FAI Aeromodelling Commission (CIAM)

Drone racing is one of the fastest-growing air sports in the FAI, attracting thousands of youngsters each year.

As well as being fast and exciting it’s accessible. Pilots can join club leagues and get racing very quickly, often at local airfields or alongside more traditional aero-modelling clubs.

But there is more to a good drone-racing venue than simply putting poles in the ground and racing around them.

Attention drone racing fans: the sixth event on the FAI Drone Racing World Cup 2018 calendar, the 2018 WDR Paris World Cup, is approaching fast.

To be held in Bretigny-sur-Orge, France from June 16 to 17, it is another major milestone of this year’s epic line-up, which began with the 2018 Indonesia Drone Racing World Cup in Bali on April 7 and 8.

Drone racing has exploded in the last two years. With the launch of the FAI Drone Racing World Cup in 2016, and a packed season of more than 20 events this year, this exciting new FAI discipline is on the up.

June alone will see five World Cup events – Portugal, Paris and Cabourg in France, Germany and Slovakia – with a packed season to follow. The first FAI Drone Racing World Championships in China in November will provide a high-profile season finale.

“Wow, this kid is amazing!” Watch the YouTube clips of South Korean drone-racing sensation MinChan Kim, 14, and you soon realise this is one serious talent.

“I think he is an alien!” joked one of his South Korean teenage team mates at the recent 2018 China Drone Racing Open in Shenzhen, China. “He is so fast.”