RC Racing

Hi, this ones for you RC fans out there.

Me and a friend are thinking about getting a petrol RC car to do some racing.
Will be used for track and drift.

We dont have a massive budget, but what would people recomend as a starter?
Will probably be second hand one from fleebay or similar.

For drifting you will find electric alot easier to use. You need torque and that's what electrics have.

If you want to race nitro (petrol cars are the 1/5th scale mahoosive things with mahoosive price tags), then it all depends on your skill level, budget and what track you are going to race at. I take it that because you want to drift aswell that you want to race 1/10th scale onroad.

Yokomo do a drift 'package', the only manufacturer to produce a dedicated kit I believe: http://www.microtechracing.com/code/...34&subcatid=38

That kit is electric however.

If you want to start out in nitro racing, then I'm not the guy to ask for up to date advice as I race electric, but I know that the Schumacher R12 is a competitive nitro tourer. The inital outlay costs quite alot, as the racing nitro kits come without engines. Engines cost around 150-200 ballpark figure. However, unlike electric, when looked after well the engines will last. New cells and motors every few months are the order of the day with electric.

Nitro motors are great for about a day's racing. However they get very dirty and oily. You get the sound though. Electrics are plug and play, don't get quite so dirty and can accelerate just as fast as nitros, if not faster. You don't get the sound (although I think the sound of my car whizzing by at 35k rpm is pretty cool), and the amount you spend on upkeep can rise, but you can race competetively on a budget, as long as you make informed decisions as what is a decent money outlay, and what is a gimmick.

The best advice, is to find your local racing track (an outdoors one) and see if they race nitros. Ask the racers there, everyone is friendly, and tell them what you want. Try and go for the older types that look well established, as you may find yourself taking absolute bull crap from some youngster who thinks they need to buy everything new to start out.

Local hobby shops can be helpful, but naturally they will try and sway you to buy what they have unless he is a decent guy.

www.rcracechat.com

You can ask on there, it is highly moderated and this means no idiots. There is tonnes of genuinely good info on there and knowledgeable people regularly post. It covers electric and nitro, onroad and offroad.