The committee would like to wish you all a ‘Happy New Year’, and we look forward to making the 2019 race season the best the UK has ever seen. You can sign up or renew your BDRA membership here.

The migration over to the new site was a slow process but is finally complete, you can find all the committee’s new email address’ on the committee page.

You may have seen a post that the association has purchased an ImmersionRC LapRF system for clubs to borrow. The committee hopes this will improve the standard of races in the UK for clubs that don’t have a LapRF, and those clubs already using LapRF can borrow the timer to add in split timings for their events if they wish to.

As part of our ongoing efforts to promote drone racing in the UK, Lee Robinson (BDRA Treasurer) wrote an article for DroneUser Magazine. Online copies of the magazine can be found at droneuser.co.uk and a printed version will be available in all good newsagents from Feb 7^th 2019.

The recent applications for both ‘National’ and ‘Regional Qualifying Events’ have been reviewed and approved, so check out the calendar to see all the events being put on for you in 2019. We have never had so many events planned this far in advance.

Plans are starting to be made for the 2019 British Championship, with a date near the end of September currently penciled in. This means we will need to cut off qualifying near the end of August to give us time to form the pilot list and send out invites. This date may change if we can find a suitable indoor location to hold the Championship. If anyone has any suggestions, then please let a member of the committee know.

Again, we hope you all have a happy new year, and look forward to seeing you at an event soon.

BDRA Members, your Menace RC discount code has been emailed to you, as we have changed website address and email addresses there is a good chance this email has been directed to your junk/spam folder so please check and add the email address as a trusted sender.

Menace RC have awarded BDRA members a 10% discount code for use when purchasing any products from the Menace website https://menacerc.co.uk/

If you are not already a BDRA member then you can sign up here

Not only will you be eligible for discounted entry to BDRA sanctioned ‘British Championship Qualifying Events’ at both National & Regional level but you will also be entitled to discounts and promotions with our partners. Once a member you will also be able to earn points on the official national and regional leaderboards which hopefully will earn you an invite to participate in the end of year championship race.

The BDRA ‘LapRF 8-Way’ has arrived! A good timing system is imperative to having a successful race. We have invested in this equipment purely to loan out to affiliated clubs who are hosting race events that have been sanctioned by us as a ‘British Championship’ qualifier, whether that be as a part of the new ‘Regional’ series or  a ‘Qualifying Event’ or ‘QE’. If you are a race organiser hosting a qualifier and want to borrow the LapRF then please just get in touch with Will Annison to arrange.

The BDRA values both its members and its supporters, without both we wouldn’t be able to put on events like Weston Park, the British Championship and the upcoming FAI F9U World Cup

We believe that the future of the BDRA is in providing benefits to our members at the same time as enhancing strategic partnerships with current supporters of drone racing in the UK.

One of the manufacturers/retailers that has been supporting the association for several years is Greg Spencer from Menace and we appreciate everything he has done for the association in the past and his sponsorship is truly valued. 

The committee would like to say a huge thank you to all our members that attended the EGM last month. There was an overwhelming majority vote to accept the proposed changes to the constitution and we are now officially the British Drone Racing Association (BDRA). Thank you all for your continued support.

The associations Facebook page has already had its name changed, and we have purchased a new domain name. There will be a small transition period as we transfer the website over to the new domain and make a few improvements.

Work has started on the Club Map, to bring it up to date and make it easier for people to find and contact existing clubs. If you are already on the club map, then please check your emails and confirm we have the correct contact information for your club. If you would like to have your club added to the map, then please get in touch with Matthew at membership@bfpvra.org

It has been decided there will be no increase in membership fees, keeping them at £10 for the year. We will be accepting 2019 memberships from December 1^st and are working on systems to make it clearer to members whether they have already renewed or not. The option for auto renewal will also be reintroduced for those that want to use it.

Along side keeping the fees the same, the committee is also working on adding more value to the membership by working with some of the leading commercial entities for exclusive member discounts. We are already in discussion with some of the UKs best to bring our members the top deals for 2019. If you are a retailer and would like to work with the BDRA then please get in touch. Members will also receive a discount at all BC qualifying events and regional series, as well as any events ran by the BDRA.

Thank you to all the race organisers that have applied to host qualifying events and regional series for the 2019 British Championship. They have now all been reviewed, and emails have been sent out to you. So please check your mail box and get in touch if you need anything. There are still more spaces available so please get in touch if you would like to host a qualifier this season.

Finally, we have applied to hold our very own FAI F9U World Cup event as a part of the BMFA Nationals in August next year. If accepted this will give a great opportunity to UK pilots to qualify at home and be a part of the 2019 FAI F9U World Championship Finale to be held once again in China. Whilst we wait for the application to be processed by the FAI our Technical Standards Director (Eric LI-Koo) is busy finalising the team selection process wording which will become a part of the BMFA handbook. As soon as we have more news on this, we will let you know. Fingers crossed that team GB will be represented on the world stage in 2019.

We have updated our events page to include the current list of ‘National’ and ‘Regional’ race events which you could participate in during the 2019 season. Please head over by clicking here.

