The fastest film drone in the world flies for Red Bull, as can be read here in the racing team’s blog. It flies so fast that it can keep up with a Formula 1 racing car; This means: The drone has to fly at a speed of 300 km/h. Because that’s exactly what the Dutch Drone Gods team built it for. The client is the Formula 1 racing team Oracle Red Bull Racing. Red Bull wanted a camera drone that could track and film a Formula 1 racing car over a complete lap, i.e. around 5.8 kilometers, of a Grand Prix track.
The drone is a quadcopter. The drone can fly at a maximum speed of 350 km/h and accelerate from 100 to 300 km/h in just 2 seconds. The drone’s rotors rotate at up to 42,000 revolutions per minute. That’s how much power drains the battery: a battery charge only lasts around three minutes.
Red Bull drone films F1 racing car
Red Bull
However, the biggest challenge in developing this drone was not the top speed or acceleration, but rather its ability to transport a camera. The designers optimized the aerodynamics to achieve a good compromise. The shell, which partly comes from the 3D printer, is shaped like a rocket and is partly made of carbon that is both light and robust. The drone, including the camera, weighs less than one kilogram.
The best drones in the test
The majority of the record-setting drone consists of commercially available parts, as the developers explain. The camera shoots at 4K at 60 fps. 5K recordings are also possible, but at 30 fps and in 10-bit colors.
After initial tests with older vehicles, the drone can now also track the current Red Bull racing car: Max Verstappen’s Oracle Red Bull Racing RB20 F1 car.
The YouTube video introduces the drone:
