The World's Fastest Remote-Control Car

A shrunken speedster revs up

By Gregory Mone Posted 07.06.2009 at 9:58 am 9 Comments

Three More High-Speed R/C Racers

Built for Speed: Jack Cecil modified this R/C car, a Traxxas 4-Tec, to get it up to 111 mph Courtesy Jack Cecil

Traxxas 4-Tec
Rather than start from scratch, Jack Cecil decided to rebuild an off-the-shelf R/C car. He upgraded the batteries on a one-tenth-scale racecar and fitted it with foam tires. After changing the angle at which the body sits on the chassis, lowering the rear to reduce drag, Cecil tightened the suspension. He also adjusted the angle of the front tires, which increased speed but hindered stability, so he added fins at the rear to keep it steady. The result: He's squeezed 111 mph out of a car designed to do half that.

X5: Courtesy Nick Maslowski

X5
Nick Maslowski's background in aerospace engineering is apparent in his flagship car. In the back, tail fins reminiscent of a jet's vertical stabilizers prevent fishtailing. He gave the car front-wheel drive for better control, but there was too little aerodynamic downforce at the front. Above 80 mph, the nose would lift and the tires would blow out. After tweaking the translucent plastic body to boost downforce, Maslowski hopes his tires will hold up past the vaunted 100mph mark. "I'm right there,"he says. "The car's got enough power."

Problem Child: Courtesy Mike Ogle

Problem Child
Gary O'Connor's gas-burner has four engines that drive two transmissions and turn a single center shaft. To create the body, O'Connor taught himself how to vacuum-form carbon fiber by watching instructional YouTube videos. The result is not perfect, he says, but it's lightweight and strong, and it helped the car surpass 93 mph.

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9 Comments

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blackers44

07/06/09 at 9:45 am

I would like to know what is the fastest electric car without all the money and gadgets added. I'm talking about an RC car using the hop ups maybe and making ones own tweaks to add to the performance. Anyone can take $5000 and make a RC fly. Not to say I'm not impressed with the 167 record it would be nice to know who holds the record of an out of box RC. I have a rustler that does 10 over the 70 mph from tweaking the chassis and gearing but if I put $5000 into a $300.00 car I'm sure I could add some speed to it.

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whitesites

07/06/09 at 2:50 pm

Very impressive. It would be cooler if he added a small radio camera so you could see what it looks like moving that fast at only 1 inch off the ground.

http://prosportnutrition.net/?a=633808700294218750

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helmet5

07/09/09 at 11:03 am

if he added a radio camera it could knock it off balance and slow it down plus it could wipe out the battery

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ultimatenerd22

07/10/09 at 5:25 pm

that is cool, i might try to make it.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHTQMWLn2m0

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sciencegeek14

08/03/09 at 10:31 am

very very very cool 161 mph! thats just crazy fast thats faster than a lot of cars thats cool how the world is making stuff never thought possiblea couple of years ago go america yah

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runninron69

08/14/09 at 1:16 am

That is indeed pretty cool.What is the world record for a "nitro" (glow fuel) powered R.C. car? Maybe I could take three or four jet engines,put them in a full size streamliner,hook radio controls to IT and put the record so far out of reach no one would ever break it.Surely that wouldn't be considered cheating,would it?

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steve28

09/06/09 at 4:41 pm

out of the box RC cars are not designed to go that fast , the point is he had to solve all the problems associated with going that fast with a minature RC car . Its sweet

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quasi44

10/16/09 at 12:16 am

great point, steve, and right on the mark.this is probably worked up on nothing more sophisticated than my Unix based pc, and the data is just as relevant as the bigs. wonder if he has tried to interest anyone in his data, like Team N.A.E. is doing. great work, Nic, and great point, steve28.

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rc-models

11/11/09 at 6:06 am

That looks like a nasty car! I'd love to get my hands on the RC of that one...

Check out more RC Cars at www.Rc-Models.info