How drones will change the way you watch motorsport

The way that motorsport is filmed has remained largely unchanged for decades, with cameras stationed around a track capturing static shots and helicopters above offering a birds-eye view of the action. Now, as cameras get smaller and lighter, powerful drones are finding their way into motorsport and shaking up the way we watch.  

You might have already seen a drone shot in Formula 1, as the series uses flying cameras to capture new angles of various tracks or Wes Anderson-style shots taken above iconic corners. Red Bull also built a camera drone that could keep pace with its F1 cars, but it’s away from top-tier single-seater racing that drones have really started showing their promise.  

“We started [using drones] originally back in 2016,” explains Florian Ruth, senior director of content and communication at the World Rally Championship. “In the first years, we just used drones for post-production – so mainly focused on highlights, for web and social clips, and for news.  

“The next step was to include the drones in our live project. The improvement of LTE and especially 5G technologies – and now even in combination with Starlink – allowed drones [to become] an essential part of our live coverage, like every other camera.”  

With these cameras in the sky, drone pilots can get closer to the racing action than a helicopter would be able to, and also offer new angles that other onboards can’t quite manage.  

Plus, as flying cameraman Justin Skinner proves week-in, week-out in Formula Drift, they can also unlock shots that directors could only dream of just a few years ago. 

“You get to see the action, you get to see the nuances of the car moving, where you can’t see that from the stick cams that are around the corners,” Skinner says. 

“You don’t see the little changes in their back tyres and how they’re speeding them up and slowing them down to control that back end. It just gives a lot more detail and it makes you feel like you’re really a part of the action. 

“I always say, I feel like I have the best seat in the house. I am right there, and I wouldn’t want to watch these events any other way now because I’m spoiled.” 

Skinner currently films events for Formula Drift and Nitrocross in the US, where he says using drones to get right into the action means that you can “really feel and see the lines” that racers follow around a circuit. 

While working across the two series, he is stationed on track with a small drone that can closely follow the racing cars while also broadcasting the feed live. When required by the event’s director, his cameras are cut to, and he carries out a carefully choreographed shot that aims to bring the action to life for viewers at home.  

“Usually, I get in the day before and I get there when they’re warming up as well,” Skinner explains. “They have their own warm-up sessions, so their warm-up session is my recce – when I’m scouting the track, getting my equipment set up.  

“During that whole time, I’m also getting to practice with the drivers. I try to use that practice time to attempt new angles, new entries – something to spice it up throughout the live stream.” 

The same is true in World Rally, where Ruth says his teams of drone operators practice shots on the safety caravan, which runs through each stage before the rally rolls in. These pre-race exercises have thrown up new angles and intro shots, like one ahead of this year’s Rally Portugal that saw a drone fly through a ferris wheel to reveal the stage below.  

“[It was] an amazing opening shot,” Ruth says. “You see the wheel he drives through, and you see the stage in the background and say ‘Hello, welcome to Portugal’.” 

Rome Charpentier, Forrest Wang

Photo by: Jon Putman / SOPA Images / LightRocket via Getty Images

Advances in camera technology have allowed drones to proliferate across series such as WRC and Nitrocross, and while the tech has been used it has steadily gotten better and more useful for media teams covering races. This, in part, is due to WRC’s own collaboration with drone maker DJI, which trialled its latest kit in everything from the frozen north to the deserts of Africa. 

Now, other championships are taking an interest, and Skinner says he previously held talks with Formula E to bring his unique coverage to the series. However, safety concerns mean that this is yet to happen.  

“We just try to keep it as safe as possible,” Skinner explains. “My drone has GPS rescue in case something happens it can, sort of like a standard DJI drone or videography drone, it can return to home. 

“If something was to go down, go wrong with the drone, the protocol is to land it as safely as I can on the track – on the edges – so that one of the track members can retrieve the drone if necessary.”  

However, he admits that challenges remain for open-cockpit races, including in series such as F1, Formula E and IndyCar. 

WRC Drone

Photo by: WRC.com

“Right now, the rough and tumble series seem to have adopted [drones] a lot easier, because they’re already fully covered cars,” he explains. “They’re as safe as they can be.  

“The biggest safety issue, really, would come down to, and it always gets brought up, is that maybe it could pop a tyre if it gets down on the track. But most of the stuff is not going to pop a tyre.” 

This doesn’t mean Skinner is ruling out an FPV drone one day being used by production crews in F1 or IndyCar, and Ruth also believes it’s inevitable that series like this will soon embrace drones as well – just as soon as the tech has been refined a little more.  

“We, more or less, are the perfect test laboratory for evolving technologies,” adds Ruth. 

“With our all-live concept, we broadcast over 20 hours per rally, so we just have the opportunities within our broadcast to test everything. We are doing a lot of tests, and when it works, we put it in our programme.   

WRC Drone

Photo by: WRC.com

“I’m quite a big fan of trial and error, and when the technology is fine and up to our standards then, most of the time, I’ve used it much earlier in our broadcast than anyone would have thought.”  

Once this happens and other series begin rolling out or experimenting with drone cameras, Ruth believes that the way motorsport is enjoyed at home will change dramatically with new angles, new cameras and more immersive ways of watching. 

However, this doesn’t mean your weekend broadcasts are about to change beyond recognition.  

“I think the ground cameras and close-up action shots, they will be needed for a long time,” Ruth says. “And for helicopters, until the drones have such a reach and such a duration, helicopters will be needed.  

“But everything is evolving and improving, and I’m sure that the coverage in eight to 10 years’ time will look different than it is now.”