Petrol RC Cars

Welcome. This is the first post on a site that will be dedicated to petrol RC cars. In fact it will go beyond the small boundary of petrol RC cars and encompass nitro RC cars as well as the more commonly known electric RC cars.

When most people think of RC cars (RC being remote controlled or radio controlled, usually the latter) they think of the sort of small, battery powered toy that they probably got as a gift  when they were a kid, or that they have given to their own children. They will likely remember these as fairly pathetic machines that had a slow top speed, designed exclusively for indoor use and breaking down or getting boring after a few days. This is because this is the sort of RC car that toy stores the world over commonly sell, as, like with many of their other products, they are cheap, the only criteria that many toy buyers seem to have in mind. The difference between these and the fully fledged models available at proper hobby shops is like night and day.  There are three main types, electric RC cars, nitro RC cars and petrol RC cars.

The electric RC cars available from hobby stores are a far cry from the ones found at most toy shops. They offer the best acceleration of the three types but lack the top end speed of the petrol RC cars or the nitro RC cars. In saying this however, they are by no means slow, with speeds getting up past 40mph in some of the top models. Another major advantage for electric RC cars is that they are able to be used indoors, being without the exhaust fumes necessitated by the other two types. They are also generally cheaper, being made of less complicated components, so offer a good starting point to the hobby. There is also the factor of noise. Electric RC cars, like all contraptions with an electric motor, elicit a high pitch whine when running. This is especially true when taking electric RC cars up to full throttle. Some may find this annoying and thus label it as a disadvantage, but it is darn sight less noisy than both nitro RC cars and petrol RC cars, some of which can be deafening when at speed. It is generally however a deeper sound, more akin to normal racing cars which to many, may be desirable.

Nitro RC cars are the most common type among the serious RC car racing enthusiast. They offer much more power than electric models, some getting up past 80mph, but they take slightly longer to get there than said electric models due to a centrifugal clutch. In saying that the acceleration you can get from one of these is amazing. easily outstripping any conventional car. Many models can do 0-60mph in less than two seconds, and some can do it in just over one. The downside to nitro RC cars is the fuel, a mixture of methanol, oil and nitro methane. This can only be found in hobby stores, and is quite expensive. Every cloud has its silver lining though, and in this case it is the fact that unlike electric RC cars, where if the battery dies you either have to put another one in or wait hours for it to recharge, with Nitro RC cars (and obviously also with petrol RC cars), if the fuel runs out you can just put more in.

The final type is of course petrol RC cars, also known as gas powered RC cars. These are more or less the same as nitro RC cars, sharing the same advantages and disadvantages but for a few exceptions. The first is that they run on ordinary petrol, the type that you fill your normal, passenger car up with. This means that they are much cheaper and convenient to run, and is the major reason why people choose petrol RC cars over nitro RC cars. They are also usually larger than the nitro models, with most being being 1:5 scale, the other two types generally 1:8 to 1:24 scale, making them almost a metre in length, and therefore are definitely not suitable for the learner driver. In saying that however, there is something immensely satisfying about driving something that large at speed in wide open areas, not having to care about health and safety, and then simply filling it up when more petrol (gas) is needed.

So they are the three broad types of radio controlled cars; electric RC cars, nitro RC cars and petrol RC cars. Within each of these there are some fairly standard subclasses, such as on-road or off-road, trucks, buggies, rally, racing etc. The hobby encompasses so much, and has something to appeal to almost everyone. Once you try it, once you step up from the kids toys of your youth, up to hobby level, powerful machines, there really is no going back. It is addicting. A whole world of fun will open up before you.