Rossi debuts gyroscopic onboard camera

VALENTINO ROSSI debuted a gyroscopic camera at the Sachsenring MotoGP at the weekend.

The camera is designed to 'lean' with the rider, giving the viewer a more realistic view of riding onboard a 200mph MotoGP machine.

The technology has been developed by Dorna, in association with Spanish company UAV Navigation, who supply cameras for the Red Bull Air Race series.

The camera is 'fixed' on the horizon, with two accelerometers, a triaxial gyroscope, a GPS and a micro-chip providing real-time data on the location of the bike and also the exact coordinates of the three gyro sensors, thus giving a better indication of the bike behaviour on track.

This data stream is processed in real-time to control a miniaturised motor placed in the Gyroscopic OnBoard camera, which rotates its lens according to the movements of bike - the movements of the lens actually compensating the movements of the bike in order to maintain a fixed horizon line, as the riders see it - so that the resulting footage is not a shot moving with the bike, instead the bike is moving around a reference point, giving a better perception of the riders' dexterity in throwing their +210 hp prototypes through hair-raising-fast corners and audacious moves.

You can check out the video here.