World's Fastest FLYING RC Drift Car

[@NicholasRehm]

Thank you guys for all of your support! I hope you enjoy the 100% FREE set of instructions I put together to build your own: hackaday.io/project/191240-flying-rc-drift-car

[@NicholasRehm]

If only there were a little button you could press on my channel in return 👉🥺👈

[@alldeeplearning949]

Now this is seriously cool ...

[@C_P_B_C]

One Word: F-Zero

[@murrijuana2842]

​@@NicholasRehm kyosho already did this in 2016. Catch up.

[@Julian-cb1fl]

Absolutely genius creativity and engineering!

[@4b5urd.]

Tremendous amount of respect for releasing everything open source. For all the time and effort, blood, sweat, and tears( literally) you put into this and not trying to directly capitalize financially on this is amazing. I wouldnt be surprised if someone doesn't make a few minor adjustments, claim it as their own, and take it to market. You've got something special here. Thanks for sharing it with the world

[@MaxImagination]

This was really inspiring to watch, Nicholas! Would be stoked to see a fleet of these in a race or something. Keep up the hard work! :)

[@NicholasRehm]

Thanks, that's the goal!!

[@racefreak9488]

Kyosho Drone Racer Zephyr Force is the best next Thing available

[@RichardGilmoreDronetech]

They already race them. It's called FPV drone racing

[@racefreak9488]

@@RichardGilmoreDronetech Drone Racing and this is completly different ya Genius

[@TheTruthHz]

Or better yet, flying towards ruZZian trenches in Ukraine 💥

[@Mattxjax45]

"Gps is too heavy" *straps a brick cellphone to it*

[@NicholasRehm]

Anything to explain away integrating another component in that cramped little fuselage lol

[@sanjikaneki6226]

@@NicholasRehm why not use one of those tiny modules?

[@SVGERichy]

😂 iflight makes some pretty small gps that he can fit on the top too

[@dogzer]

nothing raw power won't fix

[@SubZ3ro907]

I recommend a skyfly performance analyzer. I use it on my drag car. Super lightweight and very accurate.

[@thinkflight]

This is incredible....

[@NicholasRehm]

No u

[@brendansimons6811]

Looks like fun! I'd be surprised if someone didn't make this as a new RC toy

[@racefreak9488]

Kyosho Drone Racer Zephyr Force Just Without fpv

[@JackDaniels2535]

I already want to figure out how to shrink it to something you could use in a building.

[@adakalyoncu1913]

Dji avata my friend, dji avata

[@tristanwegner]

Really cool video, I especially liked how you thought about the mixed output in turns and showed the curves and the math.

[@picturelessboss6113]

This is great, loved your video. Saw this concept a few years back in the RC world when Kyosho released the Drone Racer but they didn't do a good job of marketing it and it never became popular. What I like about your version is the fact that the components are readily available and you can upgrade/update and add your own improvements to it as new stuff comes out. Great job man, keep up the good work.

[@NicholasRehm]

I hadn't seen the Kyosho before--adding more to your point of marketing lol. Thanks for the comment! I would love to see others build upgraded versions with their favorite components

[@PCBWay]

This is INSANE!! 🔥🔥🔥🔥 Thx so much for bringing us this.

[@cubbucca]

This looks ready for retail. The most sensible build I've seen you do.

[@sakarrc5001]

Fascinating!!!! The only really fun and viable solution of thrusted quad.

[@PaarthGuptaYT]

This is such a cool project! It gives me RCTestFlight ground-effect vehicle vibes.

[@abyssalblue3089]

I really appreciated your applied physics analysis and how you illustrated your solutions..Solid!

[@NicholasRehm]

Thanks!!

[@ejowerks]

EPIC! Nice work, Nick!

[@tristanwegner]

Have you considered a jump button for short but high obstacle, that the lidar cannot catch in time?

[@NicholasRehm]

That'd be cool and easy to implement with another channel!

[@mikebergman1817]

Holy crap, that is an awesome idea.. This would be like integrating Mariokart into it..

[@mikebergman1817]

@@NicholasRehm I would absolutely love to see that!!

