I Am ALL IN On Drone Racing
Source – This season consists of four preliminary races scattered across the United States, starting with “Miami Nights.” Each episode/course has a theme. The top 12 pilots advance to a semifinal round in Munich, Germany, and the best eight move on to the Allianz World Championship in London. Season 2 also features a new, higher-powered version of the DRL drone, the Racer3. It can go from zero to 80 miles an hour in less than a second, which makes for really exciting racing and allowed us to create larger courses, more extreme courses.“
“In 2016 we had pilots from eight countries,” Horbaczewski said. “We have people from all different backgrounds. There’s software engineers at Google, there’s people who come from the world of motorcycle racing, or car racing, downhill ski racing.
“What we’ve discovered is, there’s a difference between being a really talented pilot and being a really talented pilot when the bright lights are on you and the pressure is on, and you have to win in that moment,” Horbaczewski said. “We’ve discovered that the champions – the people who are winning in our league — are people who are not only great pilots, but they’re performance athletes. They’re people who can operate under pressure every time, and that’s the class of pilots that’s emerging now that’s really changing the sport.”
I thought drones were only good for dropping bombs but boy was I wrong. Despite it having everything I hate; humorless fat people, Magic The Gathering enthusiasts and guys in beards, I can’t get enough. These little bastards go from zero to eighty miles per hour in ONE second. The race lasts less than two minutes and the stakes are insanely high; one mishap and it’s is over. Not to mention the course looks like a combination of N64’s Star Fox and rainbow road. #Memories. It’s like a real life video game but way more expensive.
ESPN is doing all they can to push it too. And by “all they can” I mean “it was on two days in a row when I got home.” Drone racing is to air racing what the XFL was to the NFL. It’s the blue collar, slightly more exciting alternative.
Will it last? Probably not but I wish it would. It’s never a good sign when there are zero sponsors. I’ve yet to see a drone buzzing around with a Wonder Bread sticker on the side. I just hope I can fly one before ESPN replaces it with Battle Bots, that show was awesome.
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All that being said, I’m not going to debate whether drone racing is a sport or not- it’s not. I’d call it a competitive hobby at best. Don’t believe me? Take a look at their “athletes.”
I’d bet my life half of them leave the race and go directly to their larping match. The fact that they’re calling drone “pilots” performance athletes is outrageous. The race only lasts two minutes and they’re seated. Not to mention they literally only move their thumbs. We don’t call commercial pilots athletes and they fly for hours on end.
Follow on Twitter: @BarstoolPAT