How I streamed my off-road Miata race using Starlink and StarStream

Remote off-road courses are often unreachable by traditional broadcast infrastructure—what if your course is 100 miles (161 km) from nowhere or 1,000 miles (1,610 km) long and only reachable on bumpy, dirty roads? This satellite streaming technology transforms off-road racing for fans and teams, using Starlink paired with a service called StarStream to bring live video from cars and chase vehicles where few cell towers exist.

George Hammel, a former motocross and UTV racer, wrote code to break video into packets small enough for Starlink and built a compact StarStream kit: two GoPros tethered to a box about 8 inches square and 2 inches thick (20 cm x 5 cm), a port for a Starlink mini, and a power cord.

The system draws 1.1 A or less at 12 V and can run from a battery; setup was simple enough that the cameras powered up as soon as the box was turned on. I tested the kit in a lifted Miata named “Buddy,” streaming the cockpit and the desert outside.

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