 With so many cool looking cars to choose from, it can be a little bit confusing at first. Should you choose electric or nitro power? Front wheel drive or four wheel drive? New or used?
What about the racing class? Should you enter Spec Tamiya, Scale Spec, Touring Stock or Touring Mod? What about the brand? Associated, Awesomatix, Axon, Mugen, RC Maker, Schumacher, Tamiya, Xray, Xpress, Yokomo or something else? They're all awesome but some are smarter choices than others when you are getting started. Here are my thoughts... Before You Buy Anything: Before you buy a car, I highly suggest you drop by one of the local tracks to watch some of the racing action and ask questions You should also follow the tracks/clubs that interest you on Facebook to see their schedules, class rules etc. I've linked to the various tracks and their respective websites/Facebook pages here:
What Type of Car to Buy: In my opinion, the only type of car you should consider is a 1/10 scale, 4-wheel drive, electric touring car. Touring cars are by far the most common cars raced locally. If you purchase one of these, you're guaranteed to have a large number of friends to compete against all year long Here is a link to a selection of touring cars that I can order so that you can see what they look like: What Class to Enter: Much like choosing a popular car design, you'll also want to stick to the most popular racing classes. At our local tracks, these are Scale Spec and Touring Stock. Both are very popular at Ready to Run Raceway in the summer and Overgeared Racing in the winter Scale Spec is a 1/10 scale, electric touring car class that is beginner friendly but is also highly competitive at the upper levels. If you have limited experience, start with the Scale Spec class. As your skills progress, you'll move up the ranks in Scale Spec and you will enjoy some fierce competition and close racing Touring Stock is another 1/10 scale, electric touring car class. It's not quite as beginner friendly as Scale Spec but if you have a little bit of experience, you should be okay to enter this class as well. I started racing in Touring Stock class simply because I didn't know any better...I thought stock class was the slowest class. Stock can be very competitive at the higher levels. If you are willing to spend a little extra time and money on your equipment to fight it out over a 10th of second per lap, Touring Stock may be the class for you Honourable Mention: Spec Tamiya is a fun and popular racing class at Overgeared Racing in the winter. This isn't a serious racing class and it is very beginner friendly. My only concerns with this class is that it is not run in the summer time and the cost of getting one of these "cheap" cars to run competitively is nearly the same as a race grade EP Touring car. In most circumstances, I recommend Scale Spec over Spec Tamiya What Brand(s) to Consider: There are a lot of different RC touring car brands to consider. When choosing a brand of vehicle, keep the following in mind:
Recommended Brand: Xray. Admittedly, I'm an Xray fan boy so I may be accused of being biased. The reason I recommend Xray brand cars is pretty straight forward though: 1. They are durable 2. They handle/drive very well 3. They are common so you can get help/parts from friends 4. Used Xray kits are available for sale from time-to-time 5. I stock Xray parts so you can buy parts and upgrades from me at the track if you need something to keep your race day going 6. I may be able to help you order a new Xray kit or, at very least, point you toward somewhere that you can purchase one Xray kits and parts are expensive but, the fact that they are durable helps to mitigate this added expense because you won't need to buy parts as often If searching for a used Xray kit, try to find yourself one of these:
Honourable Mentions:
Aluminum vs Carbon Fibre Chassis: Most touring car kits are available with your choice of aluminum chassis or carbon fibre chassis for roughly the same price. We generally run an aluminum chassis on carpet and a carbon fibre chassis on asphalt. If you purchase a kit with an aluminum chassis, it will work perfectly for the winter/carpet season. You can then purchase a spare carbon fibre chassis plate to convert your car to an asphalt setup. You do not need to purchase an entire new kit for the two seasons What to Avoid: All Nitro Models. Nitro racing takes place in the summer time only. There is no nitro racing in the winter so if you purchase a nitro car, your racing season will be very short. If you purchase an electric car, you can race all year long. Additionally, you'll have a lot to learn as a newcomer to racing, adding the challenge of a nitro car is not a good idea. Lastly, you will need the approval of the race director before you can run your nitro car in a race class so if you don't already have adequate skills...you may not be permitted to use it RTR Cars like Kyosho Fazer, Team Associated Apex, HPI Flux etc. There isn't anything inherently wrong with these kits but we don't have a suitable racing class for them at our local tracks. If you already own one of these kits and would like to give racing a try, by all means, bring it out to the track and have some fun but, if you are looking to purchase something, do not buy one of these Online Only Brands like 3Racing. Although I do see these at the track from time-to-time, the low quality and difficult parts availability will detract from your enjoyment. The hassle isn't worth the small amount of money you may or may not save if you purchase one of these Where to buy: I have access to the majority of popular touring car brands including Xray, Yokomo, Schumacher, RC Maker, Axon, Awesomatix, Mugen and more. I don't have access to Xpress but can introduce you to someone local that does. It's not likely that I'll have a new kit in stock but should be able to order one for you New vs Used: If purchasing a brand new kit isn't within your budget, you may wish to consider a well maintained, used kit. Preferably from a local racer so that you can look at the car before buying it (or ask a more experienced friend for advice). Be weary of anything that's too old, rare or poorly maintained. You don't want anything that will be too difficult to get parts for or in need of too many repairs Try browsing our local Buy and Sell Facebook Page or even post a "wanted" ad to see what you can find Back to Getting Started Series > Comments are closed.
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