Luke, front left with the goggles, watches a drone while his dad, Mike, talks to him. It is this very drone that helped them shatter a world record for the third time. A home-built drone from Cape Town has set a new world record by reaching an astonishing speed of 657 km/h, as confirmed by Guinness World Records.
Mike Bell, 63, and his son Luke achieved this remarkable feat on December 11 at a farm near Melkbostrand, surpassing the previous record for the fastest battery-powered remote-controlled quadcopter. The drone now outpaces electric cars, bullet trains, and even World War II Spitfires. Speaking to Cape Argus, a very proud Luke, 31, said the achievement came after more than two years of hard work and about 30 test flights to perfect the drone’s design.
“We have been doing test runs for the past five months on this design,” Luke said. “Each time we go out we try different configurations, aerodynamic improvements, propellers — everything to optimise the final drone.” He said he has been flying this type of drone for years now. “So it’s easy for me to fly,” Luke, who lives in Green Point, said.
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This drone, built by Mike Bell and his son Luke, smashed another Guinness World Record. “No practice is necessary but a lot of test flights to tweak everything is needed … for this version we probably did about 30 test flights all in all.”
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