Zephtali Walsh Takes Home the Prize in Last Uncrewed Race

Airspeeder's 2023 EXA Series Championship saw the last of its 3-car races finish this month, capping off the 2023 season with a win to Zephtali Walsh.

The win capped off the "world's inaugural three-craft EVTOL race at Stonefield Airfield, South Australia", pitting Airspeeder pilots Bruno Senna (of Ayrton Senna's fame), Lexie Janson, and the victorious Walsh against each other. The 2023 series saw them remotely pilot their Alauda Aeronautics Mk3s, aiming for caution as the sport looks to establish safety criteria and start off on stable footing. Next year, the series will begin fully-crewed races using the same Airspeeders, putting contestants within feet of each other while they make their 2.8-second sprint to a sustained 60 mph.

The racing series has continued to build modest interest in the racing scene, not exactly breaking out to mainstream interest just yet. The Airspeeder Series is still young though, with teams finding their footing and sussing out the boundaries of a brand-new racing sport. Without decades of experience to draw from, teams have been hard at work pushing the limits of the Mk3 platform, a full-size, crewed racing quadcopter. Airspeeder knows they're going to have to build interest, and they seem to believe that 2024's move to fully crewed Airspeeder races will be an important milestone in gaining notoriety as the world's first airborne Formula series.

“The groundbreaking three-craft race at Stonefield Airfield, South Australia, not only made history as the inaugural Airspeeder EXA Series but also marked a pivotal moment in motorsport innovation," said an Airspeeder statement. "With over 100 spectators in attendance, the race showcased cutting-edge technology, featuring innovative onboard cameras from EMG that streamed 1080i live footage from all Speeders via RF. This marked a significant leap forward in race broadcasting, setting a new standard for immersive experiences. The event was also recorded as a live broadcast, with the NEP Group spearheading the initiative, turning the race into a dynamic testbed for future race broadcasts. The combination of live streaming and recorded broadcasts ensured that the excitement and thrill of the EVTOL race reached audiences worldwide.”

“The success of the remotely piloted race will pave the way for fully crewed Airspeeder races set to take place in 2024. This historic first marks the beginning of a new era in motorsport, where the sky is no longer a limit, but a race track.”

FMI: www.airspeeder.com