Nic Case (born 1963) is an American

radio-controlled model A radio-controlled model (or RC model) is a Physical model, model that is steering, steerable with the use of radio control. All types of model vehicles have had RC systems installed in them, including radio-controlled car, ground vehicles, radio ...

hobbyist from

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

specializing in

speedrunning Speedrunning is the act of playing a video game, or section of a video game, with the goal of completing it as fast as possible. Speedrunning often involves following planned routes, which may incorporate sequence breaking and can exploit glit ...

. He is notable for becoming the first person to reach with his

radio-controlled car 'Radio-controlled cars'' (or RC cars for short) are miniature model cars, vans, buses, trucks or buggy (automobile), buggies that can be controlled from a distance using a specialized transmitter or remote. The term "RC" has been used to mean bo ...

, the R/C Bullet, having surpassed his records three times with a confirmed entry at the

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

in 2008, 2013 and 2014. His attempt has been documented by the

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Channe ...

and was cited in an episode of ''

Tosh.0 ''Tosh.0'' ( ) is an American television series that aired on Comedy Central from June 4, 2009, to November 24, 2020. The series is hosted and produced by comedian Daniel Tosh, who provides satirical commentary on online viral video clips, inter ...

''.

Biography

A clay modeller for

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobi ...

Irvine, California Irvine () is a Planned community, master-planned city in South Orange County, California, United States, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Irvine Company started developing the area in the 1960s and the city was formally incorporated on ...

, Nic Case took up radio-controlled cars in 1990 following a motorcycle accident. At the inaugural "World's Fastest RC Car Challenge" event organized by

Radio Control Car Action Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitt ...

, he posted a speed of , surpassing the world record held by

Team Associated Associated Electrics, Incorporated of Lake Forest, California is one of the world's leading manufacturers of radio controlled car, radio controlled cars, trucks and accessories. Associated Electrics is now owned by Thunder Tiger Corporation from T ...

Cliff Lett Clifton Bradley Lett (born September 18, 1957) is an American retired radio-controlled racer and former president (corporate title), president of Associated Electrics, where he began his R/C career in 1985. A former motorcross mechanic for Yamaha ...

in 2001. He later used a

Schumacher Schumacher or Schuhmacher is an occupational surname (German, "shoemaker", pronounced , both variants can be used as surnames, with Schumacher being the more popular one, however, only the variant with three "h"s can also be used as a job descript ...

Mi3 as a base, the car powered by a R/C aircraft motor and a 12-cell battery pack. The car also had a four-wheel drive system of his own design for improved traction and his own tires, which were vulcanized to the aluminum rims, to improve airflow underneath the vehicle. To prevent the car from flipping over, he added a gyroscope steering-correction system from

radio-controlled helicopter A radio-controlled helicopter (also '' RC helicopter'') is model aircraft which is distinct from a RC airplane because of the differences in construction, aerodynamics, and flight training. Several basic designs of RC helicopters exist, of w ...

s. The car took six months to build, at a cost of $4,000. This paid off at the ISC Speed Run event in Rockingham Dragway,

Rockingham, North Carolina Rockingham is a city in Richmond County, North Carolina, United States, named after the Marquess of Rockingham. The population was 9,558 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Richmond County. The city is the home of Rockingham Speedway, fo ...

, on October 4, 2008, where the car reached a speed of Case made another attempt in 2011 when he collaborated with Associated Electrics, which built him a Team Associated SR11. The SR11 was based on the Nitro TC3, a 1:10 scale Nitro Touring Car, but was powered by an electric motor producing 10horsepower fed by twelve

lithium polymer batteries A lithium polymer battery, or more correctly lithium-ion polymer battery (abbreviated as LiPo, LIP, Li-poly, lithium-poly and others), is a rechargeable battery of lithium-ion technology using a polymer electrolyte instead of a liquid electrolyt ...

and weighing , with a vertical tailfin mounted to the body for stability. His attempt at the

Auto Club Speedway Auto Club Speedway, originally opened as California Speedway, is a , low-banked, D-shaped oval superspeedway in unincorporated San Bernardino County, California, near Fontana. It has hosted NASCAR racing annually since 1997. It was also previ ...

was documented by the

. Case made another attempt on December19, 2012, when he took the record further at . Unable to bring this any further, and leaving his new record unconfirmed, he briefly retired when his 17-year-old nephew was killed in a

hit and run In traffic laws, a hit and run or a hit-and-run is the act of causing a traffic collision and not stopping afterwards. It is considered a supplemental crime in most jurisdictions. Additional obligation In many jurisdictions, there may be an ...

accident. This led Case to reconsider his retirement and submit his recent record to Guinness. In early 2014, he brought his record to and in August he made another pass at . At an event organized by the Radio Operated Scale Speed Association (ROSSA), he finally reached at

St. George, Utah St. George is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Utah, United States. Located in southwestern Utah on the Arizona border, it is the principal city of the St. George Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). The city lies in the northe ...

References

External links

Guinness World Records entry
{{DEFAULTSORT:Case, Nic Associated Electrics people Ford people Living people Radio-controlled car personalities 1963 births People from Irvine, California Place of birth missing (living people)