DRL Allianz World Championship coming to Munich 2018

More and more people around the world are discovering a passion for drone racing. On July 28, 2018 BMW Welt in Munich will be transformed into a gladiator arena in which the best pilots in the international Drone Racing League will be battling for a place in the final of the 2018 DRL Allianz World Championship in Saudi Arabia.

The drones will be flying at speeds well in excess of 90 miles an hour around a specially designed course inside the building and above the vehicle exhibits. The lineup of twelve highly experienced pilots includes competitors from Germany, USA, England, Sweden and the Netherlands as well as the German eGaming stars McStralle and UpsidedownFPV. Fans and visitors can follow the event live and enjoy an exciting fringe program.

Racing at high speed through BMW Welt

This year, BMW has been named as an official partner of the Drone Racing League (DRL), which is organizing one of the largest international racing series in this futuristic sport, the “2018 DRL Allianz World Championship”.

Experienced FPV (First Person View) pilots will guide their custom-made DRL drones around complex three-dimensional courses, reaching speeds of more than 90 miles an hour. The course around the award-winning architecture of BMW Welt and the vehicle exhibits has been plotted with millimeter accuracy thanks to state-of-the-art hardware and software.

As a result, around 1,000 spectators on various platforms throughout BMW Welt will have thrill-a-minute drone races, and the drone pilots will be faced with an attractive and highly challenging course. This calls for a huge amount of equipment and high levels of organization on both sides – the BMW Welt and the DRL, whose teams have been preparing the event together for months.

The set-up is impressive: A crew of 150, some 600 identical, custom-built DRL racing drones and the rest of the equipment are coming in a total of eight articulated trucks. Once they arrive at BMW Welt, up to 3,000 meters of cabling need to be laid, including power supply cables for more than 60 cameras.

“Drone racing is becoming more and more popular thanks to DRL professionalizing the sport and bringing it into the mainstream. We are bringing the semi-final races of the DRL Championship to BMW Welt, so our visitors can experience this new sport close up ”, said Jörg Reimann, Head of BMW Customer Brand Experience.

“Our involvement addresses an exciting new target group with an interest in action sports and with great affinity for digitalization, state-of-the-art materials and advanced technologies.”

A varied package for an unforgettable experience

The spectacular on July 28, 2018 starts at 7 pm with the semi-final and will close with the official award ceremony for the finalists at 10 pm. The 30-minute half-time show features a DJ to keep the mood exuberant. Anyone unable to get a ticket can watch the action live and free of charge on a big screen in the fan zone on the forecourt of BMW Welt and in the Double Cone.

Fans of action-packed racing can look forward to a varied fringe program starting at 2 pm. DJ sounds will create a fitting atmosphere, while food trucks will serve tasty snacks and beverages. The latest “hands-on” BMW exhibits, a VR flight simulator and drone flight instruction from an experienced pilot are just some of the thrills on offer.

The race will be broadcast this fall on 90+ sports channels worldwide. In Germany, the entire Drone Racing League will be broadcast every Thursday from September 13 to mid-December on ProSieben MAXX.

Schedule for the DRL Championship on July 28, 2018:

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