Off Road and Four Wheeling from Above

The Dakar Rally is probably the world's most famous long-distance off-road race.  Featuring both two- and four-wheel races, it began as a race between Paris and Dakar in Senegal, West Africa (with some over-water transport) in 1978.  Beginning in 2009, due to security concerns on parts of the African leg of the course, it moved almost half a world away, to Peru in South America.  Top contributor freeway prod created this amazing drone video of the event, which kept its original name despite the venue change.  

Former Drone Video of the Week Finalist Air Cinema put together this fantastic drone video of a BMW driving school somewhere in the expanse of Russia.  Unlike most BMW driving school, this one focuses not on road driving but rather off-road four-wheeling, a segment which the Bavarian company has made significant inroads in recent decades.  Shot with a DJI Mavic Pro 2 drone, the video follows a pair of BMW sport utility vehicles racing around what appears to be a very challenging track.  

This caravan of 4x4 Jeeps shows no fear of the often-treacherous landscape of the great American West it covers in this drone video by top AirVuz contributor Aerial VIsion Chicago.  The talented content creator flies above the off road adventure, called SEMA, that takes these SUVs through an alternatively  rocky and watery, and always dirty trail.  The epic SEMA course runs for about 3.1k km (around 1.9k mi.), beginning in Chicago, Illinois and finishing half a continent away in Las Vegas, Nevada. 

This may be the most cinematic aerial footage ever made of dune buggies.  Aerial Eye Visuals used a DJI Inspire drone to capture a group of friends driving their ATV's through endless sand dunes in a portion of the Arabian Desert near Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.  The ATV's in the sunset are beautiful to behold with a backdrop of the endless sands of the Empty Quarter (in Arabic, Rub' al Khali).  The largest contiguous desert area in the world, the Empty Quarter covers roughly the southern third of the Arabian Peninsula.   

Sakhalin is a giant island in Far Eastern Russia in the Northern Pacific Ocean.  Its distance from the Russian capital in Moscow - almost 6.4k km (just under  4k mi.) is testament to the vast size of this country, which spans two continents.  In this remarkable video, contributor Vision.One used a drone to create an aerial perspective of an off-road event on Sakhalin organized by Land Rover.  The video follows a group of 4x4 vehicles as they trek across this enormous yet remote island in the far reaches of Northeast Asia.

Join AirVūz contributor and drone pilot Geko Expeditions as they take us on a very much off-road "drone safari" of the southwestern African nation of Namibia with their 4x4 Jeep.  See the stunning scenes they captured the heart of the African animal kingdom and the beautiful landscapes within it in this stunning 4K aerial production of the country.  A one-time German colony, Namibia became a sovereign nation in 1990 when it won its independence from South Africa following a bloody civil war.

The deserts in the non-urbanized parts of the United Arab Emirates are stunningly beautiful. The endless miles of sand, sun, and dunes make it quite the destination for aerial cinematographers. The "golden, silky sand dunes," as top aerial cinematographer Moadh_Bukhash puts it, are also perfect for off-roading. Take in the aerial views of these off-roaders tearing it up in the Empty Quarter, the world's largest contiguous stretch of desert.  The Empty Quarter covers roughly the southern third of the Arabian Peninsula. 

The title of this epic drone video by top AirVuz contributor and drone pilot TJ Millard says it all. He uses a DJI Inspire drone to aerially film a group of friends tearing up sand dunes in the USA Pacific Northwest with some dune buggies.  The five 4x4 off roaders are accompanied by a couple of enduro bikers as the cruise the Box Car sand dunes, little-known zone of sand and fun on the Pacific Ocean coast line of southern Oregon.  It's highly entertaining to watch and shows the power of drones to capture these epic events.

AirVuz contributor and first person view (FPV) drone pilot Yubeta.Blv FPV has broken much ground filming fast-moving off-road vehicles with an HD camera mounted to a racing quad.  This requires extraordinary piloting skill, in many ways more difficult than FPV chasing cars which are confined to roads and have more predictable motion patterns because they are confined to the single dimension of the road.  This video is a highlight reel of his best quadcopter-chasing-4x4 clips, each of which is epic in its own right.  

Contributor and drone pilot Francisco Rodriguez shows us the versatility of the Mitsubish Sport Wagon SUV and the beauty of the Portuguese countryside, all in one video which combines ground footage with drone footage.  The video gives a full aerial/ground view of this 4x4 lapping up all that the rough terrain of this (unidentified) rural territory on the Iberia Peninsula - deep mud tracks, dense brush, and steep hills.  While not a commercial, it does a great job of highlighting the versatility of this rugged vehicle. 

