By now you may be asking yourself “How do I know if my drone is going to be good for drone races?” There are a lot of things that make a great racing drone, but here's what's the most important.
Speed: Obviously you're going to need a drone that can go fast, but how fast is fast enough? Usually drones tend to have a top speed of about 35mph, but racing drones can easily go over 50mph (sometimes even faster). To achieve higher speeds, you can do lots of different things. The easiest way to go faster is use more powerful batteries that have higher voltages (14.8v batteries instead of the traditional 11.1v). Another way would be to reduce the weight of your racing drone, because sometimes less is more. Take off the useless stuff like GPS, OSDs, extra long wires, heavy landing gear etc.
Sight: The FPV camera is one of the most important components for drone racing. When drones are in forward flight, they can tilt anywhere from 1 to almost 80 degrees depending on how fast they’re going. Because of this, It's very important that your camera can be tilted up. This will allow you to see where you're going when the drone is tilted forward. Your FPV camera also needs to be durable, have a high frame rate (60fps) and a wide FOV (field of view so you can see around turns).
A good Flight Controller: Lots of people overlook the flight controller when thinking about drone racing, but it’s the only thing that keeps your drone stable, so don't overlook it!
Durability And Reparability: When racing drones, it's almost guarantee that you're going to crash at least once for every three flights you do (otherwise you aren't flying fast enough). Some people crash more, some crash less, but it happens to everyone. That's why you should look for a drone frame capable of taking lots of hits before breaking. You should also be able to replace all of the parts for your drone individually.
