Come June, the Drone Racing League (DRL) will be launching its multi-million dollar second season on a number of sports channels around the world. None of it would be possible without a new fleet of lightning-fast racing drones.
Read more: What Can We Expect From DRL in 2017?
Aside from futuristic tracks and well-crafted race highlights, DRL’s unique in the fact that it provides all competitors with the same drone. These drones have to be built before the start of every season by DRL’s technicians, and several are at the disposal of each pilot come race day.
This year the DRL team has been busy hand-building more than 450 individual racers, named the Racer3. The only shame is that so many of them will end up in pieces as they mayhem of fpv racing gets underway. Check out the crash highlights video below for an idea of what to expect once the season starts.
There are a few standout highlights among the statistics we’ve been sent from DRL on the new Racer3. The first is the awesome acceleration: 0-80 mph in under one second. The carbon fiber frames will help form a drone weighing in at 900 grams with more than 16 pounds of thrust. The full list from DRL is below:
DRL Racer3 Stats
- Acceleration: 0-80 in under 1 second
- Top Speed: 85 MPH
- Altitude: Above the clouds (6-8 km)
- Fleet: Over 450 identically designed, hand-built elite racing drones
- 16 Pounds Of Thrust, 8:1 Power To Weight Ratio
- High Voltage Powertrain For Quick Motor Acceleration
- Stealth-Like, Diffused Polycarbonate Shell
- 210 RGB Leds For Pilot Identification And Visibility
- 6” Triblade Props For Agility And Traction
- F3 + Spi Mpu6000 + Betaflight For Flight Control
- Custom 1800Mah Internal 5-Cell Lipo Battery
- Proprietary Internal Long Range Radios For Live Events And Broadcast
- Carbon fiber frame
- Weight: 900 grams
We’ve also got a couple of close-up shots of the Racer3:
DRL’s Racer3
DRL’s Racer3
We know for a fact that there are plenty of drone racing enthusiasts out there who’d like to see the official DRL drone go on sale to the public. No word on that yet, but who knows what could happen in the future.