Aurora is on board to produce inaugural flying car race series

EXA Race 1 Still 4

Airspeeder has completed its first competitive flying car race.

Zephatiali Walsh beat Fabio Tishcle in the remotely piloted race, which is the first of a series of EXA remotely piloted races that will serve as the development and feeder series before the Airspeeder fully crewed Grand Prixs start in 2024. Crewed prototypes are under construction, with testing to begin in 2023. 

The race was commentated on by Airspeeder development pilot and ambassador Bruno Senna and motorsports broadcaster Nikki Shields, with the highlights available to watch below. 

Senna himself will soon feature in these remotely piloted races, with a wider grid of pilots taking part.

The technical side was taken care of by a team made up of former Formula 1, motorsport and advanced aerospace development figures, who had to build Race control stations, a pilot control station, cutting edge 5G networks, AR Sky Tracks, and an engineering and team control station, akin to that seen in elite traditional motor racing. In addition they had to develop race rules and a full suite of safety, logistics and race management protocols. 

The digital architecture was made with partners Telstra Purple, Acronis and Amazon Web Services. 

Airspeeder founder Matt Pearson said: “Every transformative moment in human transportation has been accelerated by motorsport. As we stand on the cusp of the 21st century’s great leap forward in delivering on the promise of flying cars, the role competition plays is as important as ever.

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“For this reason, in winning the world’s first flying car race, Zephatali Walsh hasn’t just made motor sport history but writes his own chapter in the genesis of a mobility revolution. This is just the start, this first race offers only a glimpse of our promise to deliver the most progressive, transformative and exciting motorsport in the world. We look forward to delivering many more races and breath-taking moments.”

Winning pilot Walsh added: “As pilots, we’ve been developing this sport behind the scenes over hundreds of hours of simulator, engineering and testing work and through this process we have been united as a group of pilots in one common goal - to deliver this historic first race.

What is Airspeeder?

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Airspeeder is the world’s first racing series for electric flying cars.

The racing multi-copters are developed at Airspeeder’s advanced aerospace engineering hub in South Australia by engineers drawn from elite motorsports, automotive, aviation and first-person-view drone, electric plane, electric vehicles and passenger drone backgrounds.

Airspeeder’s vision is to deliver “the most exciting and future-focused motorsport on the planet.”

Following an inaugural unmanned, EXA, season, elite pilots will take to the skies to race on electronically governed racetracks in the skies above some of the most visually arresting scenery in the world.

“As soon as the lights turned green, we became racers competing for a place in the history of this sport and flying cars as the coming transportation revolution. I couldn’t be prouder to know that forever more I’ll be the first winner of an electric flying car race and I look forward to retaining my crown as we go racing around the world in the coming months.”

Earlier this year, Broadcast Sport exclusively revealed that Aurora Media Worldwide will produce all content for the competition, including these EXA series events. It will also produce digital output, a behind-the-scenes documentary, and the actual Grand Prixs.