Questions for the Beginner RC Racer

If you've read around the site or you've seen a race up-close and think that you may want to get into this hobby, there are a few questions that you should be asking yourself. By learning the answers to these questions, you're going to be assured of getting the right RC vehicle the first time, thus saving you time, money, and frustration. 

What Surface Do You Want to Race On? This may seem like a silly question, but it merely means, do you want to race around on water, in the air, or on land? Do you want that land to be dirt, carpet, or asphalt? Flying an RC plane, motoring an RC boat, and racing around an RC car or truck will all be different experiences and need very different things. Learn where you want to run before you get something to run on it. Are You Playing or In It to Win It? 

Are you going to want to dive into competitive RC racing or are you just wanting to play around in the yard? There are beginner boats, planes, cars, and trucks designed for fun and have everything you need to get started. For the more competitive in nature, there are other kits that are more in-depth with a higher degree of customization designed to tweak out the most a racer can bring out. 
 

rc car

Do You Want to Build a Kit or Have One Ready to Go? This is directly tied to the question of whether you want to have fun or if you want to be competitive. Most RTR kits (ready to run) or ARF (almost-ready-to-fly) planes are either completely ready to go out of the box or nearly so. This means that they have standard items meant for the beginning RCer. Those that buy kits will need to painstakingly go through and build their car, truck, boat, or plane. There is a huge advantage to this for the racer, as they can learn all about their RC from every piece. 

If You Are Into Cars, On-road or Off-road? Do you want to deal with precise turns and intricate tuning or do you want to launch your car or truck off jumps and power it through the turns with raw force? On-road and off-road racers deal with many different things. It may help you decide by going to both an on-road race and an off-road, and perhaps even test-driving one or two. There are some tracks that will have rental vehicles. If one near you does, I'd strongly suggest renting one and getting some laps in before making the decision. 

Gas or Electric? All vehicles have options for nitro gas burning or for electric power. Choosing which you'd like to run may be difficult. Nitro means dealing with fumes and loudness, but you can run for as long as you keep fueling the engine. Electric is cleaner and quieter, but you are only going to be able to run for as long as you have a charged battery before needing to recharge. Nitro fuels come in varying percentages of oil and nitromethane, and you'll need to learn about what this means if you should choose to drive anything nitro-powered. 

rc helicopter

New or Used? Do you want to buy a brand new RC or get one that is used? Used is usually cheaper and can come with parts and upgrades that may not come on the kit in question. Plus you may get tons of accessories that help you dive into the hobby. Figuring out this question can be a matter of finances but it can also be a matter of being in the right place at the right time when someone is selling off or upgrading. There are many places to find a good used RC vehicle to buy.

These are just a few questions that you should think about before you pull the trigger on that RC purchase. I've seen many purchase everything they needed to do one specific type of racing, only to completely fall in love with something totally different. Get a few controllers in your hand and test everything, you may see that you want something that may surprise you.