Pilot ratings.

The algorithm

We use the Glicko-2 rating system, developed by Professor Mark Glickman at Boston University. Glicko-2 improves on traditional Elo by tracking not just your rating, but also your rating deviation (how uncertain the system is about your skill) and volatility (how consistently you perform).

When an event's results are final, the system compares your finishing position against every other pilot you raced, treating each pair as a head-to-head matchup. That suits multi-pilot FPV racing, where final placement is what matters.

Rating scale

New pilots start at 1500 with a high rating deviation, meaning the system is not yet sure of your true level. As you compete in more events your deviation shrinks and your rating settles.

Likely range

A rating is an estimate, so the leaderboard shows how sure it is. Beside each rating is its deviation (± 105, say) and a bar covering the rating minus and plus that amount: the pilot's likely range.

A pilot with one or two events has a wide bar; a pilot with a long record has a narrow one. Where two pilots' bars overlap, the gap between them is too close to call, whatever their order in the table.

Volatility tracks how erratic your results are. A pilot who keeps finishing in about the same place has low volatility; one whose results swing widely has more, and their rating reacts faster.

How events are scored

Each event is scored once, as a whole:

• Beating a higher-rated pilot gives you a bigger boost; losing to a lower-rated pilot costs more.
• You are compared only with pilots in your own field. A class final, a division and an age-group final at the same event are separate fields, even when they are filed under one class.
• In a large field each head-to-head counts for less. One finishing order among forty pilots is not thirty-nine independent wins.
• Fields of the same class that never raced each other, such as an A and a B division, are compared lightly on their qualifying times. That applies only to pilots who did not meet in a final, so qualifying never overrides a race.
• New pilots' ratings move faster, because their deviation is higher.
• All events are weighted equally. There are no tier multipliers.

Classes

Ratings are tracked per class (Open, Pro Spec, Whoop and so on), each with its own leaderboard. The Overall rating counts every race you flew at an event, across all its classes, as a single update.

Who is on the leaderboard

The leaderboard lists pilots who have raced in the last 18 months, so its ranks are among current racers. Pilots who have been away longer are hidden, not changed: their rating is kept exactly as they left it, and Show all pilots brings them back into the table. A championship view is one season and is never filtered.

Scoping

AUFPV profiles show your national rating, built from every rated event including club race days. A club's own site shows your rating within that club's events only.