Top AirVuz contributor Alexandre Velluet x Scandia Productions was picked as the Winner of the Drone Video of the Week in mid-March, 2023 with this fantastic travel video from the French Alps.  The video was created with footage from the DJI Mavic Cine 3 and a first person view (FPV) drone, along with shots from a Sony ground camera.  Follow along with this talented pilot/content creator and his companion as they take a four-wheel journey through some of the world's most spectacular alpine scenery.  

Part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Jeep is one of the great lifestyle brands. The rugged vehicles originally developed for the US Army during World War II gradually morphed into sport utility vehicles, and while most of the billons of km/mi logged annually by Jeeps are on-road, their ability to handle the toughest off-road terrain forms much of the brand's deep appeal.  AirVuz contributor and pilot Alex Las used a DJI Phantom 4 drone to aerially film some Jeeps doing their off-road "thing", giving us this commercial-quality video.

If you travel to Iceland and rent a vehicle with the intention of venturing far from the airport, you will be well advised to consider an off-road vehicle.  The island's geology is spectacular, unique, and...devastating to two wheel drive cars (once you are off the paved roads).  If you do go with a 4x4 and happen to bring a drone, you will be "inspired" by what AirVuz contributor and drone pilot Rad Dab did to make this epic drone video of a Toyota Land Cruiser venturing off the roads of iceland.   

An abandoned military base in the mountainous Balkans make for an epic 4x4 road trip and a drone video to memorialize it.  Contributor Travel Lifestyle traveled with some friends in a Jeep on an adventure trip to an old Yugoslav Army base in the mountains that came to form international border separating Croatia from neighboring Bosnia and Herzegovina.  Using ground footage to supplement their drone footage, they did an amazing job recording the highlights of their 4x4 trip to this eerie place.  

Contributor and drone pilot dimitris.mitrolios created this marvelous promotional video for a company that does safari-type tours of the Greek island of Crete.  Situated south of the mainland, Crete is the largest Greek island and the fifth-largest island in the Mediterranean by land area.  It covers over 8,300 square km (around 3.2k square mi.).  Much of its population of roughly 600,000 is concentrated in a number of coastal cities, leaving many sparsely populated areas on the oblong-shaped island.  

Could there be a more epic way to spend the day??  WestPsydeFPV knew exactly what he was doing when he packed up his high performance drone and headed towards Glamis Dunes and Huntington Beach to chase some sweet dune buggies. The sand bowls and mountains gave all the vertical relief necessary to make the rides exciting, and WestPsyde caught it all with his fast and nimble quad.   We all loved the video so much we just had to give him another spot on our FPV Pilots to Watch list in February 2020!

See the remarkable deserts that surround Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and some of the fascinating creatures that inhabit it in this aerial film by drone pilot obnasr4k. The Arabian Gazelle is a herbivorous animal that lives only in the Arabian Peninsula. By adulthood, their average weight is around 53 pounds. What better way to see them than by Jeep?  Obnasr4K also captured a Jeep Wrangler, as it navigated through the sands, with his DJI Mavic 2 Pro and PolarPro Vivid Collection ND Filters in this short film

Yanachaga–Chemillén National Park lies more or less right on the boundary between the Andean and Amazonian "halves" of Peru.  The park is situated in the Pasco Region, which lies more or less in the geographic center of the country.  In this drone video by Niels Ahmes, you'll get to see an epic ATV trek into the park from the launching point of Oxapampa.  The town lies on the eastern side of the Pasco region.  The terrain here is referred to as the Selva Alta, which translates roughly to "High Jungle". 

Ride along with AirVuz contributor and pilot Muugii_Drone_Mongolia as he uses a drone to follow an off-road adventure through a remote region of Mongolia.  The video was filmed in Khentii, one of the 21 provinces of Mongolia, which are also known as airmags.  It's located towards the northeastern part of the country, a bit the east of the capital city Ulanbaatar.  The birthplace of Ghenghis Khan, it's one of the provinces in this country where the terrain transitions from mountainous to the steppes of the Mongolian Plateau.

In this exciting vid, our own Team AirVuz pilot NurkFPV made sure the chase.is.ON! He went out into the California desert with his Rotor Riot pals and chased after some pretty capable dune buggies, FPV style.  He used his Project 399 SuperG Frame, DJI FPV goggles, and Go Pro to make sure we all got the best views of the fast-paced fun.  And who wouldn't want the wide expanse of the desert for a playground, Rotor Riot as your partner in crime, and some dune buggies to cruise chase?

We're not sure who had more fun making this video: the drivers performing "donuts" four-wheeling in the desert sands of Abu Dhabi, or the very talented first person view (FPV) drone pilot MANUEL BASSIL | MANUX | MRFPV, who filmed it.  The filming was undertaken as an advertising project for Jeep, one of the worldwide leaders in the SUV market.  Abu Dhabi is one of the emirates which make up the Persian Gulf nation of the United Arab Emirates.  This video was picked for the FPV Pilots to Watch list in November, 2022.