EvoMax organised by Vmax 200

I follow an event on FaceBook called Vmax. Essentially it's an event whereby Supercar owners are invited to Bruntingthorpe Proving Ground near Leicester and attempt to reach the top speed of their car along a 2 mile runway. This event was organised in conjunction with Evo magazine and called Evomax. A few months ago I applied to marshall the event as I thought it would be a great opportunity to see these cars doing what they were designed to do!

Not knowing what to expect I arrived at an airfield not too far from the M1, gave the 'password' to the guy on security and was granted access. I pulled forward into a carpark that was overrun with supercars and suddenly felt very out of place in my diesel golf. Even the 22B would have been overshadowed by all the Mclarens, Ferraris, and Porsches - of which there were many! I followed in the procession of supercars on a road which snaked about under the wingtips of huge Jumbo Jets and on to the airfield itself. I was introduced to the other marshalls and Chris from Evo magazine. We listened to the safety briefing given by Craig Williams who runs the event and then drove around the long right hand bend and headed toward the timing line where I would be stationed, three quarters of the way down the 2 mile runway.

Sporting a rather fetching hi-vis jacket, my job for the day would be to man the radar guns and record the speeds of the various supercars that descended upon us at full throttle - simples! The first cars passed by us at around 140mph which apparently was fairly slow. Then as the drivers got used to the track their speeds increased steadily, some exceeding the magic 200mph! All of the standard and most of the not-so-standard cars dealt with the following routine fairly well: Going flat out from a standing start; accelerating through a long right hand bend; flat out to achieve a top speed along a two mile straight; then hitting the brakes to slow before queuing up to do it all over again! Only one car (a modified GTR) started undressing itself halfway down the runway and considerately spat its entire wheel-arch liner out of the back of the car as it passed our marshaling point. 

GTR wheel arch liner

With most of the cars passing us in pairs, the pitch of their exhausts at full chat sounded awesome! On the overrun the Mercedes AMGs barked as the throttle blipped on the down-change as they did their best to slow in the braking zone. The Ferraris sounded particularly good too, pushing out their braking point and coming through the timing beams with the throttle still pinned! An attention seeking orange Ford GT Mirage 720 spat flames out of the rear of the car every time it passed us! Those who know me know that I do love a gadget and the sheer efficiency and stopping power provided by the air-brakes on the 12C and Veyron was hugely impressive.  

As an added incentive to slow down in time, a Jumbo Jet was parked at the end of the runway. During the course of the safety briefing Craig notified everyone that if they were running out of space and required a little extra run off, there was "plenty of room under the right wing"! With a Porsche reaching the highest speed of the day (a huge 212mph!), I was surprised this emergency 'under the wing run-off space' didn't come in useful.

It was an awesome day and people began to leave the airfield around three o'clock, at which point Evo had a number of shoot-outs planned. Suddenly we were told over the radio that the Ferrari La Ferrari and the Bugatti Veyron had just set off and were racing each other down the runway. When capturing the aerial footage I had been keeping a sensible distance from the track, so as not to distract the drivers. However, it's not everyday you such epic cars go head-to-head. I therefore thought it best to ask a welsh guy who was helping Craig run the day if it was ok to use the quadcopter to get a little closer to the action! To which he replied enthusiastically "too right it is boyo, stick it in the middle of the f*ckin' runway, you might never see this again!" So I did. Unfortunately due to the Ferrari La Ferrari and the Bugatti going through at 207 and 205mph respectively, the resulting aerial footage was a very short clip indeed! In summary, it was awesome to be part of Evomax - an adrenaline fueled and really well organised event! Enjoy the video:

(skip to 25 seconds in to see La Ferrari and Veyron fly by)

Cheap eBay brushless aluminium gimbal

The GoPro Hero 3+ Silver edition is capable of taking some pretty good quality aerial footage when attached to the underneath of the Blade 350 QX. The only problem being that as the camera is directly mounted to the quadcopter, every directional input, vibration or judder ruins the fluidity of the footage. Birds don't seem to have this problem, as their heads manage to stay in one place when they are being moved around:

Having seen more 'professional' looking footage that was shot with the aid of a quadcopter on Redbull TV and the GoPro channel on YouTube, I was keen to emulate this. My research into gimbals began. Gimbals are capable of reacting hundreds of times per second to ensure the camera stays steady and smooth. This should mean that even if the quadcopter is being blown around in the wind, the brushless motors in the gimbal will counter any input detected so the camera remains unaffected. Check out this demonstration of how straight the gimbal keeps the GoPro as the quadcopter is jerked around:

TopGun

In order to take more stable footage, I have ordered a motorised brushless gimbal which attaches to the quadcopter and keeps the GoPro stable during flight no matter how the quadcopter moves. However, while I am waiting for that to arrive, it seemed like a good excuse to have some fun with some faster banked turns and record some on-board footage with the GoPro. As I was using the 'blue mode' on the quadcopter it left most of the controlling to me which was particularly good for filming. The 'green mode' although more fool proof, does constantly correct itself automatically and these tiny alterations are massively magnified in the shot.

Couldn't resist the TopGun soundtrack!!

Did you see the shadow of the quad on the grass at around 1:15 seconds - how cool is that!?

Practicing cool shots

Having experimented with filming from the quadcopter, I really wanted be able to capture the type of footage only quadcopters are capable of filming. In theory, filming with a quadcopter allows for flowing footage, over things that would normally require some sort of crane or gib. I deliberately chose something 'boring' and normally uninspiring. A fallen tree-trunk in the middle of Richmond Park should do the trick! I simply flew over the top it, whilst rotating the quad through 180 degrees., keeping the tree-trunk as the main focal point of the shot.

Filming a fallen tree-trunk like they do in the movies!

Awesome ultra tough carry case for the Blade 350 QX

I needed to buy a carry case for the quad, so did a little research and most were either too bulky or not good enough quality. This was going to be carrying over £600 worth of kit - it needed to be good!

Having found a case to be exactly what I wanted, I managed to strike a deal with the supplier and bought a batch of these ultra protective cases! They are superior in quality to any of the others I have seen - and because I bought in bulk, I can now sell them on eBay at a discount:

Blade 350 Qx Protective Travel Case RC Quadcopter / Drone

The dimensions are 51.5cm x 41.5cm x 20cm. Unlike some of the other cases available, it is within the Easyjet hand luggage allowance and can be stored in the overhead compartment and not thrown around in the hold! (This is of particular benefit to me as I have a friend who lives in Swizerland that I frequently visit)

These cases are awesome! They are made of tough, rugged, durable black plastic, and have four layers of foam of various thickness inside them. Two of the foam sheets are 'egg crate' shaped (see picture) and two are 'pick and pluck' so it is entirely customisable to what you would like to carry with your quadcopter.

I could only work out two layouts for the 'pick and pluck' foam in order to carry the quadcopter and the Transmitter which I will e-mail to anyone who purchases one. The 'pick and pluck' foam squares although attached, can pull out easily with your fingers - so no cutting required. I only have a couple of battery packs at the moment, but will simply remove a few more blocks if I buy any more (plenty of room!). I also use I blue metal lipo charger which easily fits but so does the standard charger.

The Blade 350 QX fits in lengthways with GoPro attached without removing the rotor blades as displayed in the pictures. There is also a layer of regular 'thin' foam sheeting on the bottom underneath the skis, and 'egg crate' type foam on the inside of the lid in the configuration shown. This means none of the quadcopter is in direct contact with the the plastic box for added protection. There are no stickers on the box which could give away what you are carrying. Although there is a small rectangle on the lid for you to add your own if you so wish. Finally there is a dial which you can turn to seal or release the pressure from the box - which is slightly over engineered!!

GoPro bike helmet mount!

I went out for an hour on the bikes with my Dad this morning and took the chance to try the new helmet mount for the GoPro. The mount straps on to your helmet and the GoPro clips in! As long as the surface is relatively smooth, the shot stays reasonably stable.

This is just a couple of clips of the footage it recorded earlier today. Good Colour and fairly stable!

Experimenting with a little aerial photography!

So having familiarised myself with the controls of the quadcopter, I plucked up the courage to attach my GoPro to it. The Blade 350 QX can fly in 3 modes, green, blue and red. Green is best suited to photography as the quad is very stable, automatically correcting itself and always following the direction of the stick no matter which way the quad is orientated. Providing the green light stays solid (indicating that it has GPS lock) and knows where it is, it will also fly in vertical columns. This means if the quad is sitting on the ground, just by moving the left stick up the quad will elevate to the required level, keep itself stable, and maintain it's location even in windy conditions. The rudder can adjust the angle of the quadcopter ensuring the camera is taking the right shot. The GoPro was set to time-lapse mode again, automatically taking a photo every 0.5 seconds.