If you wish to hold a ‘Regional Series’ or ‘National Qualifying Event’ then please complete the relevant application form on the event page (linked above).  As more events are confirmed we will update the list.

Please remember you need to be a BDRA member prior to taking part in any of the events if you wish to accumulate points towards your British Championship qualification. You can sign up to become a BDRA member here.

I personally wanted to thank all the members who participated in the EGM last night at 8pm.

For those that didn’t attend the vote was in favour of the proposed changes and the new constitution has been accepted. You can find a copy of the new constitution here. One of the main constitutional changes was the name change and from this point forward the British FPV Racing Association will be now know as the British Drone Racing Association or the BDRA. We will be changing the web address shortly and will keep you informed when that happens.

We also discussed and answered questions on the proposed rules changes, if there are any objections, suggestion or comments on any of the proposals regarding regions, points and or any other changes then please get in touch as in early December we will be officially publishing the rules for the 2019 season.

Just a reminder that an EGM is being held on Sunday 18th November 2019 at 8pm to vote on accepting the proposed changes to the constitution. As well as hold a short Q & A on the changes to the new 2019 rules.

The meeting will be held on line via a video stream and discord server. Invites will be emailed out to all members during the day on Sunday, if you have not received your invite by 2pm on Sunday then please get in touch with a member of the committee.

If you can not attend then please email your vote “for” or “against” to chairman@bfpvra.org by midday on Sunday 18th November, in the following format:

I <Your Name>, BFPVRA member number <Your Number> wish to vote <FOR/AGAINST> the proposed changes to the constitution.

You can find the new proposed constitution here and the current constitution can be found here.

The BDRA wish to introduce a new regional qualifying system for the 2019 season, this regional system will run alongside the current ‘Qualifying Event’ format which we currently use. The idea with a regional qualifying process is that it stimulates the grass roots development of the sport and gets more people involved. Pilots who may not be ready for the pressure of the larger events, but who might feel that placing highly in their local region or even just attending one or two structured races may be an aspiration goal, and a first step on the rung to racing more competitively.

• The regions within the United Kingdom are enlarged and split into 6 regions (detailed map coming soon)
  1. Scotland
  2. North
  3. Midlands & North Wales
  4. South West & South Wales
  5. South East
  6. Northern Ireland
• Each region must have at least 5 races which can be a mixture of ‘National Qualifying Events’ and ‘Regional Qualifying Events’.
• Points earned as a BDRA member attending a NQE will go towards both your National Ranking and the Regional Ranking.
• Points earned as a BDRA member attending a ‘RQE’ will go to your regional ranking.
• Each region can have multiple ‘Regional Series’ by different organisers, the minimum amount of races in a series is 3.
• There is no requirement for a ‘Regional Series’ application to be submitted by the 1st March 2019 as previously stated.
• Regional Series ‘Finals’ may apply for NQE Status if they meet all necessary requirements.
• NQE’s require a minimum of 30 pilots where as an RQE’s race only requires 24 pilots.
• The total amount of ‘British Championship’ positions awarded to a region are determined by both the amount of series races and the amount of QE races that are held in that region.
• We propose 1x BC position for each series race and 2x BC position for each QE that is ran in the Region with a maximum of 8 positions per region being awarded for 2019.
• Once British Championship positions have been awarded to the top regional pilots the remaining spots (Estimated 30) will be awarded to the top pilots on the national leaderboard.
• Non members (who attend NQE’s) will NOT appear on the national leaderboard.
• All competitors will appear on the regional leaderboard but only BDRA members will be allocated positions at the end of year ‘British Championship’

It may sound like a lot to take in initially but its pretty straight forward, if you race at at a NQE or RQE then it automatically goes towards your points for that region and gives you the opportunity to qualify for a spot at the British Championship at regional level. As previously any NQE races you attend anywhere in the country will go towards your national points score and again give you the opportunity to be invited to the British Championship should you rank high enough. We will be publishing both the regional and the national leaderboards on the BDRA website, you will also find them on IFPV once the season starts.

FAQ

1. What happens if I qualify on both regional and national leaderboards?
   Your regional ranking is used. The BC position you earned at national level would go to the next pilot on the national list.
2. What if my region doesn’t have the minimum 5 races required for a ‘Regional Series’?
   There would be no BC positions awarded for your region however any NQE races held in your region still earn pilots points on the national leaderboard
3. What if I become a BDRA member after I have already completed some race events?
   Only races you competed in after you become a member will earn you points on national leaderboard. On the regional leaderboard there will be a column for all results from all competitors (both members and non members) and a 2nd column for points gained since you became a member.
4. Why is this change happening when you have already reviewed the rules for 2019?
   After having several application for regional series from different organisers we looked into the rules a little closer and realised that they needed to be more inclusive regarding regions, the old rules gave exclusivity to the organiser who applied early and locked out anyone wanting to apply after 1st March. We understand that not everything can be planned 6 or even 12 months in advance. The new rules give more flexibility for different race organisers in a region to all contribute to that regions qualifying process, also reducing the minimum amount of series races to 3 from 5 for a single organiser should encourage more organisers to get involved in ‘Regional Series’.**Map for illustration only, an accurate regional map will be issued soon.