The race to build the world’s quickest drone has shifted from labs and defense contractors to garages and hobby benches, and the latest DIY machine has just pushed that contest into a new, almost absurdly fast tier. A homebuilt quadcopter has now been clocked at speeds that would embarrass most supercars, edging close to 400 miles per hour and resetting expectations for what a battery-powered, remote-controlled aircraft can do. I see this record not as an endpoint, but as a marker in a rapidly escalating rivalry where students, families, police units, and solo tinkerers keep leapfrogging one another with smarter designs and bolder engineering.
What makes this new benchmark so striking is how quickly it has arrived on the heels of other headline-grabbing runs. In just a short span, the community has gone from celebrating 300‑plus mile per hour flights to talking seriously about 400 M territory, with each new build squeezing more performance out of electric motors, 3D printing, and aerodynamic tweaks. The result is a sport where the line between hobbyist and professional engineering is blurring, and where a single inspired builder can suddenly own a world record that global brands were eyeing for themselves.
The DIY rocket that nearly hit 400 MPH
The latest speed sensation is a scratch-built quadcopter that has reportedly reached a Top Speed of Almost 400 MPH, a figure that puts it at more than half the speed of sound and far beyond what most people associate with consumer drones. The project, highlighted under the headline Homemade Drone Obliterates World Record With, shows how a carefully tuned frame, high-discharge batteries, and brutally powerful motors can turn a compact RC aircraft into something closer to a guided missile than a camera platform. The quoted 400 M figure is not a casual exaggeration, it is the core claim that has electrified the drone racing and FPV communities.
At the center of this build is Ben Biggs, an Australian with formal training in aerospace engineering who has treated the drone as both a personal challenge and a rolling testbed for extreme performance. Reporting credits the story to Doug Sheckler, who framed Biggs as an Australian experimenter pushing the limits of what a home workshop can produce, and noted that the piece was Published as a concise breakdown of how he achieved such staggering speed. In that coverage, Biggs is described as methodically iterating toward a machine that can sustain these velocities without tearing itself apart, a reminder that raw power is only half the battle when you are flirting with 400 MPH in a package that fits in a backpack.
Ben Biggs and the Australian speed arms race
Biggs is not just a lucky tinkerer who stumbled into a record, he is an Australian builder with a degree in aerospace engineering who has applied textbook principles to a very non-textbook project. His background helps explain why his drone can survive the aerodynamic loads and vibration that come with such extreme speeds, and why he has been able to tune the balance between thrust, drag, and structural rigidity so precisely. In the reporting, Ben Biggs is presented as someone who understands both the theory and the hands-on craft of high-speed flight, which is exactly what you need when your creation is moving faster than many race cars.
The story of his run is framed by Doug Sheckler, who notes that the piece was Published as a compact account of how this Australian engineer turned a personal obsession into a headline-grabbing achievement. Sheckler’s write-up emphasizes that Biggs is operating in a crowded field, with plenty of competition already chasing similar numbers and eager to dethrone him. That context matters, because it shows that the 400 M claim is not an isolated stunt but part of a broader Australian and global push to redefine what a DIY drone can do, with Biggs now a central figure in that escalating contest.
From 388 mph to 603 KM/H: how the record keeps moving
Biggs’s latest run did not come out of nowhere, it builds directly on a series of increasingly fast DIY projects that have been trading the unofficial “fastest on Earth” crown. Earlier coverage described how An Australian man built a lightweight drone that hit 388mph, a figure that already sounded outrageous when it was first reported and was enough to label it the fastest on Earth at the time. That machine, also tied to the same Australian scene, showed that a carefully optimized electric quadcopter could push well beyond the speeds of many track-focused hypercars, and it set the stage for the leap toward 400 MPH.
On top of that, the community has now seen claims of a purpose-built speed drone reaching 603 KM in level flight, a number shared by the Drone Pro Hub team under the banner Breaking the World Drone Speed Record. That 603 KM/H figure, if fully verified and standardized, would put the craft in a different league altogether, edging into performance territory usually reserved for small manned aircraft. The fact that builders are now talking seriously about both 388mph and 603 KM in the same breath shows how quickly the ceiling is rising, and why Biggs’s Top Speed of Almost 400 MPH is both a record and a stepping stone in a race that is far from over.
Peregreen 3 and the 585 km/h DIY benchmark
One of the most important reference points for Biggs’s achievement is Peregreen 3, a high-speed quadcopter that has already been clocked at 585 km/h in controlled tests. The Peregreen project is explicitly described as the Fastest electric DIY quadcopter drone, and its 585 km figure has become a benchmark for what a carefully engineered, homebuilt platform can do. The builders behind Peregreen 3 focused on minimizing drag, stiffening the frame, and pairing extremely high power output with a flight controller that can keep the craft stable when it is slicing through the air at speeds that would shred a typical hobby drone.