[@marielizysurourcq]

Ten years ago, I pud an EDF on my quad and it worked but the quad was loosing 1m altitude when I activated the EDF and it was not going fast. I 'm happy to see your solution and I like it very much

[@andresmonagas7662]

I'm surprised by the carry weight it can hold. Looks really fun to fly, I kinda want one. It's amazing that you put all the files and code online so anyone can keep the R&D. I can't express with words how much I like your videos, keep em coming!!!

[@fishfinder3583]

Love watching the hobby growing with great ideas like this 👍

[@RazShifrin]

I'm not sure if you understand this, but you just invented the best RC "thing" that was ever made!! This is brilliant!!!

[@bardenegri21]

Really eager to see where this type of drone goes. Been watching the ejowerks one since it came out. Glad more people are working on this and pushing it forward.

[@NicholasRehm]

Glad you knew about Erik's stuff already!

[@suryakamalnd9888]

Amazing video bro

[@NicholasRehm]

Thanks!

[@suryakamalnd9888]

@@NicholasRehm Welcome 😀

[@Venaloid]

This is my favorite quad copter configuration ever.

[@Kenton8332TV]

This is so cool it reminds me of the kyosho drone racer!! AWESOME WORK!!!

[@KentFPV]

Now waterproof it and make it a drone, car, and submarine! Haha, but for real I love this idea! Makes me want to buy one

[@NicholasRehm]

Waterproofing would be a fun side project--would give me the confidence to fly this thing over water haha

[@rc-fannl7364]

Cool project, seems like a blast to drive/fly

[@Inertia888]

My Resin Printer has been fun, but in order to eliminate creative limitations, both a filament, and resin printer should be in the shop… Going to save for an FDM 3D Printer (been thinking about it - now I have the creative motivation I needed ;) Hopefully will be building my own version of this, during the 2024 season! Thanks for posting this, and say hi to Josh Bardwell & Blunty! They're the channel that showed me this project. Happy Flying!

absolut perfect, this is insparation for all the Car/ Drone Pilots.......thumbs up👍👍💯

[@NicholasRehm]

Thanks for the kind words!

[@tb_fpv4379]

You have to make it in to a landspeeder!!!!

[@jeffb7788]

This reminds me of an rc hovercraft I once had. It “drifted” in a very similar fashion and was a lot of fun to drive. One downside was that it really only functioned well on smooth surfaces like a basketball court or the kitchen floor. This drift plane would be much more resilient to different terrains. Very cool idea, I think I just might have to build one

[@rahuls7039]

Maybe, the only channel where I like the Ads... 🤩

[@andrewpicard2476]

Nicholas Rehm Man, that is the most bizzare R/C idea i've yet to see AND I LOVE IT! I discovered your channel thru R/C test flight. You guys come up with some mind-bending ideas , thanks for the Brilliant code addition. I was watching Multiwii in the early days and really freaked out our elderly neighbours flying a Tri-Copter with LEDS flying like a madman thru the entire neighborhood all those years ago. Greatwork, My mind has been blown now!

[@juanmohedano2216]

This looks so much fun to race against other people. Bigger laps than rc car, funnier and more flashy because of the drift, easyer to see and understand for spectators than quadcopter races, and i think the races could last longer than quadcopter's races

[@bluematter435]

my god i will build this so hard! thank you for making the files open.

[@wizardbrand1]

This is so cool! I'm mostly into RC cars and trucks, but I would buy this for sure! I hope to see these on the market one day ! Nice work!

[@licencetoswill]

this is an outstanding project, so much fun. good work on the code

[@NicholasRehm]

Thanks so much!

[@isaacbrewer5616]

Dude is a low-key genius. Love your channel! Keep it up!

[@NicholasRehm]

Thanks for the kind words!

[@winder6]

I could see this really going somewhere like becoming something like DRL in the future. Great job

[@JimSimFtw]

So glad i found your channel. keep it up man!

[@NicholasRehm]

Thanks!!

[@mrpicky1868]

nice to see someone actually doing quality projects on YT. PS try big side panels. will act as forward stabilizers

[@fonwoolridge]

Fantastic work.... and fair play for sharing it all open source too... keep up the great work!

[@NicholasRehm]

Thanks a ton!

