Today Birmingham based aerial filming Creative Pie Films volunteered to capture the Darley Moor cycling race.
Hi, Nic here from Birmingham based aerial filming service Creative Pie Films.
Today was a big deal for me as i am an avid cycling enthusiast as well as a CAA qualified drone pilot. I have always wanted to use the drone in this context so for me life didnt get any better than this!
So i was up at 5am as i was hitching a ride with the Evo Velo team, however i didnt feel tired at all… I was too excited!
We arrived and i promptly introduced myself and flashed my CAA certifcate to prove i was a professional operator and then i went to recce the area I was going to fly.
I had already carried out checks online and the only real problem… just a small one…. was that there was a light aircraft runway just behind the track!
Every good pilot does his checks…
However i had already called the control tower the day before to explain who i was and what my flight would entail. The tower were absolutely fantastic and gave me the all clear. I would only be flying at a max height of around 50ft anyway so i wouldnt interfere with any air traffic taking off.
Today was the best day of 2017 so far for flying, glorious sunshine and no cloud meant that the drone wouldnt be battling the elements. Also there was an abundance of availiable light would help in regards to image capture.
Darley Moor circuit..
The track is a big triangle and I wanted to capture something at each corner and get back to the finish line all in 50 minutes!
As you can see its not a small triangle!
Darley Moor it has ace features that the riders must contend with including chicanes and long straights so I found myself trudging aross the fields to get to each point.
However is was totally worth it as the footage was fantastic and i managed to use a few techniques and even employed sport mode to chase the riders down the home straight!
On the note of the riders I would like to say how much respect I have for them, as that hour saw almost 77 riders all bunched up battling for room looking for a chance to jump a few positions until the final few laps, when they have to literally put the peddle to the metal!
I would have loved to have our additional cameras to capture the riders preparing themselves and getting their bikes ready to help build a bigger picture of the event….
Oh well…
I will have to do it again I guess……
Well done the riders of Darley Moor!
Thanks to the riders of Darley Moor and the Ashfield Road Club who organised the race.
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