The Drone Racing League (DRL) announced on July 14th that they set the GUINNESS WORLD RECORDSTM title for the fastest ground speed by a battery-powered remote-controlled quadcopter. Capable of reaching a top speed of 179.6 miles per hour, and weighing only 1.76 pounds (800 grams), the drone is hand-built by Ryan Gury, DRL’s Director of Product, and a DRL team of drone engineers.
DRL is the top drone racing circuit for first person view (FPV) pilots worldwide, combining proprietary and media technology to market drone racing content. For the official achievement, the drone flew several flights across a 328 ft. (100 m) course and the top speeds were averaged together for the official record of 163.5 miles per hour.
Nicholas Horbaczweski, DRL’s Founder and CEO, commented on the world record-setting drone in a press release, saying that, “The record-setting RacerX represents the culmination of years of technological innovation by our team of world class engineers, and we’re very excited to unveil the fastest racing drone on earth.”
Earlier models for the drone caught fire when attempting to reach top speed thanks to the amount of power required, with the successful drone able to produce 46,000 revolutions per minute with a 10S (42V) powertrain. The drone, flown by Gury, set the record in New York with a GUINNESS WORLD RECORDSTM adjudicator to verify the flight.
