British Engineer's R/C Car Smashes Record at 235 MPH

Stephen Wallis spent 20 years perfecting high-speed radio-controlled cars in his workshop near Coventry, England, and his latest creation just rewrote the record books. His car called "The Beast" reached 234.71 mph at a speed test event in Wales, demolishing the previous record of 218.53 mph.

The breakthrough came from an unlikely source: quadcopter drones. Instead of building complicated transmission and steering systems like other speed car builders, Wallis asked himself a simple question: What if I just put horizontal wheels on drone motors?

The design worked beautifully. The Beast runs four powerful motors, one for each wheel, with no traditional transmission needed. Steering happens by varying the speed of different motors, just like a drone adjusts props to change direction.

But the real magic lies in the drone's flight control system. Those built-in accelerometers and gyroscopes that keep drones stable in windy conditions make thousands of tiny motor adjustments every second. On the ground, they keep The Beast rock-solid stable at speeds that would tear apart most R/C cars.

For his record attempt at September's Radio Operated Scale Speed Association event, Wallis pushed the limits. He installed three 6-speed battery packs running in series for a peak of 75.6 volts. He also shaved down the tires to reduce their diameter and prevent the foam from ripping off the wheels under extreme centrifugal forces.

The weather didn't cooperate on record day. Rain poured down so hard that Wallis couldn't even see his car properly through the water in his eyes. The Beast didn't care about the conditions and stayed perfectly stable as it screamed down the tarmac, appearing as barely a blur in the handful of video frames that caught it passing by.

Why This Inspires

Most world records inch forward by fractions. Only six R/C cars in history had ever broken 200 mph in official events before this run. Wallis didn't just beat the old record; he nearly matched it on his warm-up run and then left it in the dust.

His success shows what happens when someone questions the standard way of doing things. While others built more complex systems, Wallis went simpler and found his answer in a completely different technology.

He's already planning his next attempt with even more powerful motors, targeting speeds above 250 mph. After two decades of digging deeper into his passion, Wallis proves that obsessive dedication to something you love can lead to extraordinary breakthroughs.