go cart fanatics itching to go further then F1 would be dead. Yes those middle men and organisers would not make their millions, well at least not that way.
So no, drone racing, or freestyle or anything else associated with these machines should not be allowed to die, because if they do, what else should we sacrifice because only a few are benefitting? These little machines may not be a universal cure for the human race but they do bring people together at local and international level, all talking about the same things, and taking pride in their creations and achievements. That too is priceless, and anything, anything at all, that can bring our fragmented world closer together must be worthwhile.
 
i think everyone has/ finds a nitch. my son and I love racing stuff, cars, bikes, skateboarding competitions... we love to compete.
so far, we've only flown fpv acro and we love it. i do assume we will go check out the gp races in Orlando and around the area but even those look kinda rinky dink if this was actually going to be an Olympic sport.
why buy race quads if your not gonna at least try racing at some point? it's only a few guys each time even attending and Orlando is active. NateDogg and I have and run a drift car. we have to go to a track to play with it. 90% of all the drivers are just looking for track time. no one's quitting their day job for drifting but we get together, rent the track and have a day of it.
its the same here with fpv quad racing I think. there are only a couple dozen spots open professionally. for everyone else its just an experience to enjoy.
its a great time.. if newbs can come in, learn and have fun they are spending money on parts. that's bringing down the price for everything including my game.
 
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the hobbyist will always be a hobbyist.
NateDogg doesn't build or touch a thing in the bench. he just flies, and is fair at it but has a blast. That doesn't make him less of an enthusiast for FPV or the hobby in general. i just enjoy fixing stuff so he gets lucky, but he's watched me... he replaced two motors in the RISE 250 he has with him out in Montana. eventually i just sent a whole plug and play set but he dug into it, got it working. that new set of arms is still in packages. ( :
point being, everyone has to get hooked first by the rush of playing with these toys. only after that addiction does the hobbie part come in while hoping to support the addiction. those that fail move on but spent a ton $... its an expensive toy done right. hopefully people get hooked and learn to solder, etc.
I'm hopeful
 
i don't think "drone racing" is missing anything accept more followers. the attention paid recently has given us all better equipment by leaps and bounds and that innovation isn't over. drones are the future in so many areas of business and even travel. if all this whole experience does is build more pilots..?.i really don't see a problem here.
 

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