Drone Stories

Hamilton and Russell on the track, 1,000 drones above it

Mercedes-AMG & IWC Speed City, Las Vegas

Mercedes-AMG and IWC asked us to open Formula 1 week in Las Vegas with something the Strip had never seen. We designed and flew Speed City: 1,000 drones over the desert track while Lewis Hamilton and George Russell drove beneath them.

The story behind the lights

This was our show, for our client. Drone Stories wrote the story, designed every formation and ran the performance; the drones themselves were supplied by Nova Sky Stories, a separate company. The choreography was built around the cars: tunnels of light the drivers drove through, the AMG GT Coupé taking off above the guests, IWC's watches turning in the night sky, and the two Mercedes drivers side by side on the track below.

Flying a thousand drones a few metres above a live track with two Formula 1 drivers on it is the kind of problem we like: timing to the second, airspace over an active venue, and a single take in front of the cameras.

Mercedes-AMG & IWC Speed City, Las Vegas drone show — photo 1Mercedes-AMG & IWC Speed City, Las Vegas drone show — photo 2Mercedes-AMG & IWC Speed City, Las Vegas drone show — photo 3Mercedes-AMG & IWC Speed City, Las Vegas drone show — photo 4

Impact

What it did online

Our own posts about Mercedes-AMG & IWC Speed City, Las Vegas on Instagram, and what the audience wrote back.

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Comments
  • “It was great meeting you guys and getting to geek out over the planning and staging and science behind these drone shows! 🙌🏽 great work”

    @moneebnain · Instagram

  • “Very very very impressive. Finally, a video that shows all the infrastructure behind these drone-based events, it's really impressive”

    @harnelbe · Instagram

  • “What brand/model drones are you using for that? I love how compact and neat it all is with the storage launch and recovery”

    @zaphb42 · Instagram

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