Homemade drone screams to 408 mph as father-son duo reclaims world record

A South African father-and-son team, Luke and Mike Bell, have reclaimed the Guinness World Record for the fastest battery-powered remote-controlled quadcopter drone by achieving an average speed of 408 mph (657.59 km/h) with their Peregreen V4 model. The record-setting flight took place on December 11, 2025, in Cape Town, just a month after an Australian engineer briefly held the title with a 389 mph drone. The Peregreen V4’s speed was verified through two runs in opposite directions to negate wind effects, with an upwind speed recorded at 372 mph (599 km/h), marking a 14 km/h improvement over their previous model. The Peregreen V4’s performance is the result of five months of intensive redesign, combining digital simulations, structural stress testing, and real-world experimentation. The drone’s body, camera mount, and landing gear were 3D-printed as a single piece using a Bambu Lab H2D dual-extr