Drone Cup North returns to Diepholz for club-level showdown

Drone Cup North’s June 20 stop at the TSV Aschen Vereinsgelände in Diepholz showed how far club-level FPV racing has come in northern Germany. The FPV Lions Diepholz division entered the regional series as a 20-member group, founded in 2019 and already established as a founding member of Drone Cup North.

The Diepholz round sat inside a five-race 2026 championship schedule that began June 6 in Hörstel/Ostenwalde and continued after Diepholz with Frechen on July 11, Elstorf near Hamburg on August 1, and Wettmershagen on September 5. That calendar turned the Diepholz stop into a points race, not a one-off showcase, with championship scoring set at 100 points for first, 95 for second, 90 for third and 85 for fourth. For pilots who complete every round, the two weakest results are dropped from the overall tally, a rule that keeps the title chase alive across the season.

The race format itself underlined how standardized the series has become. Each heat allowed up to five pilots at once, with races limited to three laps in two minutes plus overtime, for a maximum race time of 2:30. That structure rewards clean starts, precise lines and mistake-free laps, not just raw top-end speed. It also gives club racers a clear path from local practice sessions to regional competition.

Diepholz was set up as a practical race day as much as a sporting one. Organizers listed 230V power, sanitary facilities and camping by arrangement, and asked pilots to bring their own shade or weather protection. The lunchtime break also included a detour to the oldtimer gathering on the road opposite the venue, a small detail that showed how closely the drone-racing scene in Aschen remains tied to the wider life of the club grounds.

TSV Aschen’s own club site says the FPV Lions have existed since the beginning of 2019 as a drone-racing team, and that history now feeds directly into the regional series. Drone Cup North has also emphasized livestreaming on Twitch in past seasons, another sign that the championship is moving beyond a purely internal club circuit and building a more organized media presence around its races.

The Diepholz stop mattered because it showed the sport’s pipeline in real time: a newly built racing division, a structured regional championship, and a format designed to turn hobby pilots into consistent contenders across an entire season.