Walsh wins second eVTOL EXA Race in skies over South Australia

Australian drone pilot and surfer Zephatali Walsh backed up his historic opening victory in the first eVTOL EXA Circuit Race to beat competitors Lexie Janson and Fabio Tischler in a dramatic Race 2.

Following on from the excitement of the inaugural race, where Walsh beat Fabio Tishcler over two remotely piloted aerial laps, the second instalment saw Tischler again on the podium with FPV and drone expert Lexie Janson, who recovered from a crash in qualifying.

The Airspeeder Series, partnered by Acronis, has only been in development for little over four years, the first flights taking place in June 2021 before a first successful remotely piloted drag race at almost the same time last year.

A COLLABORATION OF THE GREATEST TECHNICAL INDUSTRIES

Alauda Aeronautics’ Technical Leadership Team is drawn from the greatest minds of the tech, automotive and aeronautical industries including IWC Schaffhausen, Ferrari, McLaren, Jaguar Land Rover, Rolls Royce, Boeing and Airbus. It is the first in the world to be in production with performance electric flying cars.

The Alauda and Airspeeder teams were also able to draw upon expertise from Acronis and Teknov8 in securing and managing vital telemetry and race data with the ultimate goal to create the digital architecture that will drive the 5G enabled infrastructure needed to ensure the safe management of autonomous and piloted eVTOL vehicles in urban environments.

We've only gone and raced again. #EXARace2

After a thrilling win in the first #eVTOL EXA Circuit Race in May, Team Silver did it again in South Australia. Zephatali Walsh beat competitors Lexie Janson and Fabio Tischler to the podium, which even included a crash in qualifying. pic.twitter.com/TcfCO5D2qf

— Airspeeder (@AirspeederHQ) October 16, 2022

WHAT NEXT?

This historic first remotely piloted races will be followed by Grand Prixs with wider grids flown over a multitude of locations and track lay-outs. These EXA races will serve as the feeder series for Airspeeder crewed races set to take place in 2023.

eVTOL Alauda Mk3 TECH SPECS

LENGTH – 4.1 meters

CONSTRUCTION – carbon fiber construction full-scale racing quadcopter.

PERFORMANCE – 320kW, equalling an Audi SQ7 performance SUV. Acceleration from 0-62mph takes 2.8 seconds and the Speeder can climb to 500 meters.

WEIGHT – 2,500kg while an Airspeeder racing craft (without pilot) weighs just 130kg. It can lift a weight of more than 80kg, proving the viability of the powertrain for piloted races.

TEAM UP WITH ACRONIS

Acronis is proud to be the official Cyber Protection Partner of Airspeeder. To find out more, please visit https://www.acronis.com/en-us/lp/msp-sports/