Drone racing: Armchair pilots strap on goggles for aerial dogfights

Consumer drones have become an essential tool forshootingaerial footage but a smallerversion of the flying camera is putting a high-tech spin on the old-fashioned joy of racing.

Roughly20 armchair pilots met Sunday morning for a low-flying showdown insidean indoor parking garagein Montreal, inan event organized by the Dronolab club of thecole de technologie suprieure(ETS).

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The drones whirred, whizzed and hummed past cement walls and around perilous posts aspilots pushed the tiny flying robotsthrough head-to-head races involving hairpin turns and other manoeuvres. They competed againstothers doing the same with their remote controls.

Some racers sported goggles, which offered them a bird's-eye viewfrom the tiny onboard camera, while others opted to monitortheir real-time, full-throttle course on small screens.

Races led to innovation

The new sport haspushed demand for smaller and faster drones, leading to innovationin drone technology, long dominated by slow and steady crafts built to grab video images.

"People started racing drones andparts got smaller and smaller. Nowwe have small 250 millimetre drones we can race indoors like we're doingtoday," said Alex Gilbert, technical director at KoptrImage.

The drones are delicate and can sometimes crash, which requires costly and time-consuming repairs. Butthe aerial adrenaline rush is worth it, according to allracers.

"We see what the drone actually sees so we're flying like a bird,just moving around and just doing whatever we want. It's a very special feeling inside,"saidDronolab memberJeremy Marsolais.

Racers say they require speedy reflexes if they don't want their drones to end up as broken pieces of plastic and metal on the floor.

"The drones go very fast and you have to react fastbecause every obstacle comes very fast," said racer Mikael Ferland.