[@MozzaBallBill]

Nicholas, thank you for bringing me such amazing content. I love that you are so encouraging to your viewers to get going on our own projects and try to beat your designs. When i think about GOATS, i think of Michael Jordan, Tom Brady, & Nicholas Rehm

[@NicholasRehm]

GOAT comment

[@Mr8perezm]

Awesome invention. Thanks for sharing.

[@gyrogearloose1345]

Cheers Nicholas! Everything you make and do is fascinating and very impressive. Just keep on doing it man!

[@NicholasRehm]

Thanks a lot, will do😄

[@tobiasobermayr501]

the video shots of this thing looks amazing!

[@rctestflight]

Thats freakin sweet! Butt propellers ftw

[@PCBWay]

there you areeeeee

[@RunThatRC]

Looks like soo much fun. That's awesome!

[@NicholasRehm]

Thanks!!

[@hiddenchambers2922]

Wow amazing!! Thank you for sharing!!

[@dmitrymaslov4458]

Great project and video!

[@sixtofive]

That is really cool! Looks fun too.

[@goldbornmusic2025]

Excellent upload well done, really inspiring 👍👍👍👍

[@meirdeaph]

Thats frickin awesome!

[@silverXnoise]

I’ve been working on dRehmflight for the last several weeks. I’ve fried a Teensy, I thought I fried my ESC but evidently those things are pretty hardy. I also encountered a set of fan blades running at several thousand RPM, and they will indeed happily slice your fingers into shreds. I have no particular interest in RC hobbies, but have thoroughly enjoyed the engineering and appreciate the incredibly detailed documentation and work that you’ve put into this. My end goal is to develop a heavy-lift cinema drone and implement some of the dRehmflight functions and features into other motor and sensor control systems. Thanks for all the fun!

[@NicholasRehm]

Awesome! Remember to test, test, test until you fully understand how the system works. Keep those fingers safe

[@KaliKavala]

At the beginning I was like what a dumb idea... But you made that video so interesting to watch and I am happy that I did not skip it. Thanks.

[@NicholasRehm]

Thanks for sticking through it to see all the fun engineering

[@robertparenton7470]

Thank You! From Frisco, TX

[@NicholasRehm]

Cheers!

[@highwaltage]

lol another bit of oldschool cool! lol. the pusher prop 5 motor drone, 3 ch control and lidar is definitely a game changing addition.

[@MZ-nw7wz]

This is SO COOL!

[@mmmmmmmmmmm10]

Love this, when i was flying drone fpv i wanted something like this as drones are very complicated to fly.

[@Dorff_Meister]

There is awesome and then there is this. Amazing work!

[@TacticalCastle]

Sir, this is awesome!

[@full_metal_mofoe]

This is sik! This has to be the next evolution of fpv/hover racer.

[@dillpickle7633]

Great work! Those irregular lines in your prints are caused by instability in the print bed. You can greatly improve print quality by PID tuning your print bed.

[@SubZ3ro907]

You are a genius, bro. Market these! RC lovers would definitely buy them. I want one so bad, lol.

[@fpv-teacher]

You just made my dream come true, I hope for a bnf version to be available soon

[@fuglong]

Thank you!! This is so cool

[@BuckeyeStormsProductions]

This is really cool! I could imagine RC and eventually full-sized racing leagues built around rhis type of aerial, "drift car." Pod racing, here we come!

[@NicholasRehm]

That would be awesome

[@andrew-729]

@@NicholasRehm Any reason why we can't scale this to carry a human with current battery tech? Electric cars have the batteries and lidar sensors needed...I feel like this negates a whole bunch of issues cars have now like rubber tires, weather making crashes etc. But yea, I want to race these in a league or something!! So my drone flys with a 23ms lag, would it be possible to fly one over the internet? How about a race of them?

[@haphazard1342]

A couple thoughts. For propulsion, I think it would be a nice symmetry to have both forward and backward acceleration accomplished with the same technique of integrating the pitch angle and pusher motor speed. This way, you can benefit from the lift motors when accelerating from a stop, and from the motor mount airfoils when braking. This would also seriously help the stalling effect you ran into on your speed runs. Worth the effort to command reverse on the additional ESC. It would also be cool to see even more bank integration in turns. However, the more you bank the more error is introduced in your height estimate since the sensor is pointed further from vertical. Are there any single axis scanning LiDAR sensors you could use to allow picking the "true down" measurement? If not, how difficult would it be to mount the sensor on a servo to always point down? This would be most impactful for high speed maneuvers in tight spaces where there are side obstacles. Also interested to see how much control you could get with one additional axis to set the desired height. I guess that depends on the effective range of the height sensor being large enough, but with GPS you could transition the altimeter from ground mode to fly mode and have a really controllable plane too. Very reminiscent of Daniel's ground effect projects.

