WHAT IS DRONE RACING
Drone Racing is a sport where participants control "drones" equipped with FPV (first-person-view) cameras while wearing head-mounted displays showing the live stream camera feed transmitted from the drone via an onboard VTX (video transmitter). Similar to full-size air racing, the goal is to complete a course as quickly as possible. Drone racing began in 2011 in Germany with a number of amateur drone controllers getting together for semi-organised races in Karlsruhe. Any drone could be used to race; however, competitive FPV racing leagues require drones to meet certain standards.
FPV TECHNOLOGY
FPV (first-person view) flying means that pilots only see what the drone sees. This is accomplished by live streaming footage from a camera mounted on the drone’s nose. The image is transmitted as analog or digital video to the screen in the pilot’s goggles. In races the stream is also transmitted to TV’s for spectators to view.
REMOTE CONTROL
The remote control, drone, and goggles are all connected via radio and must transmit with sufficient speed and reliability to allow effective control. FPV goggles on the market range from £80 to £600, with the more expensive goggles offering more and better features. Some of these features include receiver diversity, digital HD video, head tracking, multiple frequency settings, band settings, and DVR (digital video recorder) recording functionality. Digital video systems offer much better image quality and are now becoming much more commonplace.
COMPETITION
For competitions, aircraft are typically separated into classes categorizing by size and power. Regardless of size. each class of racing utilizes an open-specification format that relies on pilots supplying their own drones, goggles, batteries and radio control gear.
Racing drones are designed for speed and agility, as opposed to photography and video drones which are focused more on hovering and stable filming. A racing quadcopter design will typically have four motors configured in an X-pattern, all equally spaced apart and configured to thrust the drone forward, not up.
Because of their light weight and electric motors with large amounts of torque, drones can accelerate and manoeuvre with great speed and agility. This makes for exciting, high speed racing and requires a pilot with a quick reaction time and a steady hand.
NOTABLE DRONE RACING EVENTS
2023 FAI 3rd (Official) Drone Racing World Championships in Namwon Korea. This prestigious competition brought together the 115 world's top drone pilots to compete for the coveted title of world champion. MinChan Kim, Age 19, emerged as the overall winner with exceptional flying abilities and strategic manoeuvres earning him the top spot on the podium.
2022 - 2020 FAI Drone Racing World Championship, was placed on hold due to COVID-19 and no official rankings and awards were given.
2019 FAI 2nd (Official) Drone Racing World Championship, held in China at Xiangshan Ningbo. The winner was from South Korea. Changhyeon Kang (16 years of age) won over former champion Thomas Bitmatta.
2018 FAI 1st (Official) Drone Racing World Championship, held in Shenzhen, China. This event was broadcast live across multiple channels, including the Olympic Channel. The race was won by a 17-year-old Australian, with over 128 competitors from 34 countries.
2017 DR1 Racing's DHL Champions Series Fueled by Mountain Dew. This team-based drone racing series consisted of 6 races in locations around the world. The Finals of this racing series were held on the Isle of Man TT, and aired on CBS and Eurosport. The broadcast of the Series Finals on CBS drew the largest audience ever for a professional drone race on network television, grabbing a 0.4 share and 559,000 viewers.
2016 World Drone Prix, Dubai – World's biggest and most lucrative drone race, with a total prize fund of US$1 million.
2016 U.S. National Drone Racing Championships Presented by GoPro New York – The second annual event was held August 7 on New York City's Governor's Island. 145 pilots competed in the event for a total prize purse of $57,000.
2016 MultiGP National Championships, Indiana – The second annual event was held at the Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) headquarters in Muncie, Indiana on September 4, 2016. Over 140 pilots arrived on-site to battle for this Championship event and a chance at the $15,000 prize purse.
2016 World Drone Racing Championships took place October 20–22 in Kualoa Ranch, Island of Oahu, Hawaii, USA.
The 2016 DR1 Invitational was the most watched drone racing event of the year, airing on Discovery Channel and Eurosport broadcasting in over 70 countries around the world. The race was held in Sepulveda Dam where pilots navigated through the dam's opening as well as various gates on the course.
2015 US Fat Shark National Drone Racing Championships, California – The first annual U.S. National Drone Racing Championships were held in 2015. This event was held in a stadium at the California State Fair. The prize for winning the competition was $25,000 and was competed for by over 100 competitors. Chad Nowak, an Australian, won all three events including the individual time trial, was on the winning team trial squad, and won the freestyle trick event. This gave him the title of 2015 Drone Racing National Champion.
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