JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2018 101
T
hey sound like angry bees
swarming around trees, darting
at speed through hoops, in and
out of buildings, across fields,
looping and rolling and hurtling
towards an aerial finish line. This is
the fledgling sport of drone racing,
where adrenaline pumps, nerves are
steeled and reflexes are sharp. It’s also
very addictive.
It began as an underground
recreational movement in Australia in
2012 before changes to old regulationsenabled racing in the open and
commercialisation of the sport in- Now it’s a global phenomenon,
attracting investors and sponsors
with deep pockets who are punting
on it evolving into the next big crowd
magnet.
Last year Time magazine went so
far as to suggest it is the sport of the
future. Television network cable giants
ESPN and Sky Sports have already
live-streamed major US competitions
- no easy task when the midget
X-shaped machines, racing at speeds
of 100km/h, look much the same,
save for different coloured neon strips
added at this level of competition.
The sport – its correct name is first
person view (FPV) mini-quad racing - is a technological and adrenaline-
fuelled leap from hobbyist’s radio-
controlled miniature flying machines.
Quad or multi-rotor ‘pilots’ wear
special goggles that relay a drone’s-eye
view of the race circuit so they can fly
remotely their machines, weighing as
little as 300 grams, hard and fast.
The faster the better as it’s about
winning.
It’s a sport of two halves. On one
side sensory skills are honed over
many hours to guide tiny, lightweight,
speedy rotor machines housing a
camera and stripped to the bare
necessities, over and through an
obstacle-studded aerial circuit. The
camera captures the drone’s route,
shared over a wireless connection
to the pilot’s goggles, as dexterous
thumbs flip, turn, roll and move the
drones on a hand-held remote control,
not dissimilar to those used in gaming.
On the cinematographic side
owners turn the quad’s camera video
into creatively-edited spectacles
injected with edgy music for
enthusiasts to relive the race on
YouTube or social media. The top
ones already have followers in the
thousands.
The United States, Canada and
Dubai are setting a cracking pace in
the development of this futuristic
sport with razzle-dazzle events in
large football stadiums with obstacle
courses lit in a blaze of neon, and
there is lucrative prize-money up for
grabs by the winners.
Australia has yet to enter the
big league stakes backed by multi-
millionaires such as the Miami
Dolphins owner, Stephen Ross who
has invested more than US$1million,
betting on drone racing being the next
big modern-day sport. Amazon and
insurer Allianz have also thrown their
sponsorship might behind events.
To bring an extreme racing circuit
to Australia would cost $100,000
or more, but the country’s racing
aficionados, predominantly in
Queensland, Victoria and Tasmania,
are not being left behind. In fact,
they’re punching well above their
weight in the international speed, skill
and technological stakes.
Present dual world drone racing
champion, Thomas Bitmatta, 18,
from the Melbourne suburb of
Roxburgh Park, was a year 12 student
at St Monica’s College when he beat
300 other pilots at the 2017 world
championships in Indiana last
August. He had won an invitation
to the US event following his win in
the Australian drone championships
earlier in the year. He took out the
World Cup and Spec Race titles.
In 2015 Chad Nowak was crowned
United States National Drone Racing
Champion after winning the freestyle,
team and individual championship
races at the Californian event. The
38-year-old Gold Coast mini-quad
supremo, also a qualified glider pilot
and instructor, is one of Australia’s
drone racing pioneers, much sought
after by enthusiasts for advice.
Nowak is widely known in the
racing community as the ‘go to’
man for the latest technological
advancement and trends. He has hadDrone racing
A quad in action during the 2017
Australian Drone Nationals.
DARREN MOOREQuads ready to race.DARREN MOORE
Drone racing is becoming a global
phenomenon.DARREN MOORE