Drone racing delivers ‘out of body’ experiences
SAN FRANCISCO — The first time Justin “JReyFPV” Baltazar piloted a racing drone, he had an “out-of-body” experience.
“It was just a huge adrenaline rush, like I’m actually flying, but I’m not flying, I’m still on the ground,” the Santa Clara resident said last week as he competed for the title of California’s fastest drone pilot. “It was crazy.”
Pilots like Baltazar wear goggles to view video from a drone-mounted camera. This tricks their minds into thinking they’re actually riding aboard a craft the size of a folded sheet of paper.
To date, drones are best known for aerial photography and more speculative pursuits like package delivery. But now racing them has caught on, and some say the high-speed, relatively low-cost competition could be the next big tech-driven sport. In just two years, the sport has evolved from grass-roots meet ups of hobbyists gathering in parks, forests, warehouses or breweries to formal, sanctioned races and a TV series broadcast on ESPN. In September, the Reno Air Races — a showcase for regular aircraft for the last half-century — will for the first time include national championship races for drones.
Last Thursday, San Francisco’s Aerial Sports League — one of the first groups in the country to organize drone competitions — turned the Palace of Fine Arts Theater into a looping, quarter-mile indoor drone drag race, filled with the loud whiney buzz of drones speeding more than 100 mph. The event drew 16 pilots from throughout California, from ages 11 to 45.
Although the invitation-only event was not televised live, NBC Sports Bay Area plans to produce a half-hour highlight show and drone racing documentary to debut on the local sports channel on Aug. 1. The drone racing industry has a long ways to go before it becomes as popular as auto races or other traditional sports. But it is the latest in a new generation of technologyfueled electronic sports, or e-sports, that is attracting attention from major corporate sponsors and media companies. The burgeoning popularity of professional video game tournaments has helped drone racing catch on.
Network executives are eager to find new forms of sports entertainment programming. And drone racing is so new that it’s still inexpensive to produce, said Adam Jones, who leads the sports and entertainment industry section of the consulting firm PwC.
Although a British teen won $250,000 for winning a drone tournament in Dubai last year, drone pilots — who use aviator call signs like airplane pilots — interviewed at the San Francisco race said they weren’t making enough to quit their day jobs.
San Francisco resident Colby “SFPV” Curtola, 28, who works for drone mapping company Skycatch, won the event, but he noted the $5,000 top prize wasn’t huge.
“My girlfriend hates me because I fly drones all day,” he joked. “So I’m going to buy her something nice with the prize money. And that will pay rent for a month.”
bevangelista@sfchronicle.com