18-05-2016 07:00

On your marks, get set, drone!

A team drone relay race has taken place in Sussex. Teams of four raced first-person-view drones around a course complete with obstacles and tight hairpin curves. The pilots, wearing FPV headsets, were treated to a drone’s-eye-view of the race, with a live feed linked between the cameras in their drones and their headsets.

Spectators could also get a slice of the action, as monitors were set up by the course and headsets could be tuned in to the teams’ frequencies.

The drones, which can exceed speeds of 60 miles per hour, were raced in pairs in 10-minute heats, with points awarded for flying through obstacles.

The sport appears to be increasing in popularity. Elsewhere, high-profile races like the World Drone Prix, held in March in Dubai, have taken the sport to a new level. And, as this footage shows, flying isn’t as easy as it looks.

But the pilots say this sport is for everyone.

“It doesn’t matter whether you’re young or whether you’re old, you’ve both got an opportunity, as long as you can see, you can fly.” 

Difficult words: relay race (a type of race when members of a group take turns), obstacle (something in your way), hairpin curve (a sharp U-shape turn), FPV (first-person view), slice (an example), exceed (to go faster than), heat (the early part of a race to see who will compete in the end).

Source: www.ondemandnews.com