6 things to do at Singapore Discovery Centre’s first Drone Racing Festival

Singapore Discovery Centre’s (SDC) first ever Drone Racing Festival will take place on Nov 18 and 19.

Organised in conjunction with local drone firm D1 Racing, the festival offers various activities such as the flagship drone race, free drone programming workshops hosted by Republic Polytechnic (RP) and performances by DJs.

Regular passes to the event cost $28 for day one and $48 for day two. There is also a $88 VIP Pass that can only be purchased for the second day granting priority access to festival activities and a chance to win a DJI FPV drone in a lucky draw.

Here are six things you can do at the Drone Racing Festival:

Held at SDC’s Discovery Lake, Asia’s top pilots from Singapore, Malaysia, Korea and Thailand will go head-to-head as they put their electric drones through an obstacle course.

The qualifying race will take place on day one at 6pm to 6.50am, while the main race will be conducted on day two from 5.20pm to 7.10pm.

Spectators can purchase day one’s regular pass for the qualifying round, and can choose between the regular pass and the VIP pass for day two’s main race.

Why watch others fly drones when you can do it too? All festival pass holders will get the opportunity to experience being a drone pilot at the Hype Drive Simulator, held at the Interchange in SDC’s Sandbox area.

The simulation experience is improved with the wraparound display and intuitive controls, and the fastest drone pilot will be eligible to win prizes.

Hype Drive Simulator runs on both days of the festivals with two time slots: 1pm to 5pm and 7.30pm to 10pm.

If you are interested in the technology behind drones and unmanned aircrafts (UA) in Singapore, the free workshops hosted by RP at SDC’s Concourse may be right up your alley.

RP’s Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Training Centre (UAV) will conduct a workshop covering the modern-day usage of UAs in Singapore on Nov 19, lasting from 1pm to 4.30pm.

A second workshop on drone programming will also be conducted on Nov 19. Participants will get to learn basic block programming and how to code drones to perform basic stunts from student specialists in RP’s Aviators Interest Group.

The time slots for the drone programming workshop are 1pm, 1.45pm, 2.30pm, 3.15pm and 4pm.

For those interested in building your own drones, the Tech-Eco Races, Workshops and Drone Handling activities will be available at the Sandbox in SDC.

Participants will learn to build their own drones with recyclable materials, and get a chance to fly the drones.

The activities are held on Nov 19 from 1pm to 5pm and will require any of the day two passes for entry.

Adrenaline junkies can get their adrenaline pumping through the Air-Land Laser Tag activity held at SDC’s Black Lake Laser Battlefield.

Armed with sensor-equipped drones, players will learn to pilot the drones through several combat sequences.

Air-Land Laser Tag runs for both days of the festival, from 1pm to 5pm and 7.30pm to 10pm.

Performances will be held at SDC’s Concourse at the end of each festival day

On Nov 18, local buskers and young artistes will perform from 7.20pm to 10pm after the day’s drone activities.

To end off the festival on Nov 19, an Afterparty with DJ Limmy and DJ LeNERD will be held from 7.30pm to 11pm.

The Drone Racing Festival will run from 1pm to 11pm on Nov 18 and 19.

SDC will also release limited-time offers during the two days, with the first 100 festival participants who sign up for a Family Explorers Membership getting a $30 SDC Voucher, and participants who sign up for an Adventurer Membership receiving a $10 SDC voucher.