I also experimented with shooting some video from the air. I knew the footage was going to be shaky as I haven't fitted a gimbal yet (which will keep the GoPro completely stable no matter which way the quad moves). However, I thought the footage was going to be much worse than it turned out. The previous video was of the quad flying in blue mode, constantly requiring stick inputs and correction. The video below was almost only controlled with the left stick, accelerating the quad to a given height then using left or right rudder to orientate the quad through 360 degrees before reducing the throttle and lowering it to the ground again.

You can hear the quadcopter compensate for the wind by constantly correcting itself

Awesome first outing with the new quadcopter!

Quadcopter battery charged, tick! GoPro battery charged, tick! Massive open space where I'm unlikely to hit anything, tick!!! Time to have some fun! Mounting the GoPro on a tripod in the middle of an open field, video mode set to widescreen at 60fps (as this thing is quick!), I hit record and got some cool shots flying towards, away from and around the GoPro!

Having captured some pretty cool clips that I could cut together, I wanted to take some high-res photos of it hovering and accelerating off into the distance. Ideally I wanted to hit burst mode when the Quad came into shot, but I ran out of hands as I was flying it at the same time! So I set the GoPro to time-lapse mode where it takes a photo every 0.5 seconds automatically so I could concentrate on flying the Quad at some crazy angles and not hitting the tripod!

 Solid blue light indicates stability mode with GPS lock on

Red blades at the front helps with the orientation of the Quad when far away 

If I had angled the GoPro towards the sky it would have captured more vivid colours 

    

The Blade 350 QX hovers quite well once trimmed

This is almost at full tilt as the Quad accelerates into the distance!

Originally I wanted a Quadcopter to be able to capture some awesome aerial footage with my GoPro and I looked at buying a DJI Phantom. However, the RC Geek in me was so impressed with the sheer performance of the Blade 350 QX that it's as much fun to use without even attaching the camera to it (GoPro mount included in the box with the QX model). Having received excellent customer service from Neil at Hurricane Models who originally showed me the Blade from Horizon, I bought it from them who were kind enough to 'bind' the model to the spektrum radio gear and enable GPS lock mode, which allows the Quad to 'return to home' at the flick of a switch - demonstrated at the end of the video above. I thoroughly recommend!  

Burst mode on GoPro Hero3+ Silver edition

Having watched the Tour de France in Essex, I timed a short holiday to France itself so I could watch the TDF Time Trials in Perigueux near Limoges. Having waited for about 2 hours in Essex, all I managed to capture was a 30 second video of the Peleton flying round a bend. The format of the TT was very different, with the riders setting off a few minutes apart from each other. This meant in theory they should be a lot easier to capture individual photographs and videos as they rushed passed. With the GoPro set to Burst mode I was able to shoot 10 x 10 megapixel shots per second! I have compiled my Photos in this short video below:

Filming an Aston Martin AMV8 with a GoPro

I seem to have stumbled upon the ultimate mounting point for a GoPro. Putting it in the spotlight well of the front bumper allows you to capture a sensation of speed really well without having to go too fast. It also allows awesome close ups when filming another car! I left 'spot mode' on and the video was filmed and saved at 60fps. We filmed for over an hour and interestingly, the best shots weren't necessarily the fastest, but seemed to be the slower, closer shots. However the bigger the difference in speed between the camera car and the car being filmed - the faster the shot looks!

Aston Martin Vantage AMV8

Filmed from low down in the spotlight well of the front bumper as before

Frames per second (FPS)

The footage I took yesterday with the GoPro in the spotlight recess turned out to be really jumpy once saved and uploaded. I believe this is due to how it was saved once it had been edited. Even though the video was shot in 60fps, the default setting for windows movie maker live was to save it at 30fps. I opened the project again, changed all the resolution to high-res quality and changed it from 30fps to 60fps which seems to have made a massive difference when the video is played back:

Footage shot at 60fps but saved at 30fps as on previous post - very jumpy

Same footage shot and saved at 60fps which is much clearer and smoother

Spot mode on and off

I am still to find out exactly how spot mode works. However I have taken two lots off footage, one with the spot mode on, and one with the spot mode off. I wanted to mount the camera on the outside of the car this time, but didn't want to risk damaging the bodywork. So I removed one of the spotlight covers and used a 3M adhesive pad to fix a GoPro mount to the bumper. This way the cover can be replaced with the GoPro still mounted. Running a 3.5mm extension cable through the cabin and engine bay allows you to get the best of both worlds - vivid colours from an externally mounted GoPro and a 'rally-car' sound track from an external Olympus ME-51s condenser mic mounted under the boot lid near the exhaust.

