Every year our amazing community has the opportunity to design many of the tracks we fly for prestigious events. In the past the Championship track was either designed in house, or a designer was hand picked by MultiGP. This year we have decided to open up the opportunity to anyone that would like to participate.
Design Process
Safety
When we design our tracks, safety is paramount. In the template the gray grid represents a 230×250 grid for obstacle placement. The flight path of the drones can exceed this area on all four sides, except the side with the pilot pits, marked with the red and black arrows. Another thing to consider are the flight paths of quads flying directly towards the pits at high speed close to the pit side of the track.
Obstacles
The MultiGP champs track is the pinnacle of the season and the track should represent that. The championship track should inspire awe in the pilots when they arrive on site and see the track for the first time. In the past this has been done with a massive tunnel, sky bridge, 2 towering triple gates, triple cubes, and crazy dive gate compilations. Due to construction we can no longer use double or triple cubes for tracks. Get creative and maybe your highlight obstacle will be the new trend. This track will be an LED track as well, so keep that in mind when developing the track.
The template has 2 gates that have been resized to 10 feet wide. Please use these gates, or make sure your gates are sized to 10 feet wide. The sim has the proper size for the hurdle, 10 feet wide and 5 feet tall. Please respect these sizes when you are building your course, as we may not be able to build an obstacle if you stretch the size in the sim.
When designing the track with double or triple gates, remember that these will have tie down ropes on each corner. The triple gate ropes usually reach out 8 feet diagonally from the corners, and 6 feet for double gates.
One common mistake I see when tracks are designed in Velocidrone, is designers using hit boxes to force a direction around an obstacle. It is important to use good course design if you want a pilot to go a particular direction around an obstacle. Another aspect to consider is the judgeabliity of an obstacle. It is very easy to judge if a pilot went through a gate. It is more difficult to determine if a pilot exited a dive gate through a particular set of legs.
You are free to design your track with any number of obstacles, in the past between 20-30 is optimal. We then run a track through our calculator to determine expense and time to build. Below is our calculator for the 2023 champs, and is the max for what a track should have. A few count examples would be a gate is 1, a triple gate is also 1, but a gate with a flag is 2 obstacles. If you would like to test your track you can make a copy of the track calculator. You will then be able to put your values in.
Flight Time
For the last couple of years, we have found that a top 5 pilot can fly for around 55-60 seconds in Velocidrone without damaging the battery. We use this metric to determine if the track will be 2 or 3 laps. You can design a track that is only 2 laps as well, but we prefer 3 laps as we get more timing data. For reference the 2023 Championship track was a 3 lap track.
Start Blocks
The start blocks are placed in the template roughly where they need to be placed at the venue. The goal with the start block placement is close to the pilots for quick throughput during racing as well as a great camera angle for the livestream. You may rotate the blocks and move them slightly, but they need to stay in that general area.
Start/Finish Gate
The start finish gate placement is very important and sometimes the hardest gate to place on a track. The gate can not be more than 250 feet from the pilot pits. If the start is directly from the start blocks to the start finish gate, there should be a minimum of 100 feet in between. The most important thing to remember is that on that last lap pilots are going to send it into that gate, and will progress forward past the gate, possibly a considerable distance, so make sure they are not aimed towards people.
Site Specific Restrictions
There is an area at the ranch that WI-Fi does cause a small issue. It is best to pass through this area quickly or avoid putting obstacles here. This is highlighted on the template with a red box.
Submission Process
The first step is to download the template file. Then use your imagination and design your track following the guidelines and constraints below. To submit your track, visit https://dev.multigp.com/multigp-tracks/ and upload your VD file. Each pilot may submit one track.
If you have any questions during the build or submission process, please reach out to Mark Grohe at [email protected].
Track Selection Criteria
The final 2024 Champs track may be one of the submissions, it may be part of 2 submissions, and it may be a merger of many different tracks. We reserve the right to change any submission to suit the needs of MultiGP and our Championship track. The track may also be tweaked during the build process due to unforeseen circumstances. By submitting a track you agree to these conditions.
Our team will be looking for a track that meets these requirements:
- No gates that could cause a safety issue
- Total flight time on the track 55-60 seconds for top pilots
- Good Flow from obstacle to obstacle
- A consideration to judging the obstacles
- Balance between left and right turns
- Use of elevated obstacles to create a multidimensional track
Submission Timeline
The deadline for a track submission is August 31st. You can submit them earlier and ask for feedback as well. Once the design is picked you may or may not be contacted depending on how we plan to release the track publicly.
Thank you for being part of this amazing sport, and good Luck!!
The MultiGP Team
