Cliff Lett

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

He became Ricky Johnson's personal mechanic in 1983, when Johnson negotiated a contract enabling Lett to work with him; their partnership ended after the 1985 season when Johnson moved to Honda.

Lett then helped develop engines and suspensions; in his last year with Yamaha, he worked in research and development of YZ motorcycles.

Lett entered the radio-controlled hobby with a gasoline-powered airplane, bringing it on tour and flying as time permitted.

His first radio-controlled car was an Associated RC12E.

During Lett's travels, he raced the car in parking lots until rider Johnny O'Mara destroyed it by driving it under a moving car.

In November 1984, after watching an off-road race on a business trip, he bought a Cox Tomahawk at Hobby Shack and won his first race.

When he came across an event near Whittier, California in 1985, Lett was introduced to racer Jay Halsey and contacted Associated Electrics executives Mike Reedy, Roger Curtis and Gene Husting.

When Lett became a mechanic, he worked away from home on weekends and in the office during the week; racing became less frequent until 1986, when he began working in research and development.

In April 1988, when a position became available in Team Associated's research and development department, he became a product-development manager.

The RC10 had begun to show its age, and Lett helped make the car competitive again.

A former motorcross mechanic for Yamaha (particularly for Ricky Johnson), he won seven ROAR National Championships, three NORRCA National Championships and the 1991 IFMAR World Championship and was one of the foremost drivers of the 1980s.

Lett, known as "the Buggymaster", helped refine the Associated RC10 and other models in the range.

At the 1991 IFMAR 1:10 Electric Off-Road World Championships, Team Associated had built a series of new RC10s for the 2WD class weeks before and had little time to prepare.

After a poor practice performance with two practice days left, Lett split the team into groups of three and four; one group focused on front-end development, a second on rear-end development and a third on tires.

The arrangement succeeded, and Masami Hirosaka won his second IFMAR 2WD world championship.

In the 4WD class Lett qualified his Yokomo YZ-10 in sixth place, despite losing his fastest qualifying time for failing to marshal a round after his.

He fought out the first leg of the A-Main (the finals that claims the championship title) with Hirosaka, who held the lead in the five-minute round until he made an error which allowed Lett to win.

In the second leg, as Hirosaka made mistakes which left him in fourth place and reduced his chances of contending for the championship, Lett tried to fend off Jack Johnson's Kyosho Lazer ZX-R.

He rolled his car on the seventh lap, enabling Johnson to pass, and finished second.

In the final leg, Lett needed to finish third or better to secure the title.

After an error by Johnson, he and Hirosaka were the only remaining contenders.

With the lowest points deducted from each driver's final score, they were tied; their lowest scores were used to break the tie.

Hirosaka's fifth-place finish in the second leg was lower than Lett's second, and Lett was declared champion.

Before Lett's attempt, the fastest recorded time—59 mph—was set by Audi Sports in Finland.

He was the first driver to exceed 100 mph with a radio-controlled car, recorded by Guinness World Records at 111 mph in 2001.

Lett spent most of his youth in Los Altos.

From age 12 to 15, he raced BMX bikes and was part of the Matthews Motocross team with Scot Breithaupt (his best friend's cousin).

Lett competed in motocross and played baseball in high school, giving up baseball for a career in motocross.

Shortly after his mother died of cancer, Lett gave up racing and was a mechanic for Yamaha's amateur and semi-pro riders.

By 2001, George M. Gonzalez of Radio Control Car Action claimed that a car with a .21 (3.5cc) glow-plug engine was capable of that speed.

That year Steve Pond reached 101 mph with his HPI Super Nitro RS4, as recorded for Radio Control Nitro magazine with a radar gun.

R/C drag-racing champion Chris Collins reportedly reached 112.7 mph at the Northstar Dragway in Minnesota, and record-breaking speeds were reached in organized events at the Olympic Velodrome at California State University; however, none were certified and the Finnish record stood.

Lead designer Lett attempted a new record on January 13, 2001, aiming to exceed 100 mph over a two way pass with the help of Team Associated, promoter Dan Moynihan and Irwindale Speedway.

He used a modified TC3 and a RC10L3O, the latter adapted to accommodate an Aveox sensorless brushless motor designed for aircraft and fed by 24 sub-C NiCad batteries.

The body was a 1/10 version of a Nissan P35 by Protoform, modified to reduce drag.

Further modification was made over five days to prevent the body from deforming at speed, adding a wing from a 1/10 buggy for increased downforce and straightaway stability.

To certify the record, Lett needed a Guinness World Records representative at the event or its recording by Guinness World Records Primetime.

Although Moynihan encouraged the show's producers to attend, its film crew pulled out at the last minute.

An ABC News crew recorded the event, with a speed of 111 mph read on a Stalker police-radar gun.