Onboard live cameras have become the norm, and in many championships around the world required in the rulebook. But 13-time motorcycle Grand Prix winner Randy Mamola and his son and rider Dakota have recently trialed the latest technology: a live 360-degree virtual reality camera.

VR itself is common now, too – you can lap the national circuit at Silverstone with Jenson Button in a McLaren, join Nissan for a pit-stop at Spa, be taken round Assen by Sebastien Buemi in an RB8, and crash out of the Putrajaya round of Formula E.  

With the latest camera technology it has gone a step further. Randy ran virtual pillion with Dakota during the recent MotoAmerica round held at Salt Lake City, despite being across the other side of the world at Assen for the MotoGP. Live. Streaming the footage he could turn around to see his son’s pursuers real-time. It could take the role of spotters and their real-time knowledge and information to a whole new level.

Watch all of the videos below.

The VR funtionality in the videos above works best in the Google Chrome browser. Safari doesn’t support VR videos.