Airspeeder has announced its first three pilots for its new series of eVTOL racing. The first three racers come from different backgrounds, and each of them was successful in the branch before joining the EXA series, including drone racers and conventional motorsport.
Emily Duggan, Australia's most successful female racing driver, has been selected to be the first woman to compete in the new series. She is also the sole representative with a solid background in conventional motorsport.
Fabio Tischler specializes in capturing dynamic FPV content using a drone, and he has worked with companies such as Toyota, GoPro, and Red Bull. Meanwhile, Zephatali Walsh will join the series after racing in the Drone Champions League.
The first group of pilots will go through a rigorous process of training and development, which will involve over 2,000 collective hours in the Alauda Aeronautics 6-DoF VR simulator. The latter is meant to mimic an MK4 circuit race in an XR environment, as specialists described it.
The racing is simulated within the dedicated sim with the Unreal Engine, and pilots will test both the Gen3 and Gen4 “cars” through this training exercise. The goal is to master their dynamics before starting the first races, which will happen in remote, but visually arresting scenery.
Their racing machines are supposed to provide the same thrust-to-weight ratio of an F16, while being able to perform hairpin turns with the same agility and speed as an F1 car. Handling the G forces will not be a problem, as the EXA races will happen without any humans on board the crafts.
Unlike drone racing, these crafts are large enough to fit and carry a human inside. They will serve as a proving ground for future Airspeeder races, which will happen with human pilots onboard those crafts. Nobody wants to risk putting untrained pilots in a new kind of aircraft, so it is understandable why this solution was chosen.
It will still be a test of skill and precision, and the resulting racing should be interesting. We are not sure if we should call these crafts "cars," that is all.
Sebastian's love for cars began at a young age. Little did he know that a career would emerge from this passion (and that it would not, sadly, involve being a professional racecar driver). In over fourteen years, he got behind the wheel of several hundred vehicles and in the offices of the most important car publications in his homeland. Full profile
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