Clarification on “Swoopy Gates” and “Matt’s Gambit” on 2019 MultiGP Series Global Qualifier Track

During Week #6 of the 2019 MultiGP Series a question was posed regarding how the “Swoopy Gates” and “Matt’s Gambit” are to be judged.  After extensive discussion and review, the following clarification is to be published and noted.

When entering the “Swoopy Gates” and “Matt’s Gambit”, the pilot must be above the bar of the attached gate.  The Flag begins at the bar of the gate and extends perpetually to the sky, meanwhile the horizontal axis (0-ground level) extends parallel with the gate bar for the start of the feature.  The pilot may exit however they see fit.

This clarification was based on the following factors:

• In the Drone Racing League Simulator on Steam, the official track release of the Global Qualifier Track, the checkpoint begins at the base of the flag and the top bar of the gate and extends as a large rectangle.  This is how the feature is designed, and how many pilots have trained
• the assumption that 99% of all pilots that have competed in the 4 qualifiers spanning weeks 1 through 5 were under the same belief that the feature begins above the bar of the gate
• the concept of the feature is to keep racers out of each other’s raceline

Regretfully, this becomes a difficult feature to judge for Race Directors and Officials.  That said, it is to be enforced.  Passing below the bar at the start results in “…their forward progress in the race is suspended until they complete the missed obstacle…” (i.e. they will lose that lap) per rule 8.1.

Since this proposes a tough “grey area” for officiating similar to the “Split-S flag gate”, this obstacle (swoopy gate, aka gate with flag) is being removed from any International Open Track designs, and will not be used on any future official MultiGP tracks.

Thank you for your attention in this matter.