Star Wars-Like Drone Racing Might Be the Craziest Way to Use Your New Camera Copter

A group of drone pilots in France have found a very different use for their custom-built camera drones than your typical, beautiful or incredible aerial images of a landscape. Cameras rolling, they instead race their flying machines through an expertly laid out forest track… Star Wars style.

The guys behind the competition are known as the Airgonay club, and drone racing is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. Strap a GoPro to the front of a flying multi-copter, strap a display to your face, and…. they’re off!

Pilots get the first person experience as they race through the forest, capturing footage that looks remarkably like the speeder chase from Return of the Jedi:

Of course, this isn’t something you’re likely to see in the US anytime soon, and definitely not something National Parks would appreciate, but it is probably one the coolest way to use a camera drone we’ve run across… even if it doesn’t exactly yield majestic images.

(via Engadget)