Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Are You Building Your Own Remote Control Race Car?

By Michael Castelli

Along with remote control race cars for children to enjoy, there are many adults who are actually taking the plunge and trying to build their own instead. One should be aware of the major differences between remote control race cars that parents can buy for their children and those which one can build from scratch.

Below we look at a few of the things that will be needed if you are intending to spend time constructing your own remote control race cars.

Firstly it is important that you decide the kind of engine you want in your remote control race car to power it. Most of the cars available for kids are powered by some batteries. However, when building your own remote control race cars you can either go for an engine where power is provided by packs of batteries or go for those that are working replicas of the ones found in the real car and are powered either by nitro-methane or gasoline.

There are pros and cons associated with both having a remote control race car powered either by gasoline or nitro-methane. Certainly nitro-methane is best for those cars where you want them to cover a straight line distance as quickly as possible. But for those race cars which are going to be competing against others around a circuit with bends and curves then a gasoline powered engine is better. The problem with nitro-methane is that the fuel weighs more so controlling the vehicle as is goes around a bend or curve becomes more difficult.

As nitro-methane places quite considerable amounts of stress on the engines of remote control race cars these ones generally won't last for long periods of time, especially if they are run on them continuously. To reduce the levels of wear and tear on such engines use a back up engine powered on batteries to move the car around during races and then convert over to the nitro-methane one when being raced.

Another difference between the electronic remote controls and those that are used specifically for racing is the quality of the other components on them. Certainly because high levels of stress are being placed on them the axles and wheels need to be of a much stronger construction. Along with getting firm wheels they should be lightweight as well as this will help to reduce the amount of drag on the vehicle as it is being raced. Your local hobby store or one that is online should be able to supply you with these components.

For those who are worried they are going to make mistakes constructing their own remote control race cars they can purchase kits instead. These kits can easily be got through a local hobby store or by searching online and will have everything you need to construct such a vehicle for yourself. However, you don't have to limit yourself to using what is provided but can buy parts that are more expensive and of a higher quality so you can if you want customize the way the car looks.

The only disadvantage to building remote control race cars using kits is that the speeds won't be similar to those that come from building your own. However using such kits for building remote control race cars helps you to avoid making mistakes and which in the long term could cost you time and money.

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