Within the enthusiast community, Peregreen has become shorthand for the bleeding edge of DIY performance, and its numbers are dissected in technical forums where builders trade notes on motor selection, propeller pitch, and battery chemistry. On one such forum, a thread titled DIY quadcopter sets 585km/h speed record breaks down how Peregreen 3 achieved its run, with users like Hillhater pointing out that the project has pushed the envelope far beyond what most people thought possible for a battery-powered quad. That discussion even notes details such as a contributor with the handle 100 TW, Joined Aug 3, 2010 and now posting among 13,618 Messages, a reminder of how deep and long-running this community’s obsession with speed has become.
Guinness, ground speed, and what “fastest drone” really means
As these records pile up, the question of what counts as the “fastest drone” has become more complicated, and Guinness World Records has stepped in to define at least one key category. The organization tracks the Fastest ground speed by a battery-powered remote-controlled (RC) quadcopter, a title that focuses on the measured ground speed of a specific class of aircraft under standardized conditions. That definition matters, because it separates pure speed runs from other feats like endurance, altitude, or payload, and it gives builders a clear target when they claim to have set a new mark.
In its official listing, Guinness describes how the Fastest ground speed by a battery-powered remote-controlled quadcopter is verified, including the requirement for repeatable runs and precise measurement equipment. The record has changed hands multiple times as new designs have emerged, and each new holder has had to demonstrate that their craft meets the criteria for an RC quadcopter rather than, for example, a fixed-wing UAV or a rocket-assisted platform. For builders like Biggs, or the team behind Peregreen 3, aligning their achievements with this Guinness World Record framework is the difference between an impressive YouTube clip and a formally recognized world record.
Students, families, and police units joining the speed chase
What makes the current moment so interesting is that the push for speed is no longer limited to solo hobbyists or anonymous online teams. In Switzerland, a young engineer named Samuele Gobbi, a student at the Fribourg School of Engineering and Architecture, has already made headlines by building a drone that smashed a previous speed benchmark and earned a place in the Guinness World Records. Gobbi’s work at HEIA shows how academic programs are embracing UAV design as a proving ground for students, turning what might once have been a side project into a formal engineering challenge with real-world recognition.
Elsewhere, a Father-son duo has taken a very different route to the record books by using 3D printing to create a high-speed airframe that can be iterated quickly and cheaply. Reporting on this project notes that the Father-son duo 3D prints components for a drone that set a speed record at 360 m, demonstrating that additive manufacturing can deliver both strength and aerodynamic precision at a fraction of the cost of traditional machining. That same family, identified as Father, Mike and Luke Bell, has since been credited with a Guinness World Record for the fastest drone, with the Guinness World Record for the title recognizing how their design combines off-the-shelf electronics with custom printed parts to reach extraordinary RPM and speed figures.
Dubai Police and the rise of institutional record attempts
The speed race is not just a hobbyist obsession, it has also attracted serious attention from public agencies that see fast drones as tools for security and emergency response. Dubai Police, through its Unmanned Aerial Systems Center, recently announced that one of its operational drones had set a new Guinness World Record by hitting a top speed that outpaced previous benchmarks. In a short video clip, the force celebrated how its Peregreen3-branded platform had been tuned for both speed and reliability, underscoring that this was not a one-off stunt but part of a broader effort to strengthen security and rapid response capabilities.
The Dubai Police project highlights how institutional players are now competing directly with DIY builders for the same records, often using similar hardware and design philosophies. Their Unmanned Aerial Systems Center has framed the record as proof that high-speed drones can be integrated into real-world policing, from chasing suspects to delivering critical equipment across dense urban environments. By securing a Guinness World Record for a drone that is part of an active fleet, Dubai Police has blurred the line between experimental racing platforms and operational tools, and it has raised the stakes for hobbyists who now find themselves measured against state-backed engineering teams.
Why speed matters for the future of drones
Behind the spectacle of 388mph, 585 km, and 603 KM lies a serious question about why speed matters for unmanned flight. The Drone Pro Hub team, in its detailed breakdown of 603 KM/H: Breaking the World Drone Speed Record, argues that pushing velocity is not just about bragging rights, it is also a way to stress-test components, refine control algorithms, and explore the limits of battery and motor technology. When a drone can survive and remain controllable at 603 KM, the lessons learned about cooling, vibration damping, and power delivery can filter down into slower, more practical platforms used for inspection, mapping, or delivery.
From my perspective, the current wave of record attempts is functioning as an open, distributed R&D lab for the entire drone ecosystem. Students like Samuele Gobbi at HEIA, families like Mike and Luke Bell, and professionals inside units like the Unmanned Aerial Systems Center are all contributing data points about what works and what fails at extreme speeds. As Guinness continues to refine categories such as the Fastest ground speed by a battery-powered remote-controlled (RC) quadcopter, and as builders like Ben Biggs chase ever higher numbers around the 400 MPH mark, the rest of the industry quietly benefits from the innovations and hard-earned lessons that come out of every successful run and every spectacular crash.
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