Startup Showcases Hydrogen-Powered Flying Race Car

The company hopes to start a flying Formula 1 racing circuit in 2023.

MACA, based in southern France, is a new startup in the flying-car game with a concept they call the Carcopter. And while the name doesn't suggest it, this one is pretty.

The brainchild of ex-fighter pilot Thierry De Boisvilliers and 12-year Airbus Helicopter veteran Michael Krollak — with nearly 60 years of combined aeronautics experience — Carcopter is a hydrogen-powered flying Formula 1 car.

Although the team has been working on the project for the past three years, MACA (Make Accessible Carcopter to Anyone) was founded in November 2019. Thus far, they have created a small, third-scale, battery-powered replica that is about 2.5 meters long. At full scale, the Carcopter will be about 6 meters long, hydrogen-powered, and have a top speed of 153 mph.

Although CES 2021 has gone virtual this year, MACA is still attending in an attempt to get a few more eyes on its sleek concept, as well as attract potential partners and investors. The company is looking to raise the equivalent of $364,534 to create a full-scale demonstration vehicle, and they haven't ruled out crowdfunding as a possibility.

As first reported by designboom, the company's Carcopter prototype was designed specifically for flying car racing. The company hopes to achieve the first piloted flying hydrogen Formula 1 car flight in December 2021. As we’ve seen in other flying car concepts, the hope is to gain acceptance and excitement through racing before creating a commercial vehicle — which will need to meet stricter regulations. 

The initial concept vehicle is powered by six 35kW electric engines, but the company has already partnered with GreenGT, a Swiss company that develops electric-hydrogen propulsion systems.

MACA is targeting a first race event in December 2022. MACA hopes to start flying Formula 1 circuits in 2023. 

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