On the last day of the World Air Games at Skydive Dubai a special announcement was made, one that would cast yet another spotlight on Dubai, about the launch of the World Drone Prix. That’s right, grab your Parrot Drones, your DJI drones or wait until GoPro releases their Karma drone and then grab a couple friends to start your very own drone team for the chance of winning 1 million dollars.
“Dubai is no longer a city that dreams the future. It is a city from the future. In Dubai, we believe every end is the beginning of a new journey. Our journey towards being in the future starts today. The World Drone Prix is the future of racing pushing the boundaries of drone technology until it becomes vehicle of transportation in the future.”
– Mohammed Al Gergawi
The event has come about at the directions of Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Dubai Sports Council.
The timeline of the WDP was given by Omar Sultan AlOlama, Secretary General of the newly formed World Organisation of Racing Drones (WORD). On December 20 the code of conduct and standard of drone racing around the world and the rules and regulations of racing in this World Drone Prix will be defined. The qualifiers for the WDP will start on January 4 and will be held on every major continent and in the cities that have substantial drone racing communities. Teams that qualify will be flown down to Dubai on March 9th for a practice run. March 10 will be the grand opening, which will precede the Race Day on March 11.
Applications for the qualifying rounds will be opened until the 15th of February 2016, with applications being open to anyone, so long as they match the rules and regulations stated below. Qualifiers must place in top three in qualifying races which will lead to 15 world best teams being selected for the World Drone Prix.
Some rules have already been released, mostly about team composition and the drones to be used. Each tem for instance must have at least 5 members, including navigator, a pit-stop technician, someone in charge of the pit-stop, a team leader and of course, the pilot. Each team must also have one sponsor. All drones that take part in the competition will have similar batteries and air frames to ensure competitive races, so you can dump those ideas of strapping a V8 engine to your drone, and must be operated by team members using remote control, rather than autonomously on pre-programmed routes.
The World Drone Prix will also launch the International Drone Prix racing federation. Perhaps we’re not too far off from the World Pod-racing Prix?
