Drone racing joins British Country Show at Farley Estate

Drone racing was not tucked away in a club corner at Farley Estate. It ran as day two of the British Country Show Berkshire, a May 25 stop inside a two-day public event that drew families, showgoers and casual spectators to Swallowfield Park in Reading. The race sat inside a program that also featured live wrestling, BMX stunt displays, equestrian events, heavy horse shows, motorbike stunts, cookery demos, a petting farm, reptiles, magic and kids’ entertainment.

The FPV race itself was built like a proper competition, not an exhibition lap around a fairground field. iFPV listed a 9:00 a.m. arrival, a 10:00 a.m. pilot briefing, heats beginning at 10:20 a.m. and last packs at 4:30 p.m. The event page said the race used MrE’s GQ 2026 Track Design, which finished third in the selection process, giving the course the kind of standardized pedigree racers expect from a serious qualifier-style meet.

The field was also treated like a capped race, not an open sign-up. Fifteen pilots were registered, and entries were due to close three days before race day. That matters because it keeps the event from feeling like a novelty add-on; the organizers were planning a fixed grid, a schedule and a race environment with BMFA insurance required, day insurance available through the organizers, a marquee for pits and limited power on site. Racers were told to bring their own table, chairs and field packs, a detail that underlines how much of FPV still depends on the pilots hauling in their own infrastructure.

Entry was set at £28 for the day, with admission to the show included, or £50 for both Sunday and Monday. The British Country Show Berkshire itself ran May 24-25 from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at Farley Estate, Swallowfield Park, Church Rd, Reading, Berkshire RG7 1TH, with free parking, dogs welcome and family-friendly programming. That backdrop is the point: drone racing was presented in the same frame as mainstream live entertainment, not hidden inside a specialist meet.

The calendar setup showed the broader push even more clearly. iFPV’s 2025/2026 schedule listed a Sunday British Country Show Berkshire race as a 5-inch MultiGP GQ event and a separate Monday competition, with strong demand visible in the calendar counts. MultiGP’s 2026 Global Qualifier track process added another layer of legitimacy, since the layout came through a public submission and judging system rather than an organizer’s guess. Put together, Farley Estate showed how drone racing can be packaged for first-time fans without losing the structure that makes it a real race.