A YouTuber Built a Fan-Powered RC Car Inspired by F1 History. The Results Were Wild.

In 1978, the Brabham BT46B entered just one Formula 1 race. It won by more than 30 seconds. Despite rumors that the car was banned, designer Gordon Murray has long clarified that the victory stood, and the BT46B remains the only F1 car with a perfect win record. The secret? A giant rear fan that sucked air from under the car, creating massive downforce.

Now, the YouTube channel ProjectAir has recreated that concept on a 1/7-scale RC car, with fascinating results.

The team started with an Arrma Limitless, a production RC car capable of hitting 100 mph. Weighing over 6 kg, it suffered from understeer at speed, making it a perfect candidate for added downforce. Host James stripped the chassis, added a flat aluminum floor, and team member Emma engineered a custom fan using 3D-printed parts and a high-KV brushless motor from a model airplane.

8 kg of downforce, measured with a homemade manometer filled with tea. 4 kg—roughly the car’s own weight. 09 kg but overheated the motor. They settled on eight blades.

On a rough test corner, the ground effect system struggled. 75 seconds. “These ground effect cars don’t work if they’re not touching the floor at the perfect ride height,” James noted—a lesson Murray learned decades ago. 2 seconds, quicker than a current Formula 1 car. “We’ve built one of the fastest ground effect RC cars in the world,” James said.

The project proves that active ground effect is brutally powerful when the seal holds, and useless when it doesn’t—exactly what Murray and Lauda discovered in 1978.