The RacerX drone of the Drone Racing League reached a top speed of 179.6 miles per hour during testing, claiming the title as the fastest drone in the world.
Earlier in the day of the record attempt, prototypes of the RacerX drone actually burst into flames when they reached the highest point of acceleration because of the massive amount of power. The Drone Racing League team, however, was able to secure the Guinness World Record.
RacerX Sets Guinness World Record
According to the Drone Racing League, it took months of trial and error, along with hundreds of broken motors and fiery crashes, before the RacerX drone was able to succeed in booking its spot in the record books.
The RacerX drone has officially received the Guinness World Records title for the fastest ground speed by a battery-powered remote-controller quadcopter. While the drone was able to reach a one-way top speed of 179.6 miles per hour, the speed etched into the record books is 163.5 miles per hour. This is because Guinness required the drone to fly back and forth across a 100-meter course, and the speed that will be measured is the average of the top speeds recorded on each flight.
The official drone top speed record of 163.5 miles per hour, while not as quick as what the RacerX is truly capable of, is still an impressive figure. This is especially true when compared to the Tesla Model S top speed, which is only 155 miles per hour.
Drone Racing League On The Rise
Drones have various applications across a wide range of industries. Some drones carry defibrillators to save lives, while some drones stream video at broadcast quality, for example.
However, for some enthusiasts, they simply want to make drones go as fast as they could, leading to the creation of the Drone Racing League.
To make sure that drone races are decided by the pilot's skills and not due to technological advantages, the Drone Racing League requires participants to use the same drone, designed by its engineers.
These same engineers designed the RacerX, which weighs only 800 grams but packs four electric motors each capable of reaching 46,000 revolutions per minute and powered by two 1,300 mAh batteries.
It is unclear if the Drone Racing League will bring the RacerX into its official races, but until then, the world's fastest drone will remain busy by flying by sports cars.
