Money Tech

Drone Racing – New Toys for Boys and Possible Investment Opportunity

Drone Racing or when something good comes from weapon research.

If it wasn’t for our divine need to kill each other, we would miss on so many great stuff. One of the latest toys, which is picking up on popularity, started like an extremely cunning and lethal weapon.

When the US Air Force launched their first unmanned, remote-controlled aircraft for surveillance operations, those with the vision saw the commercial potential of this brand new technology.

Drones become smaller and even more lethal as time went by and already during the US engagement in Afghanistan couple of years ago, we could see how deadly weapon that small aircraft can be.

But why would drones only serve for killing people when it could be employed in much funnier and commercially sounder way

Welcome to the world of different kind of races!

Since those scenes from the pod race at Tatooine (Star Wars, Episode I, Phantom Menace), where young Anakin is kicking the shit out of his opponents, people started to think about the exciting new sport.

Put the camera on a drone and race.

When observed over the screens, or even better – through VR goggles, the feeling is exactly the same as if you are watching pod racers flying at full speed.

Don’t take my word for it. Watch the preview of Multi-Million Dollar Drone Racing League that took place at Dolphin stadium – on top of this article.

It appears that some sound names are already investing in what can easily become the sport event of the future. According to LA Times, owner of the Dolphins, Stephen Ross and his business partner are seeing Drone Racing as the sport of the future. They are already investing in it:

A few months ago, Ross’ New York investment firm, RSE Ventures, bankrolled a start-up called Drone Racing League to work on turning what is now little more than an underground hobby for enthusiastic drone geeks into a profitable business.

With Ross’ initial funding of $1 million, the drone league experimented with its concept this summer by gathering a small group of quadcopter pilots to race their machines through an abandoned century-old power plant in Yonkers, N.Y.” – “Will drone racing fly as a sport”; LA Times; Melody Petersen, 2015.

Just imagine the arena with the glass top little above your head, large plasma walls and dozens of these aircraft racing over your head. In the future, they will probably become faster and more aerodynamic which will allow even more extreme maneuvers. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the jet drones racing in some building or arena any time soon.

Don’t forget that we are talking about only most recent stuff. It took its first baby steps only last year when Ross organized the very first race.

It’s viral. You can’t stop watching once you start. And that’s always the good recipe for success.

If particular action (event) manages to trigger the feeling of excitement and anxiety with high peaks in adrenaline levels, then it works. So it might be the good thing to start observing Drone Wars as a lucrative new field for investments.

This could be your dream to start the racing team and fly around the world, racing with some of the top pilots. Nascar and Formula 1 might met their match.

If nothing else, it would be fun as hell to try these babies out in some woods or abandoned factory.

But there’s another field that will gain on popularity if Drone Wars fly as multi-million sport events.

That’s VR (virtual reality). Drone pilots are using VR goggles to pilot their aircrafts. And as corporations are investing more and more money into the development of the gadget that almost didn’t survive, we can expect rapid improvement in its quality.

You only have to imagine sitting in your living room chair, having the goggles on your head and switching from one drone to another as you’re watching the race, similar to one that took place in an abandoned factory last year; the very first one.

And with the improvement in communication grid, it won’t be long before you’ll be able to sit in LA and fly your drone in Berlin!

It’s easy to see how it can attract people’s attention and enthusiasm for this new sport. That’s now two industries, pushing each other forward, both with great investment potentials. And both fun!

About the author

Sean Collins

An investigative journalist with the thing for business, confidence, societal, and human behavior topics. The straightforward guy with the opinion that doesn't always agree with the mainstream. We call him Choozo. Cuz he's picky. About freakin' everything.