Drones will revolutionize everything, we’ve been told. But one of the best things that’s undergoing that revolution right now is the world of racing – and there’s no better place to see it that change coming than in the World Rally Championship. Because it looks drop-dead gorgeous.


Rally, traditionally, has been one of the hardest motorsports to capture on camera for a variety of reasons. It stretches out over long distances, through often arduous terrain. Just getting one shot can be a right proper bitch and a half, and a rally car can go speeding by in just a few seconds.

One of the ways to get around that in the past was to just use a helicopter, but helicopters can be big and unwieldy when the race car is speeding through a forest. They have to be perched high up, and though sometimes brave pilots get great shots, that’s not always the case.


With a drone, though, everyone is suddenly Christopher Nolan:

Here’s the Rally Argentina:

And Monte Carlo:

Now compare it all to this clip of helicopter footage from the Rally Sweden in 2013. It’s still great, but it’s not quite as tight, and doesn’t convey quite the same amount of speed:

This is part of the revolution within rally that started a few years ago, making it possible to follow what has traditionally been one of the most inaccessible sports on the planet. Drones don’t just make rally cars easier to watch; they make them look awesome.

The rotary-propelled camera is dead. Long live the rotary-propelled camera.