[@marian-gabriel9518]

Sensor fusion is your answer. Accelerometers tell you your "true" down. Normalize the axes and fuse it to your LIDAR to compensate the bank angle. No need for servos or anything else. Just mind your filtering :p

[@haphazard1342]

@@marian-gabriel9518 That's a fine suggestion but suffers from the same issue as the current implementation: if these are obstacles or significant terrain variation to the sides, the LiDAR sensor will report the distance to those obstacles instead of the distance to the ground directly below the vehicle. Imagine this extreme scenario: you are flying this vehicle towards the edge of a cliff and, upon realizing it, make a rapid banked turn to avoid flying off the edge. Even if you manage to stay on the cliff and not go over, when you are in the middle of the steep banked turn the LiDAR sensor could be pointing over the edge. The sensor would read the entire cliff height as your distance from the ground. Accounting for bank angle with a fixed sensor is only suitable for small bank angles. As the angle increases, you have to assume a smoother and more uniform ground surface, or add operating height for safety, otherwise the sensor may not read obstacles directly underneath the vehicle while in a banked turn.

[@marian-gabriel9518]

@@haphazard1342 Yeap, but putting servos on that thing is not the best idea either. Weight and complexity. Can break easily. Better off to put two LIDAR sensors, one of each side at a 45° angle to the belly one...and use the accel to measure which one is pointing "more down". No moving parts, no lag till you get them pointed. The bad part is it's more expensive. EDIT: Also the LIDAR should also have a bit of a wide area where it measures...But if it's not wide enough to cover the amount of bank angle and choose the measured points along the accel. down vector, then use two, as I said above. Or make the width the sensor can see through, wider by making the body of the thing transparent on the area of the body of the craft where the sensor sits. Depends on how that LIDAR HW is implemented... EDIT II: With this (and assuming enough processing power to run three LIDARs) you can monitor all of them and make an obstacle avoidance mechanism, where you only choose the distance along the accel down vector for your altitude correction, and the rest of the LIDAR directions for banking away from obstacles. (Also I should add that I'm assuming a scanning LIDAR not a single point range finder kind)

[@haphazard1342]

@@marian-gabriel9518 Yes, that would also be an improvement. You could interpolate between the measured values for the sensors that bound "true down". However, seeing the size of the LiDAR module I think a servo would still be more compact. The speed of response does not have to be instant, because the craft cannot bank instantly. A standard gyro control loop would be plenty fast, and direct mounting the LiDAR module on a servo horn is not too complicated.

[@marian-gabriel9518]

@@haphazard1342 Sure, you can do that, but you have to keep in mind that the sensor mounted on the servo still has to be both protected, so inside the fuselage, if you will, and also have a sufficient cutout in that fuselage to allow it to move and "see" and at that point you are exactly describing a scanning LIDAR which is already integrated as a standalone package, that's my rationale behind it...and it gives you potentially a larger viewing area or field of view, is faster (so you can use more filtering and get more accurate measurements). For a simple, approach your idea is the easiest and fastest to implement, mine is more expensive and involved, but I still think, purely from a performance and cost/benefit viewpoint, that it's better to go to an actual (meaning scanning) LIDAR, but at this point it's just a matter of preference/ cost and ease of implementation. EDIT: I like how this discussion feels like a HARA/FMEA engineering meeting :)))

[@mdandry]

Excellent work 👍🏻👍🏻 I may not build this project, BUT your video has helped me with a project I am already working on. Thanks 🙌🏻

[@NicholasRehm]

Awesome! What are you building?

[@vikingsofvintageaudio7470]

This will be a very commercially viable product soon! Good job!

[@NicholasRehm]

Thanks!

