Red Bull Ring, Spielberg, Austria, a place well-known for fast cars and faster motorcycles, legendary racers and a popular energy drink. Many frequent the locale, approximately 25,000 in the case of one particular weekend. Why? Because of Red Bull DR.ONE, as well as E-Mobility Play Days, but we really know everyone came for the drone racing. That’s why UVify was there.
Racers from around the world were ready to show what they were made of at the biggest drone race to date. This was not your standard drone race either, Red Bull took it to the next level by introducing the elements: Earth, Air, Water, Fire. The course layout had different sections, both fast and technical. There were even varying flight lines based on your placement throughout the racing, those that fared better had better (and faster) lines through parts of the course.
Team UVify was ready. With its new Warp 9 carbon racer, customized and protected against the elements, Pilot Andrew Meyer and Pit Crew Thom Tyler were fully prepped to meet the competition head on. With Red Bull putting on such a large event with 18 of the best racers from around the world, nothing less would suffice. Countless hours were spent in the field and on Velocidrone preparing, as well as customized avionics and power package for Warp 9 to give it the technical advantage.
Though there were some technical difficulties on day 1, Team UVify braved the fire and the flames and put in some hot laps to qualify them for the point stages. Throughout these stages, you accumulated points that would go towards your overall standings on Day 2 and 3, with the top 6 moving onto the finals.
Day 2 was a new challenge, as now where you finished in each race determined how many points you received. Most importantly, if you did not finish, you received 0 points, even if you crashed in 1st place. The races became a strategic game, unlike any other race event before, where you had to balance the points across the entire group to ensure your position. Team UVify and Warp 9 accumulated several points in Day 2, but due to ongoing technical difficulties, were unhappy with the overall performance going into Day 3.
Day 3 was packed with spectators eager to watch Warp 9 and the other drones race around the Red Bull DR.ONE track, they even had to turn people away as the venue was filled to capacity. Team UVify was eager to show the crowd what they were made of, and racked up even more points in front of the crowd. This also included some spectacular crashes and recoveries, the air cannon was a force to be reckoned with!
In the end, Team UVify received 10th place out of 18 pilots, a position to be proud of but also knowing that there’s room for improvement. The competition was fierce, and a big congratulations is in order for the podium finishers as well as Redbull and their organization for putting on such an amazing event. UVify looks forward to future Redbull endeavours and will always be ready for any challenge thrown their way.
Photo Credit: Red Bull
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