Formula One of the skies: World's first flying race car tested in Australia

The world's first flying racing car, which goes from 0–60 miles per hour as fast as a Formula One car, has taken to the skies over the South Australian desert for the first time ahead of a race debut later this year.

Three remotely-piloted Grands Prix will take place across the world in yet-to-be-revealed locations as part of the launch of Airspeeder's electric racing series.

The “octocopter” craft — called the Mk3 Airspeeder, and designed and built by former McLaren, Jaguar, Rolls-Royce, Boeing and Brabham engineers — will fly at speeds of between 93 and 155 miles per hour (150 to 250km/h) depending on the terrain, organisers have said, according to the Daily Mail.

Up to four teams and 10 aircraft will compete in the Formula One–style series, with the uncrewed cars controlled from the ground by pilots with aviation, motorsport and eSports backgrounds.

The aim is to have human pilots in the cockpit by 2022.

In this year's inaugural Grands Prix, “telerobotic avatars” named “The Aviators” will sit in the 'octocopter' race car.

It sports eight rotor blades surrounding a central carbon-fibre cockpit and is capable of going from 0-62 miles per hour in 2.8 seconds. Lewis Hamilton in a Mercedes F1 car would be able to do the same in around 2.6 seconds.

The craft is powered by a lithium polymer battery which allows it to fly for about 15 minutes. Each race will last 45 minutes, which means two motorsport-style pit stops will be required to change the battery.