Munich. Innovative technology, action-packed racing and
international championships: more and more people around the world
are discovering a passion for drone racing. BMW is collaborating
with the Drone Racing League (DRL), an international, premier drone
racing circuit, to further develop high-performance racing drones in
the BMW Group wind tunnel and bring a professional drone race to BMW Welt.
Jörg Reimann, Head of BMW International Brand Experience, said:
“The partnership with DRL will enhance BMW’s racing involvement with
future-oriented formats. Drone racing is a very competitive type of
racing, characterised by the interplay of extremely high-performance
material and digital technology. This represents an environment in
which BMW has assumed a pioneering position for many years in its core
business. We are very much looking forward to this collaboration and
to the new event formats that we will be developing together with our partners.”
DRL organises one of the largest global drone racing series, the
DRL Allianz World Championship, in which elite FPV (First Person View)
pilots race custom-made DRL drones through complex, three-dimensional
courses in iconic venues across the world. As the Official Partner,
BMW is bringing the penultimate race of the 2018 season to Munich on
July 28, taking place at BMW Welt. The race will be broadcast this
autumn in more than 75 countries on leading sports programs including Prosieben.
“We’re thrilled to be partnering with BMW, a world-class
motorsports brand with a rich legacy of innovation. We look forward to
bringing the futuristic sport of drone racing to BMW Welt and putting
our proprietary technology to the test to make history with BMW,” said
DRL CEO and founder, Nicholas Horbaczewski.
Last year, DRL hand-built the DRL RacerX, the fastest racing
drone on earth, which set the Guinness World RecordTM for the fastest
ground speed by a battery-powered remote-controlled quadcopter at a
speed of 265.87 km/h. Thanks to a close collaboration with the BMW
Group, DRL will now aim to break this record. Tests will take place in
the wind tunnel at the Aerodynamic Test Center with this ambitious
goal in mind, allowing DRL to leverage the technological expertise of
the car manufacturer.