Suzuki GSX-R1000 powered drone takes flight in Japan!
The drone has been developed in Japan and the Suzuki GSX-R1000 engine helps it lift 150kg and fly for up to six hours
A drone has been unveiled that utilises one of the most legendary sports motorcycle engines of all time, as the unit comes from the Suzuki GSX-R1000.
The drone has been developed by Arase Aizawa Aerospace and was officially announced at the Nagoya Robodex in Japan last week. It is called the AZ1000 and is being heralded as a ‘Super Drone’ by its makers Aizawa. The concept of the vehicle is to literally have a flying engine, maximising the performance of the aircraft and the payload it can carry.
The engine of the machine was chosen due to its lightweight, high-output design, that, and the fact that the Aizawa factory is just around the corner from Suzuki’s Hamamatsu base! The quadcopter stands a whopping one metre tall, with a length of over three metres. Those dimensions can be reduced slightly by folding the rotors – presumably, that’s for easier storage when you have finished chasing your pet around the house with it.
It features a mammoth 55-litre fuel tank, and the consumption figures quoted by the maker are quite interesting. The drone has an unladen weight of 110kg ready to fly, and in that state, a tank of fuel can keep it aloft for an impressive six hours. Bolt on the maximum payload of 150kg though and your struggle more significantly, to keep it up, with ‘2 hours or more', being claimed.
The machine is being called Kunio, a nice nod to the clever person that adapted the GSX-R1000 engine design before it was plonked into this crazy-looking machine.
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Simon (AKA Toad) has been working within the motorcycle industry for more than twelve years, and a member of the motorcyclist family since birth. Growing up around British-built single and twins, it was inevitable that a life on two wheels was on the cards, from a very early age!
