Engineer Sets Remote Control Car Speed Record

A part-time motorcycle engineer, Stephen Wallis from Rugby, has set a world record with his remote control car, attributing his success to a childhood fascination.

Wallis spent over a year designing The Beast, a 3ft 2in-long (1m) vehicle constructed from 3D-printed parts and powered by drone motors.

While his stated goal was to reach a top speed of 200mph (321.8km/h), his secret ambition was 240mph (386km/h). Although he did not reach this secret target, he achieved the fastest speed ever recorded by a remote control car at 234.71mph (377.7km/h).

"It goes back to when I was eight years old and got my first radio controlled car," Wallis said.

To provide context, The Beast is faster than a production McLaren F1 model.

Wallis, who works part-time as an engineer at Royal Enfield Motorcycles in Leicestershire, explained the car's design:

"The Beast is powered by four drone motors, bolted directly to the wheels which are in turn bolted directly to the vehicle's chassis," he said.

He noted that while the design process was not overly difficult, the electronics posed significant challenges.

"It turns out it would never have done 240mph with that original set-up, but I went away and learned as much as I could about brush-less motors and how you can make them go faster," he explained.

Following testing, Wallis took The Beast to the Radio Operated Scale Speed Association (ROSSA) meeting at Llanbedr Airfield in North Wales in September, where it set a speed 16mph (25.7km/h) faster than the previous record holder.

In recognition of his achievement, Wallis received a Guinness World Record certificate and a cap from ROSSA. Since no one had previously reached such speeds, he was able to select the cap's colors.

"The Beast is a mix of white, neon green and pink, because they are visible at a distance," he said.

"So my son suggested neon green with neon pink writing, but that was too garish [for a hat], so I went with neon green with black writing."

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