Motorsport in Miniature: The World Of RC

Motorsport of any category and level is an amazing spectacle. It is the perfect exhibition of man made engineering precision, tied with amazing feats of human athleticism and physical ability.​
However, what if we scale motorsport down to let's say a tenth of what it is. Does it become any less impressive or exciting? I certainly don't think so.

Welcome to Remote Control car racing, scaled down motorsport, yet still where fine tuned engineering precision and skillful driver prowess is on display.

​Even at 1/10th of the size of a regular car, these remote control cars are extremely intricate. Tuning adjustments can be made  to suspension, steering and the electric motor's timing, which can have an affect on the motors rpm, torque and run time. Like a normal race car, these slight adjustments can have a big affect on lap time and race pace.

These more serious Hobby-Spec RC Cars can be bought as an RTR (ready to race straight out of the box) or as a kit you build yourself.

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That is however, where the similarities between racecars and their 1/10th scale counterparts end. Obviously, these car are controlled by remote control. Steering being controlled by turning the wheel on the side of the remote, and speed by a trigger. 

That means that these cars are driven in third person. Navigation using the wheel on the remote, in correlation to the cars position is certainly a skill in itself, particular at the speeds the cars go at.  

Although they are quite small, these cars a blisteringly fast. To give you an idea, the shutter speeds I had to use for photographic panning, would be the same shutter speeds I would use to get a relatively still shot with a bit of wheel movement when shooting drifting.

Another aspect that is different from ordinary circuit racing is the track. 1Because of the cars small tires and very flat undersides, the track needs to be very flat. Also the kerbs are quite large compared to the cars. This means that cars can launch off the kerbing. Drivers still push the limits, searching for as much apex as possible and the quickest lines around the track, whilst attempting to keep all 4 wheels on the ground.

The evenings racing would be held at the TFTR (Templestowe Flat Track Racers). The racing would be split into 6 min + one lap races, and the cars would be separated into their various classes. 

To keep track, they had a voice-over tracking system that would detect each time a certain car would cross the finish line. Each car would be named after the driver and as the car crossed the start finish line, their position would be called out by a robotic voice.

Unfortunately, the racing would end prematurely due to the weather. Regardless, the evening was a great insider into the world of remote control motorsport. RC ranges much further than just circuit racing. There's RC Off-Rad Racing, Drifting and even a more show aspect to these scaled down cars. If you ever have the chance, take a look at any RC motorsport, definetly have a look. You'll be pleasantly surprised.

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