Anyone else seen this? Apparently it's a brand new form of racing I want to say this is their first real season. It's a spec type race and I don't know exactly how much it costs to run but what I've seen is that it's not too expensive. I'm not a drone "pilot" or anything, actually never really cared for or against them but watching this on YouTube it's kind of interesting to watch A) for it taking off as a sport (no one really races these things so no one is extremely good at it) and B) the awesome crashes and you don't worry about the driver.
http://youtu.be/sFHRcW6qnvo
That's pretty cool.
Kind of like RC pod racing.
A friend does this. I wore the goggles while be flew around a few weeks back. Really cool. Just passed them up this afternoon racing in the park. I think he has some videos I can link... Expensive as berkeley, but fun!
N Sperlo wrote:
A friend does this. I wore the goggles while be flew around a few weeks back. Really cool. Just passed them up this afternoon racing in the park. I think he has some videos I can link... Expensive as berkeley, but fun!
Expensive? This is a motorsport forum 
It must be a rush driving them via the goggles. Like a really good video game. I'd love to try it. The glowing gates are a great idea - but really, you need an audience. Not sure how you'd get one without cutting their heads off at some point though.
In reply to Keith Tanner:
Maybe have the races on the lower floor and the spectators on the upper floor with the megatron showing pov footage
I do agree they need some sort of dogfighting league. I saw something else on YouTube about that though, they used these same racing drones but with a nerf disk launcher on it, was pretty neat. Damn the things you can find on the Internet.
Dogfights sound cool, but would be over in under 5 seconds. They need a 'boost' button.
I'm sure the 2 laps is a result of battery capacity, but I'm looking forward to when they can push out to 10-20 laps. A quick charge pad / pit-stop would be neat, too.
In reply to Tyler H:
I think the problem is more of weight/speed. I guess they could have batteries big enough for 20 laps but they they would be so slow might not be that entertaining
I dont think in-person spectating would lend much to it. It seems like it could be almost tailor-made to Internet or TV. Start out purely on ad revenue and then maybe go to subscription based?
For a similar model, think about what they did in the newer death-race movie. You can always incorporate some kind of fan interaction through voting or some such in order to drive for live viewing to sustain some hype.
You could branch different events with combat possibilities, but I am unsure how that could be accomplished technologically at this time.
I do think they are right to keep to a sprint race format for now, but the big holdback is in heat size. Limiting to four racers is quite a downfall. Imagine a field of a dozen in a full intensity 5-10 minute race. Get more participants, maybe different classes (spec, vs a "tuner" class)
I agree that it would be best suited to tv/internet viewing - but a big empty football stadium looks weird. Going into the tunnels and up the ramps was a good plan. Maybe it should be in a big industrial building.
I bought one awhile back. It's much, much harder than it looks to fly like that. Wicked wild ride with the googles on.
Keith Tanner wrote:
I agree that it would be best suited to tv/internet viewing - but a big empty football stadium looks weird. Going into the tunnels and up the ramps was a good plan. Maybe it should be in a big industrial building.
like https://youtu.be/NvgdLjOExNs 
