Getting in the world of drone racing is quite an amazing experience, because of the special effects, light shows, and obstacles. All of them centered directly over the racetrack to transform each event into a challenge for the pilots and a quite entertaining experience for the audience showing up in the arena.
None of the previous drone championships has been able to beat the Xtreme Drone Circuit, better known as XDC. This is one of the first competition circuits for professional drone racing, given that it was the first to merge 2 key concepts in any top-level sport, a metallic prize and a large group of sponsors eager to get into this new sport.
Drone racing got started around 2013 but back then they were all amateur events filled with amateur pilots that were looking for a challenge and showing their pilot skills. However, it would not be until 2015 when the first big drone racing event came about known as the XDC Racing.
It was around January of 2015 that a group of drone pilots decided to create one of the most famous drone racing events in the world, they chose Las Vegas as their headquarters; more specifically an old abandoned hotel that had all the necessary features to turn it into a 165 yards long circuit. For this first edition, only 50 pilots showed up to fight for a prize of 5000 dollars in cash and the sponsorship of some of the most important brands in the world of drones.
By 2016 the XDC had reached such a degree of popularity that had to go to other venue but still remained in Las Vegas. In that occasion and thanks to the success of the previous event, the number of sponsors increased drastically, including among them companies like ImmersionRC Ltd and ReadyMadeRC, which installed booths with augmented reality goggles that were connected to the drones during the race just for the amusement of attendees who were granted a total immersion in the event. Another characteristic that distinguished XDC was the design of the circuit which was no longer a straight line track but rather had other elements like fire rings, dimmed lights, and a section illuminated only by neon lights to show an amazing event for everyone, both those who attended to see the show in person and those who enjoyed it from their homes, because it was during the 2016 XDC that streaming technology was used for the first time to broadcast a drone race to the whole world. The success of that communicational strategy was such that servers shut down for more that one occasion due to the approximately 3000 viewers wanting to live the excitement of the event through the screens of their computers.
It has been just 2 years since the first time the XDC saw the light of the day, but it has already become a world-class event, so much that this year it took place in 2 separate locations set up in different countries. For Latin America, the gathering place was Chile and for Europe, it was France, the city of lights. In both locations, the drone race was a great success, increasing the number of pilots and sponsors at a global scale. We can’t wait to see what the 2018 XDC will bring us because there’s very little time left for such an important date and the expectation is raising.
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