GoPro mounted behind spotlight cover in Subaru 22B front bumper

Spot mode seems to give much more vivid colours - a bluer sky and greener more detailed trees and hedges for example. The road does look far more detailed with the spot mode off though. However, in order to create a video on par with the quality of those featured on the GoPro Channel - a brilliant blue sky seems essential!!!

GoPro mounted in front bumper behind spotlight cover Spot mode on / off comparison

Locating the camera so close to the road really gives a sensation of speed and I will definitely spend at least some time filming from this angle at the next track day I attend.

GoPro Hero3+ mic vs Olympus ME-51s mic from outside

Out of the box, the GoPro Hero3+ captures really good sound. I wanted to make a quick minute long video just showing a direct comparison of the GoPro internal mic vs the Olympus ME-51s external mic. To make the video I simply mounted the GoPro on a tripod using a tripod adapter mount and recorded around 20 seconds of exhaust noise with the GoPro in a skeleton housing. Then, I plugged in the 'GoPro mini USB to 3.5mm adapter' and Olympus ME-51s external mic. The tripod is approximately 2 meters from the rear of the car.

GoPro Hero3+ mic vs Olympus ME-51s condenser mic

GoPro external Olympus ME-51s mic location

The key to recording good exhaust noise on a GoPro is definitely to use an external condenser microphone. Through some trial and error I have found the Olympus ME-51s to do the job perfectly and if you follow my link you can purchase one approximately 60% cheaper than I have seen these for sale elsewhere. However, the location of the mic seems to be very important. In the previous post, the microphone was simply mounted on the outside of the boot lid. It captured great sound but, in my opinion too much wind noise, especially when not on the throttle.

 

A slightly better way to mount the microphone is to hide it from the wind somehow. I tried placing it in the boot to start with - however this just picked up lots of banging and other noise even though it was seemingly empty. The best I have been able to come up with is to locate the mic (complete with fluffy windshield) underneath the lid of the boot, by running the cable underneath the rubber seal. In my car the boot is still able to close without crushing the cable or mic. This way the mic is just far enough out of the wind to reduce that annoying hiss. I also mounted it on the opposite side to the exhaust so that the volume of the exhaust did not distort the sound the mic picked up.

Twisting the rear view mirror around gives better visibility for the GoPro

The Olympus ME-51s sits snuggly between the seal and the light cluster

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How to record good sound on a GoPro Hero3+ with external mic

In the past I have always struggled to capture decent quality in-car footage when at a trackday. Having spent ages watching countless videos on YouTube I finally decided on the two main things that make a good video. Firstly the camera must be positioned in the correct place. Typically between the front seats facing out of the front windscreen. It must be located far enough back to capture the driver inputs and far enough forward so you can clearly see the road ahead - and the car you are just about to overtake! Secondly the sound has to be awesome and capture that all important exhaust note you have no doubt spent hundreds or thousands trying to achieve.

Vid just taken with a sony digi-cam before I got the GoPro

The Lotus Elise lends itself perfectly towards capturing this in-car footage. Just mount the GoPro on a suction cup mounted to the rear screen, take the roof off and the quality of the video and sound is naturally pretty impressive. This video was taken using Sony digi-cam on a suction mount before I had the GoPro.

