Contents:
- Introduction
- Radio Control, FPV, and miniquad basics (learn to fly)
- Advanced Learning & Research
- Drone Racing Buyers Guides
- Equipment and Tools
- Building your Miniquad
- Flying
- Troubleshooting and FAQs
- Guides for Advanced Pilots
- Community
- Drone Racing
- Opinion Pieces
The Ultimate Drone Racing Guide
If you want to learn about drone racing or flying FPV quadcopters, you are at the right place! Our Drone Racing Guide is the ultimate miniquad resource for all skill levels!
As we’re sure you already know, or are soon to find out, there is a lot of learning involved in flying these amazing machines. When we got into this hobby, we were flabbergasted by the lack of cohesive knowledge regarding building and flying miniquads. Don’t get us wrong, all of the information you need to know is out there, it’s just spread out across several forums, hundreds of blog posts, and tons of YouTube videos.
Our goal is to organize all the information you need in one place. This comprehensive guide will get you through the entire process of learning to fly, researching and buying parts, building your quadcopter, and finally flying it. Think of it as your “Drone 101” learning guide. Our articles also serve as extensions of this guide, providing even more references to valuable blogs, videos, and forums you can review for even more information.
To summarize, the goal of the drone racing guide is to:
- Provide a neatly-organized directory of articles and videos that can get a newbie with absolutely no experience in the hobby flying.
- Keep this directory up to date so that the miniquad you build will have the most up to date hardware and software. This means you spend less money avoiding making the same purchasing mistakes we, and others in the hobby, made.
Having said that, let’s get into it!
If you are totally new to the hobby, we highly suggest you start from section one. Reading as much as you can from sections one and two could save you a ton of money or prevent a dumb accident like cutting up your fingers or burning down your house.
If you’re experienced with RC aircraft, be it quadcopters, planes, or other multicopter devices, you can probably skip around a bit. You can use the section titles to direct your research to topics you are interested in.
Section 1: Radio Control, FPV, and miniquad basics (learn to fly)
This section documents the basics on drones / quadcopters / multicopters / etc. This is a great place to start if you want to learn the basics, refresh on terminology, or want to start training without actually buying anything too expensive. If you are looking for information on how to start flying quadcopters, simulators for training, and introductory knowledge, this is definitely the section for you!
- Types of drones – toys, racers, and more!
- What you need to know before getting into the hobby
- How much does it cost?
- Starting FPV Racing FAQ
- Common terms and acronyms in the hobby
- FPV Racing Simulators: the ultimate list of FPV simulators!
- Learning to fly using a micro quad – the ultimate beginners guide to flying.
- Starting with drone simulators: The most effective way to train with an FPV simulator
- Setting up your Taranis to be used as a simulator controller
- Drone Racing Simulators (and reviews)
Section 2: Advanced Learning & Research
So you’ve decided you want to build a quadcopter. The articles in this section will help you understand what decisions you need to make before buying parts, what the parts do, how to pick the best one, and where to buy it from. It also touches on some of the legal issues in the hobby as well as some important safety topics you should be aware of.
- Decisions you will need to make before purchasing anything
- Anatomy of an FPV miniquad
- Buying options: build from Kit vs RTF vs parts
- Quadcopter wireless antenna theory
- Where to buy stuff
- Legality
- Safety
Section 3: Drone Racing Buyer’s Guides
Our buyers guides are so much than just a list of products you should buy – each guide consists of a long article explaining exactly what the component being discussed is, how it works, what you should look for and who the reputable sellers for that component are. These articles are “must-read”s for piecing together your first drone or figuring out replacement parts.
- Main buyers guide page
- Gear buyers guides
- Miniquad parts buyers guides
Section 4: Equipment and Tools
Having the right tools available will make your life a lot easier when it comes to building your quad. In this section, we go over all of the one-time-purchase equipment you will need. We also discuss nice-to-haves and explain why you may want to buy them. Finally, we link some tutorials for some of the common things you may want to do with this equipment.
- Purchasing Tools
- Using your tools
- Tools for your everyday flight kit
- Advanced video receivers (diversity / ground stations / etc)
- Battery charging guide
- Battery safety
- Charging multiple batteries using the same charger (LiPo parallel charging)
Section 5: Building your miniquad
So you have all your equipment and parts and you’re ready to build your miniquad. This section covers the basics of miniquad assembly.
- How to build a racing drone
- Software Setup Guide
- Build tips to improve durability
- PIDs
- Basic guide Link (Oscarliang)
- Advanced guide Link (iflyquad) Link (Joshua Bardwell)
Section 6: Flying
This section focuses on learning to fly and advice on how to improve your aerial skills.
- Tips for your first flight
- Deciding When to Land
- Beginner tips for becoming a better pilot
- Getting into rate mode
- Moving from intermediate advanced flying.
- Learning to race: moving from advanced to competitive flying
Section 7: Troubleshooting and FAQs
- How to diagnose and fix RC receiver problems with Betaflight
- Diagnosing and fixing a stutter in your motors
- What to Do When Your Quad Flips Out (or Won’t Take Off)
Section 8: Guides for Advanced Pilots
Advanced Flight Controller Set-up
- Betaflight OSD Set-up Guide
- Tuning PIDs the easy way using in-flight adjustments
- Betaflight Serial VTX (Tramp) Set-up Guide
- Taranis Telemetry Guide
- Betaflight Blackbox Set-up Guide
- Automatic FPV Camera Tilt
- Betaflight Filters Guide
- Save Your Race with Anti-Turtle Mode
- Equipment Set-up Guides
- CCD FPV Camera Configuration Guide
- How to use various RC systems with Betaflight
- Understanding DSHOT / DSHOT set-up guide
- How to use a multi-meter to diagnose electrical problems
- Configuring the Tramp HV to communicate with your flight controller
- Adding lights to your quadcopter (LEDs)
- Advanced Equipment / Tools
- Understanding equipment and flight concepts
- Racing Quadcopters and Real Life
Section 9: Community
This section will cover the community and hopefully help you find other like minded individuals interested in flying!
- Online Communties
- Local Communities
- Finding a local club to fly with
- Getting past the local race scene
- Flying with Others
Section 10: Drone Racing
- Things to bring to your first drone race: a complete list
- Lap Timing Guide for Drone Racing
- Race Specs: What’s the Point?
- Organizing races
- Drone racing organizations and leagues:
Section 11: Opinion Pieces
- Digital FPV video (Connex ProSight)
- Motor kV selection (2300kV vs 2600kV on 5″)
- Open source software
- Toward a Better Race Spec
Anything missing?
Do you have any links that you think would fit well into the framework above? We are always willing to link to good content, send us an e-mail: