This article was first published in the December 2015 issue of WIRED magazine. Be the first to read WIRED's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
On an abandoned farm on the outskirts of Brighton, the UK's top drone racers are duking it out -- but they're not looking up at the sky.
This is the fast-growing sport of first-person view (FPV) racing, which combines nimble quadcopters, cameras and video goggles to give pilots a drone's-eye view. "It's a mix between flying a plane and a Star Wars podracer," says Dan Waring, 19, the reigning UK drone freestyle champion. Waring flies a modified Emax Nighthawk with Fatshark Attitude V2 video goggles, and specialises in performing freestyle tricks that send his drone spinning through the sky in a series of improbable twists and falls. "Getting this new perspective allows for pilots to race in the front seat," he says.
The sport is already big news in the US, where the recent National Drone Racing Championships, held alongside California's State Fair, attracted 120 pilots and garnered thousands of YouTube views. The rise in drone popularity has also encouraged the creation of other sports, such as Robot Wars-like combat fighting, made popular by the web series Game of Drones.
FPV's biggest draw, Waring says, is that the nascent technology allows for pretty broad access. "Anyone can get involved in FPV racing," he says. Looks like drone sports are about to take off.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