Capturing footage that is equally as impressive in saloon cars, hot-hatches or four seat coupes is a bit more challenging. For example, I own a two door Subaru Impreza WRX STI 22B where the rear window is located about a meter behind the front seats. You can just hang a GoPro upside down on a suction mount on the rear screen, turn on upside-down mode on the GoPro and hit record. However, being so far back the GoPro captures a lot of the interior which is quite dark. It therefore automatically over exposes the footage resulting in the road ahead being very light and lacking in quality, detail and richness. This can be adjusted in the camera settings by switching on 'spot mode'. By then playing about with the image settings when editing the video in the GoPro cineform studio software, it is likely that the footage can be improved. But ideally the camera needs to be located a lot further forward so that it captures less of the dark interior. In order to do this I have made a list of the following GoPro accessories you will need to buy:

2 x GoPro Suction Cup Mounts

3 x GoPro Bar Mounts

1 x Lightweight aluminium tube approx 1.5m long

1 x GoPro mini USB to 3.5mm adapter lead

1 x Olympus Mic

1 x 2m long 3.5mm extension cable

1 x Skeleton GoPro case

1 x Fluffy mic windshield

The suction mounts will need to be mounted on the inside of the rear three quarter windows and then linked to a bar mount in order to carry the aluminium tube. Two of the bar mounts will need to be modified.  Do this by using a hacksaw to cut off each of the lobes with the chrome nut locator on them. The two bar mounts will then be compatible with the suction mount as shown in the picture to the left. Once the suction mounts and bar mounts are attached to the inside of the rear windows, measure the distance between them and cut the aluminium bar to length. This bar will run just behind the front seats.  It will act as the mount for the GoPro camera using a third unmodified bar mount and any extension to achieve the required angle for a specific vehicle.

Next you simply have to attach the 'mini USB to 3.5mm adaptor' to the GoPro, run the extension cable through the gap in the rear seats and then under the carpet in the boot. I also recommend running the cable underneath the rubber seal around the mouth of the boot, this will ensure that the boot lid does not damage the cable when shutting the boot. The mic lead can now be taped to the rear bumper or mounted on to a suction cup out of the airflow, on the rear of the bootlid for example. 

This photo shows the 'fluffy' microphone windshield to further minimise road and wind noise

A GoPro Hero 3 is an amazing present to be given - now I can make some 'awesome' HD videos too! But where do I begin? Although I hadn't asked for one specifically, I was lucky enough to be given a Silver GoPro Hero 3+ on Christmas Day. Smaller and lighter than its predecessors, it now boasts wireless connectivity, a video resolution up to 1080p60 and can take 10megapixel photos up to 10 frames per second. It also features enhanced low-light performance and an optional cover that makes it waterproof up to 40 metres!

Opening the product was an occasion in itself. Everything packaged neatly, with the camera mounted on a stand. It came with a couple of different mounts, a waterproof and non-waterproof back and, crucially so I could play with my new toy on Christmas day, batteries WERE included! However, a memory card was not. 

I spent a lot of time trying to figure out exactly which micro SD cards work, which give the best performance and which represent the best value for money. The prices in the shops for these micro SD cards do seem ridiculously expensive! It was looking like I was going to have to pay upwards of £50 just to be able to use it. Then I worked out the specification required and discovered the cheapest place to purchase these items is of course online!

The best card to use for a GoPro Hero 3 is a Class 10 micro SD card. This will enable you to transfer data in a worse case scenario at a speed of 10MB per seconds and explore all the functionality that the camera has to offer. Using memory cards with a lower rating (4, 6, or 8) may appear to be working but users have experienced error messages resulting in a loss of data.

GoPro did sell SanDisk, however some users have reported errors and now they sell the Lexar range instead. My personal recommendation would be to buy a Samsung Extreme - great value from a reputable brand. The table below shows the data transfer speed capability of each card:

Sandisk Ultra 16GB Class 10 Micro SD	up to 30MB per sec
Sandisk Ultra 32GB Class 10 Micro SD	up to 30MB per sec
Sandisk Ultra 64GB Class 10 Micro SD	up to 30MB per sec
Sandisk Extreme 32GB Pro Class 10 Micro SD	up to 45MB per sec
Sandisk Extreme 64GB Pro Class 10 Micro SD	up to 95MB per sec
Samsung Extreme 32GB Class 10 Micro SD	up to 48MB per sec
Samsung Extreme 64GB Class 10 Misro SD	up to 70MB per sec
Lexar 32GB Class 10 Micro SD	up to 90MB per sec
Lexar 64GB Class 10 Micro SD	up to 45MB per sec

PLEASE NOTE: BLACK EDITION GOPROs REQUIRE 64GB MICRO SD CARD