Airborne drones are set to revolutionize car videos in the same way they've revolutionized remote bomb dropping. Here's what the Nurburgring looks like from a drone's perspective.
This video was produced by German firm Kippenberger, which is looking to bring affordable airborne videos to ze German car scene. Renting a helicopter for the day can cost up to $50,000 before the red tape of arranging air space permits. Drones could be flying at Cars and Coffee tomorrow.
"I am interested in the new wave of car filming similar to what Brainfarm did for snowboarding," Kippenberger tells Jalopnik. "I believe it is time to start rethinking how to bring car visuals like Intersection did for print. There are few guys out there doing it — tangentvector is one of them — they inspire me to break free for the schakles of Top Gear thinking, which is basically a tv format from yesteryear, and go for some newer ideas."
Our very own Mike Spinnelli got to bring airborne footage to his 2012 Ford Raptor review thanks to a similar device. They can be hooked up with anything from a pro-level 5D to little GoPros.
Kippenberger uses a heavily modified $630 XAircraft X650V-4, fitting carbon blades, larger capacity batteries and custom camera mounts all in the name of more air time in a wider range of conditions, equalling better footage. Just don't mistake a Porsche for a Paykan and pull the trigger on boring video.