DRL pockets rainbow for fastest racing drone

(Tech Xplore)—The DRL RacerX has taken the title of the fastest racing drone, achieving a top speed of 179.6 miles (289 km/h) per hour.

Jamie Condliffe, MIT Technology Review: "Even if you don't see it coming, you can certainly hear it: its little rotors spin at up to 46,000 revolutions per minute, creating a high-pitched whine."

"That's an incredible amount of performance to squeeze out of a tiny electric motor," said Gizmodo.

What is DRL?

"The Drone Racing League brings the world's best pilots together to fly the 'DRL Racer 2' quadcopters," said video notes

They posted a video about their point of pride, the world's fastest drone. They said on July 13, the DRL joined the Guinness Book of Records in flying the custom DRL Racer X.

The DRL news release provided a more detailed title as "fastest ground speed by a battery-powered remote-controlled quadcopter."

Josh Goldman, senior editor for CNET Reviews: "Because the drone is so fast, the top-mounted camera needed for flying by first-person view needed to be at an 80-degree angle so the pilot isn't looking at the ground."

The drone weighs 800 grams (1.76 pounds). It flies with 1300mah 2 x 5S R-Line Tattu lithium polymer batteries.

DRL's Director of Product Ryan Gury flew the drone along a field in New York state and clocked in at the record speed with a Guinness World Records adjudicator there on-site.

Then why is Louise Matsakis in Motherboard and Andrew Liszewski in Gizmodo reporting a Drone Racing League new world record speed of 163.5 miles per hour? Why are they not saying 179.6?

Liszewski explained.

"The drone's top speed is actually 179.6 miles per hour, but in order to be officially recognized by the Guinness World Records for the fastest ground speed achieved by a battery-powered remote-controlled quadcopter, the DRL Racer X had to fly back and forth across a 328-foot long course, with the top speeds of both runs averaged together. The official result of that completed run was 163.5 miles per hour."

(Matsakis noted, "They were required to fly the course in both directions, to account for varied wind conditions or any kind of fluke.")

The DRL similarly explained what they had to do. "In order to set the achievement, RacerX needed to fly back and forth across a measurement course of 100 m (328 ft.), with the official record set as the average of the top speed achieved on each of those flights."

Records are made to be broken, at least in the spirit of speed enthusiasts. Their feat will no doubt spark others wanting to see if they can top them. Louise Matsakis, Motherboard, said the team established "a ceiling" for drone enthusiasts.

"By establishing the world record, the Drone Racing League has likely tempted a whole host of racers to go out and build a drone that can beat them," said Matsakis. She quoted adjudicator Philip Robertson, from Guinness World Records, who said there were a number of applications already submitted.'

Nicholas Horbaczewski, DRL CEO/Founder, said, "we're all about speed and pushing the limits of drone design here at DRL."

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