Guest post by Julio Ventura, DronesGlobe —
As the world witnesses a rapid growth of the drone industry, people start to realize the potential of commercial Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. Either for professional photography and videography purposes as for professional racing. Drone racing started has an amateur sport in Australia, it has been since rapidly growing into a professional sport. Drone Racing League, a five stage competition where drone racers race against each other. The best of the very best go on to compete for the Drone Racing World Championship. Another example of this rising drone racing phenomenon is the upcoming 2016 United States National Drone Racing Championship.
If you are craving for racing, but do not know where to start, don’t worry. We at DroneLife are also very excited for what 2016 is unveiling to the drone racers community. Therefore, we bring you three great racing drones available to anyone who wishes to have a go at this new sport. The world is yet to see who becomes the first famous professional drone racer. It might even be you! So, let’s find out more about this three drones which will surely stun the crowds in 2016.
Anakin Club Racer
Anakin Club Racer is the upgraded version of Sky-Hero Anakin, a six award winning drone, including first place in 3D Cup back in 2015 and second place in Drone Nationals of the same year. Manufactured by Sky-Hero, the upgraded version Club Racer aims to be a “near-indestructible” UAV. The 215mm frame only weighs 112gr and is made of full 3K carbon. Ensuring an almost indestructible structure as advertised. This racer is equipped with high performance Xnova X2206 2000kv motors which are able to deliver up to 364W. On top of that Club Racer uses OpenPilot CC3D, the best F1 board on the market. This amazing racer also comes with a top end 28mm First Person View Sony camera! The Sony HS1177 600TVL CCD with 2.8 lens. Anakin Club Racer promises to become one of the top racers for 2016 as its older brother Sky-Hero Anakin did the previous year.
Walkera F210
You may already be familiar with Walkera by now due to their most commercial successful products, the popular QR Ladybird and the QR X350. This is not their first entry into the drone racing market, they have previously released Runner 250 and Furious 320. Although great racers, Walkera has stepped up their game with their newest addition, the F210. This racer is light, fast and agile while still being amazingly through (watch it fly through a piece of glass). Its robust 210mm frame is made of carbon fiber plus has a protective cover motor. F210’s design is based on anti-collision and anti-drop mechanics, definitely a highly durable drone. F210 makes use of four powerful WK-WS-28-014A 2500kv brushless motors. One of the great things about this fast racer is the camera included in the package. A one million pixels 700TVL camera with adjustable 120º angle, night vision and of course First Person View (real time image transmission). This is Walkera’s most likely racer to be used in official racing tournaments.
TBS Vendetta
Team Black Sheep newest product, the 240mm sized TBS Vendetta drone, is one of the most hyped racing drones for 2016. Advertised with a full carbon fiber molded unibody that can be easily repaired and upgraded, and also fully modular electronics. It will definitely be used among racers in tournaments due to its design aimed for easy and quick repairs. Everything in Vendetta is built to be easily repaired and upgraded, ensuring pilots they will have a drone for the future. Something all racers keep in mind when purchasing a new racing drone model. Vendetta uses Cobra CM2204 2300kv brushless motors and TBS Pro Cube with one of the fastest F3 boards in the market, wish give it enough power to be a fast and responsive quadcopter, up to 190W. Vendetta comes with the TBS ZeroZero FPV 650 TVL camera, able for day and night flights. TBS Vendetta is announced to hit the market during the first quarter of 2016.
What’s your favourite?
What is your opinion on these three aerial racers? Will we see them on the Drone Racing League and other big tournaments? All drone racing enthusiasts have their eyes on these events. Stay tuned to all the drone racing news here on DRONELIFE and don’t forget to leave a comment below. We always look forward to reading your opinion.
Frank Schroth is editor in chief of DroneLife, the authoritative source for news and analysis on the drone industry: it’s people, products, trends, and events.
Email Frank
TWITTER:@fschroth
J. Boonie says
I’d like to see an article on the actual FPV visors. That’s the part that always trips me up when learning about racing drones. I have no friggin’ idea what I’m looking for.
SubzeroFPV says
Same here. Understanding the goggles and how cost equates to performance is important to me too.