'Formula 1 for the sky' to debut at Goodwood

A new motorsport series promising to combine the thrill of air racing with the glamour of Formula 1 and the format of Formula E will make its world debut this Thursday (July 4) at the UK’s Goodwood Festival of Speed.

It’s called Airspeeder and it’s the brainchild of Australian start-up Alauda Racing, which claims it will be a “radical new airborne motorsport for the 21st century” as well as the “biggest evolution of motorsport for generations”.

Based around a new single-seat take on the vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) flying car concept being developed by a range of car-makers and tech companies, the Aussie-engineered craft will treat Goodwood media and VIPs to flying displays and a race around an aerial track at the Goodwood Aerodrome adjacent to the Goodwood Hillclimb.

Inspired by Tesla’s electric vehicle success, Aussie entrepreneur Matt Pearson says Alauda’s quad or octocopters effectively merge an F1 car with a racing drone.

Capable of reaching speeds up to 200km/h while flying around 20 metres off the ground, the single-seat Airspeeder measures 4.03m long, 3.42m wide and just 0.9m high, and weighs only 230kg.

A static display of the Airspeeder Mk IV, claimed to be the world’s first piloted octocopter, will take centre stage at Goodwood’s Festival of Speed Future Lab.

Powered by a 500kW battery, the Airspeeder has a maximum altitude of 900m and is claimed to possess a greater power to weight ratio than an F1 car or F-18 fighter jet.

Pearson has his sights set on hosting the first Airspeeder World Championship as soon as next year, sponsored by current exchange firm Equals and contested by 10 pilots across five teams.

Pearson believes his flying cars will appeal to a whole new generation of race fans.

“Flying cars are no longer a fantasy, they are a reality and Goodwood Festival of Speed is the perfect place to introduce Airspeeder to the world,” he said.

“We’ve taken design cues from the golden era of racing, and we’re sure the tens of thousands enthusiasts present will instantly appreciate this evolution of motorsport.”

The series has also gained support from global transport company DHL, which will be the logistics partner for each sky-high Airspeeder Grand Prix, to be held “at a different landmark motorsport venue around the world”.

Manned demonstrations of the flying cars will take place in the Mojave Desert in the US this November, but Pearson’s long-term goal is even more ambitious than his 2020 Airspeeder World Championship plans: to sell flying sports cars to the public using similar technology.

The South African-born entrepreneur is also responsible for recently co-founding a global satellite start-up that launched four nano-satellites to orbit in 2018.