At the races: FPV drone shoot with Praga at Anglesey Circuit
Racing car manufacturer Praga invited several high-profile racers to compete in the Britcar Endurance Championship behind the wheel of their R1 sportscar — and they needed an FPV drone team to capture the test day of their Guest Driver programme.
Marc Bow at Speedstream Films first dropped us an email in January 2021. “We have a production happening at Anglesey Circuit in Wales, and are looking into the possibility of high-speed FPV drone shots of a race car.”
It was exactly the kind of enquiry we’d been (excuse the pun) gearing up for! I set about building two cinelifting cinewhoops — FPV drones that can carry cinema cameras — with fellow UAV aficionado Jonathan Stocks.
A few days later, Marc confirmed we had the job! I hopped on a Zoom call with him to get the 4-1-1 on the project, and then made a few more tweaks to our FPV fleet, including a custom GPS return-to-home system to better safeguard operations.
The line-up of guest drivers includes racing video game streamer Jimmy Broadbent, supercar influencer Mr JWW, and transgender racer and diversity campaigner Charlie Martin, all taking control of the 200 km/h high-downforce cornering machines!
We set off from Portsmouth, bound for Wales. The track is sited on Anglesey, an island jutting off from the north-west corner of the country. Like Portsmouth, it’s connected to the mainland by a couple of bridge roads. The water beneath forms the Menai Strait, and the stretch between the two bridges is locally known as ‘The Swellies’.
When we arrived, we found ourselves in awe of the snow-capped mountains and glistening Irish Sea. Wales is beautiful; Anglesey Circuit is in such a stunning location. We got there earlier than everyone else just to scope it out and enjoy the views!
Here’s a quick aerial montage we shot:
Then we headed to the hotel where we were staying, met the team, and began planning the following day’s shoot. I mentioned drone cinematographer Jay Christensen’s video of a bowling alley that went viral in March — featured on one of our FPV blogs — and a few people had already seen it! We agreed to try a ‘oner’ (one-shot take), as Spielberg calls them. More on that later…
On the day of the shoot, we went to the track and laid out all our drones in the pit garage we were sharing with the rest of the production crews. Interviews with the guest racer celebs were already underway.
We conducted a site recce, presented a safety brief to everyone on site, and got our risk assessments and method statements promptly approved by the circuit’s managerial team. Then it was time for some fast-paced flying fun.
As the racetrack is right on the edge of a steep coastal cliff, it was quite windy! I decided to give Jonathan, a more experienced FPV pilot, the flying reins, while I led on directing and spotting. It worked out perfectly. As with most projects where the client is right there with us, we had displays on the ground streaming live views from our drones — never fails to blow everyone’s minds.
Supercar influencer Mr JWW — one of the guest racers — and his videographer Yorkie paid us a visit atop the hill we were flying from and asked us about the gear we were using. Catch us in his video below, from the 8:44 mark!
At lunch, we were joined by a few other racing icons, including The Grand Tour test driver Abbie Eaton and esports driver Gordie Mutch, plus sailing drone legend Rich Edwards, who’s renowned for his aerial footage of the Volvo Ocean Race.
The cinelifting drones performed faultlessly all day, and, when everyone started wrapping up, we saw the perfect opportunity for that one-shot take! There are no hidden takes here — just a flawlessly-executed FPV flight.
It was a fantastic close to a brilliant day, and the cherry on top for me was ‘Feel The Love’ by Rudimental playing in the pit garage as the afternoon turned to evening. That was the song Sara and I chose for our wedding invites many years ago! It was a real ‘stars aligning’ moment for me.
Thank you to Marc, Jonathan, Mr JWW, everyone at Praga, all the guest drivers, and all the staff on site at Anglesey Circuit. This was a shoot we’re never going to forget!