Father and son duo create world's fastest drone that reaches 480 km/h

Luke Bell and his father Mike have teamed up to create the world's fastest drone with an average top speed of 480.23 km/h (298.47 mph).

The duo, who live in Western Cape, South Africa, spent several months designing, testing and eventually flying the quadcopter.

Named Peregreen 2, it came after the original Peregreen model reached a top speed of 397 km/h (247 mph) but was never officially recognized by Guinness World Records.

The official Guinness World Records title for Peregreen 2 is the fastest ground speed by a battery-powered remote-controlled (RC) quadcopter.

Unfazed by this, Luke and Mike went back to the drawing board and after several malfunctions in testing, including wires and batteries overheating to the point of electrical fires, they were ready to fly.

To be officially recognized as Guinness World Records title holders, the drone had to successfully complete two runs of flights in opposite directions to negate tail or head winds.

The actual top speed measured by the drone during these two runs was 510 km/h (317 mph), meaning it can travel 142 metres in a single second.

The carbon fibre shell of the drone makes it light and easy to control, especially after utilizing the help of aerothermal engineer Chris Rosser on how to control the drone successfully.

This was 3D printed at a workshop, combined with motors, batteries and a complete redesign on the shape of the drone to make it more aerodynamic.

As you can probably guess, this was not the Bells' first foray into engineering and technology.

Mike spent time in his career as an architect and designed the incredible Mbombela Stadium in South Africa that was used to host four games at the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Luke is a content creator, often reviewing drones and cameras on his YouTube and Instagram channels, and is an ambassador for Sony.

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