Inventor Breaks Guinness World Record For Fastest Drone Flight Ever

South African photographer and content creator Luke Maximo Bell and his father Mike Bell are now Guinness World Record holders for the fastest drone flight in the world, beating out the previous 224 mph record by Ryan Lademann. The duo has officially earned the title for “fastest ground speed by a battery-powered remote-controlled (RC) quadcopter,” and the younger Bell is now sharing exactly how they managed to build the device they call Peregreen 2, as well as the trials and errors along the way.

Bell has been passionate about his quadcopter project for some time now. In a YouTube video, he says, “Last year, I created the fastest drone in the world, but I always felt like it was a kind of prototype and not quite fast enough. This year, my dad and I decided to improve every aspect of the original Peregreen drone to create an epic successor.” Though last year's drone flew nearly 250 mph (400 kph), Bell set his sights even higher. This accomplishment was not without its challenges. After multiple fires, prototypes, and adjustments, Bell's Peregreen 2 dashed through four speed runs.

In order to achieve this feat, the Bells designed a drone with four motors on a carbon fiber frame. The motors on their previous drone were Velox V2808s, but they went for even larger ones this time. Using T-Motor Velox V3115s caused an immediate setback. Their initial prototypes kept bursting into flames, a disheartening event to any drone maker. Their motors were overheating their batteries, necessitating a redesign. The Bells considered quitting, but stayed the course. Eventually, they made a prototype, with thicker wires for the motors that could successfully fly.

Though the Peregreen 2 could successfully fly, it was not initially at record-breaking speeds. After swapping out the motors for even more powerful ones and streamlining the design to be more aerodynamic, they had their final version to take the title. On April 21, 2024, in Worcester, South Africa, the Bells sent the Peregreen 2 into flight for two speed runs, each in opposite directions in order to negate the wind speed. At full throttle, the drone went from 0 to 186mph (300 kmh) in 2 seconds. Peregrine 2 officially reached 317 mph (510 kph) with an average speed of 298.47 mph (480.23 kph).

Incidentally, for the speed runs, Maximo Bell had attached an Insta 360 Go 3 Action cam to the nose of the drone. He was not expecting to get any usable footage at the drone's higher speeds, but it turns out he managed to make a working camera drone faster than Red Bull's Drone 1 that broke records at 217 mph (350 kph) following Formula 1 driver Max Verstappen's full-speed lap around the Silverstone Circuit.

To see more from Bell, you can follow him on Instagram and subscribe to his YouTube channel.