[@BPBomber]

Perfect! Now build one the size of an atv! 😂 This is a super cool project, thanks for sharing it.

[@NicholasRehm]

That would be sick

[@d4ro]

excellent fun design!!!

[@Venom2238]

so awesome... love that project of yours.... good job :)

[@R.B_B]

One good addition to your projects, including this. Is the new radio from radiomaster MT12 they has a gyro sensor accessories for the radio

[@animishaalagappa2327]

I recently got my hands on a teensy 4 Looking forward to fly-ving one soone😊

[@NicholasRehm]

Awesome!!

[@craigbu7755]

That thing is awesome,I hope somebody picks up on this idea,I'd buy one 👍

[@johnnymaynard299]

Truly AWESOME !

[@Maccaroney]

I love this! I need one. I would buy one right now.

[@greg0063]

This is really great, it would really get people into the hobby. It will also only be a matter of time until a flight controller, height sensor, and software are available as a package. Then whatever cool frame to build or buy. It would be a little bigger than a 5 inch drone so you don't have to be a microsurgeon to build it. What a great concept!

[@NicholasRehm]

This is only the beginning!

[@6b796c65]

Wow so rad… that could be a viable product. Could you put a couple cameras facing down to hold position and gauge speed alike also helping it turn with out drift? It could have a drift mode for expert mode.

[@NicholasRehm]

Erik has been experimenting with that idea and is getting pretty good results

[@jurrione]

That looks like fun. I will wait for the noiseless version though.

[@baxrok2.]

Incredible. Well done and congratulations.

[@drewbrit10]

Great job Nick! Reminds me of Captain Falcon's race car, the Blue Falcon

[@NicholasRehm]

Hahaha I can see it too

[@bluegoose8850]

I would love to build one of these but only have a 235x235 3d printer would you mind sharing the cad files as a .step or similar for some redesign?

[@NicholasRehm]

If you print at 75%, motor mounting holes will be 12mm and electronics mounting holes will be ~20mm, so you could run a 3" setup with smaller motors and 20mm fc stack

[@mr.Celsius]

this needs to be sold comertinaly

[@DankCloudzFPV]

Super cool build

[@alexbaxter934]

its a real life snow speeder...nice job!

[@Brian-S]

This is so cool and I just bought another teensy 4 while they were available I think this is the next project

[@NicholasRehm]

Sweeeet!

[@Silor]

You could make the bottom 5% of the throttle tilt the speeder forward without engaging the butt prop for creeping forward. Possibly blend it smoothly into the no-tilt buttprop speed mode, should give you better low speed control

[@NicholasRehm]

That's a good idea!

[@iforce2d]

Very cool! I'm a bit surprised it didn't go faster

[@NicholasRehm]

To be honest, the pusher motor on the back is pretty wimpy. Might upgrade to something that can swing a 6x5" prop in the future

[@yayayayya4731]

that changing functions for different throttle output? cool af

[@wildcat650power]

Super cool, I would love one of these. ❤

[@akathisia]

Impressive. And so cool! What a fun idea.

[@NicholasRehm]

Thanks!!

[@Soundwave857]

This thing looks so fun!

[@josephrsalexander4589]

This is cool!

[@megalomadolf]

Awsome project!

[@whatanerd7628]

YEEEYY! Real life F-Zero!

[@NicholasRehm]

😎

[@aviatoFPV]

This is just incredible. After printing a boat, I'm now working on a printed glider. After that I'm building this drone :')

[@ravisingh7329]

This is really cool project. What I found even more interesting was the mount you created to place and check the controls of the craft. Do you have a video on that as well?

[@NicholasRehm]

I originally built it for my spinning drone project. It’s a 2x4 base with a carbon tube out the top and a ball joint so I can’t mount things to it and have them freely rotate

[@SpicyBurger]

This is amazing!

[@ZeJuggler]

Another banger! The man never misses 🔥

[@NicholasRehm]

Come over some time and try it out my dude

[@ZeJuggler]

@@NicholasRehm Will do!

[@JPspinFPV]

Look at the Flywoo Nano M10 GPS unit. It's about the size of your pinky nail and weighs 2.2g for about $20. I almost always have more than 20 satellites within a couple minutes. Cool project though. How well does that LIDAR work over water?