Drone racing: the high-tech sport of the future

Sport of the future

Drone racing (from eng. drone racing) – rapidly developing high-tech sport. Implies competition through racing FPV drones FPV on specially equipped tracks.

The first official drone race in FPV mode took place in the fall of 2014 in Los Angeles at the Apollo XI RC field. Years passed and all this time this high-tech sport rapidly prospered. In June 2017, the Champions League (Drone Champions League-DCL), one of the world’s largest professional racing organizations, held a sporting event “Paris Drone Festival” along the famous Champs Elysees in Paris. It was visited by more than 150,000 fans. Another equally well — known rival organization, the Drone Racing League (DRL), will host a number of events in the United States, France, Germany and Saudi Arabia this year, which will be broadcast in more than 90 countries via channels such as ESPN and Sky Sports. The winner, who will be determined in the final event in November, will receive at least $ 100,000. And this is only the beginning!

Human beings are expected to compete with AI drones by 2020.

*Winner Drone Racing League 2016-2017 — Jordan “Jet” Temkin from the United States.

Basics

For those who do not know, drone racing is as follows: competitors wear FPV goggles, which broadcast the video stream in real time from the camera drone controlled by the control equipment. Racing drones can accelerate from 0-100km / h in just 2 seconds. The task of the pilots as quickly as possible to fly a given route consisting of an obstacle course including difficult turns, rings, flips.

*Example FPV drone track.

Drone

*Racing drone Diatone GT200 2018. Max. airspeed 159км/h.

Racing drone is fundamentally different from the standard consumer model. Professional quads are created taking into account aerodynamic characteristics and adapted for high-speed flight. The cost of this approach is an extremely short flight duration — no more than 5 minutes in the “Gas to the floor”mode.

*Racing drone Drone Racing League — DRL X. In 2017 set a Guinness world record to the maximum level flight speed — 264 km/h. the Weight of the drone is 800 grams.

Event

This is what a sporting event looks like on one of several drone racing League tracks:

Organization drone resenha

As this sport is just beginning to unfold, there are many racing organizations around the world. In the list of the most famous:

Drone Championship League (DCL)
Drone Racing League (DRL)
Drone Sports Association
MultiGP
Basic rule

Like the drone technology itself, drone racing is an ever-changing sport. As of 2018 under Drone Pilots Federation the main rules are:

Racing classes: 3S (more suitable for novice riders), 4S (for more experienced riders) and open class (for all UAV types).
Racing drones classes 3S and 4S is the distance between the motors on the diagonal may not be more than 305mm. For open class no restrictions.
Supporting screws: for classes 3S and 4S can be no more than 15cm. Motors are electric. There are no restrictions for the open class.
Meals: 3S – 3-cupping LiPo. 4S LiPo 4 cupping. There are no restrictions for the open class.
Drone weight: for all classes no more than 800 grams.