ok so i somehow signed up for a local club race happening in like 3 weeks and im freaking out a little. ive been flying for about 8 months, mostly freestyle and some practice laps in a field by myself. i built my own 5 inch on a TBS source one frame, running a F7 stack and some 2306 motors, nothing fancy. i can get through a course without crashing most of the time but racing against actual people is a completely different thing i think.

what do i even prep for. like is there specific stuff i should be doing in the weeks before or is it just fly fly fly. also do i need to bring a ton of batteries or will i have time between heats. i genuinely dont know what race day even looks like logistically. any advice from people whove actually done this would be great, even just like what to expect

bring more batteries than you think you need. seriously i went to my first race with 6 and barely made it through the day with some borrowing from other guys. most races youll get a practice session then heat races then maybe a final depending on how many people show up. the gaps between heats can be short so having 8-10 charged and ready to rotate is just way less stressful. also bring a full tool kit and extra props, you will crash and you will need them. the crashes are usually not as bad as you expect though because everyone is in the same boat at club level

honestly the biggest thing nobody told me before my first race was just to not fixate on your lap times in the heats. like just focus on finishing clean and not getting in other peoples way. consistency beats aggression at that level every time, most people DNF from crashes not from being slow. youll learn way more from actually racing than any amount of solo practice laps too so dont stress too much about being perfectly prepped, just show up and fly