Video: Flying car racing planned

Flying car racing is about to take off.

Australian start-up Alauda Racing is revealing its Airspeeder low altitude drone-like quadcopter aircraft during the Goodwood Festival of Speed in the United Kingdom from July 4-7.

“Flying cars are no longer fantasy,” says Alauda Racing founder and chief executive officer Matt Pearson who hopes to see them start racing in 2020.

The Airspeeder has four 24kW electric motors, flies about 20 metres above ground and can reach 200km/h.

Weighing about 230kg, the aerial speedster is powered by LiPo batteries which can produce about 500kW.

A race series could feature individual time trials as well as group races and Alauda expects that will help lead to commercial development and perhaps public sales of a flying sport car.

Races are proposed at various motorsport venues around the world, with testing due to start in November.

The Airspeeder world championship racing is expected to include five teams and 10 pilots.

The sky cars have in-built collision avoidance systems and other safety measures.