UNC-Chapel Hill to host CDRA Drone Racing Championship Apr. 5-6
March 7, 2025
For the first time ever, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will host the Collegiate Drone Racing Association’s Drone Racing Championship on April 5-6 at the Horace Williams Airport located at 1001 Estes Drive, Chapel Hill, NC 27516.
The race will convene more than 50 pilots from 17 universities from across the country. Qualifying races will begin Sat., April 5, with pilots learning the track and racing for the fastest three consecutive laps to create a leaderboard. The championship will take place Sun., April 6 at 12:30 p.m. Pilots will race four at a time in a double-elimination bracket of 14 races. The full schedule is available on the MultiGP website.
Pilots fly special drones with cameras that transmit a video feed to their goggles. The pilots use that camera feed to navigate the course obstacles made up of a series of flags and gates.
“This race is significant because many of these students are in drone or engineering programs and this title shows their experience in the field,” said Mark Grohe, director of events for MultiGP. “This is a growing college program and schools are even recruiting drone pilots with scholarships as the industry grows. Many of these pilots were skilled pilots before college and with the addition of the degree, they are some of the most capable candidates in the world.”
The event is free and open to the public with a viewing area of the track, monitor stations where spectators can see the pilots’ view of the course and a simulator set up for visitors to test their skills.
Parking areas will be designated at the airport and volunteers will be there to direct visitors.
“Interest in drones in all capacities is growing in our area and this is a great way to highlight the sport and student involvement,” said Susan Cohen, a co-host of the event and director of the Carolina Drone Lab (CARDNL) at the UNC Institute for the Environment. “This is the first time UNC-Chapel Hill has hosted the race and we are super excited to be a part of the event. Several organizations and departments from UNC will be helping with the event – the Carolina Drone Lab, Lampe Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering FabLab, BeAM @ UNC, Applied Physical Sciences and the UNC Robotics Club.”
The Collegiate Drone Racing Association is the world’s largest academic drone racing association and is home of the College Drone Racing Championship with extensive experience and passion for bringing the sport of drone racing to educational institutions. The CDRA is part of MultiGP Drone Racing, the world’s largest drone racing league. MultiGP hosts hundreds of chapters across the U.S. and internationally.
The Carolina Drone Lab (CARDNL) serves as a collaborative space and knowledge hub that facilitates the innovative use of remote sensing and unoccupied aerial systems to address environmental challenges. CARDNL is a continuously-evolving resource for collaborators both within the UNC community and beyond and is housed in the UNC Institute for the Environment.
Media Contacts:
Emily Williams, director of communications for the UNC Institute for the Environment, emilywilliams@unc.edu, (919) 962-0965.