ed chatterton

motorcycle engineer, World’s fastest remote control car It can exit the drone and reach speeds of up to 234 miles per hour.

Stephen Wallis, 43, spent a year and a half spending about $2,300 to design and build the beast, which is faster than a McLaren F1.

The married father of two assembled the 3-foot-2-inch (1.1-meter) model in his garage, made from 3D-printed components, carbon fiber, aluminum, and a drone motor.

He has now achieved the fastest speed ever recorded. remote control car After recording a speed of 234.71mph (377.7km/h) at Llanbedru Airfield in North Wales.

Stephen, a member of the Werks Rugby team, said he became interested in remote control cars when he was eight years old, which led to him getting into engineering.

But a few years ago, after my 13-year-old son, Laurie, recently developed an interest in radio-controlled cars, I set out to design the fastest RC car ever built.

Stephen said he sometimes spent eight hours a day working on the beast, which weighs 10.5kg and has a 0-60mph time of 3.5 seconds and a 0-200mph time of about 10.5 seconds.

Guinness World Records recently confirmed that his attempt in September broke the record for the fastest battery-powered remote control (RC) model car by more than 15 mph (25 km/h).

Stephen said: “It was an incredible feeling to achieve the fastest speed in the history of a remote control car.

“I had three attempts that day and my first run was 318 mph and my record was 318.5 mph, so I was pretty close.

“Then it started drizzling, so I wasn’t sure if we’d be able to make it, but I think we had a good tailwind, which helped.

“I had to constantly blink, using my eyes like windshield wipers, because I couldn’t see properly as the car moved away.

“It felt great when I saw the speed, I couldn’t believe the jump up from the first attempt and we smashed it.

“My interest in remote control cars started when I was 8 years old and I have come a long way since then, which led me to a career in engineering.

“It was one of those cars that was connected to wires, so getting a car without wires at the age of 12 was an absolute game changer.

“I fell in love with racing and started tinkering with them. I can thank them for sparking my interest in engineering in the first place and leading me to the work I do today.”

Stephen, who works part-time at Royal Enfield Motorcycles in Leicestershire, stopped racing around the age of 17, but his son inspired him to pick up the hobby again around 2020.

He added: “My son started riding radio-controlled cars after visiting a friend who had one. We soon noticed videos of people trying to get their radio-controlled cars up and running as quickly as possible.

“I thought it looked interesting and decided to give it a try. Most people do it on quiet roads and parking lots, but as soon as you go over 90 miles per hour, it becomes dangerous.

“I found out about the Radio Operated Scale Speed ​​Association (ROSSA) speed test event in Wales, and it was there that I first saw someone using a drone motor.

“Their cars were pretty unsuccessful, but we thought that might be the best way to give direct drive to a vehicle, so we set about building our first car, which cost about £200.

“I tested this idea with a quadcopter drone and achieved 199mph in June 2024 and got my first ROSSA hat.

“The idea evolved and we set a goal of reaching 200 miles per hour and started building a larger version called The Beast.

“To increase speed, we used better components and got higher voltages.

“We lost some of the drone’s electronics, but we kept the drone’s motors on the wheels, throttled them, and reached speeds of 196 miles per hour last June.

“But we were able to ignite all three speed controllers, so we went back to square one several times. But it was the same body that set the world record.”

“I put a lot of effort into this, sometimes working 40 hours a week, so this became my full-time job again.

“The car itself cost around £2,000 in total to build, and including the cost of attending the event we probably spent around £6,000.”

Beast’s name comes from an industrial drone called the BEAST class, which is often used to power camera drones for movie productions.

The white, neon green and pink color scheme is meant to help you be seen from a distance as you speed along the runway.

Stephen said the design wasn’t too difficult, but the electronics were a challenge, and his car currently runs on a 75.6-volt battery layout.

Stephen added: “It turned out that with my original setup I would never have been able to hit 240mph.

“But I went away and learned as much as I could about brushless motors and how to make them faster.

“It is currently powered by four drone motors, bolted directly to the wheels, and the wheels are bolted directly to the chassis of the vehicle.

“It’s been a labor of love, but it’s worth it. We hope this will inspire more young people to get interested in science.”