Nitro RC cars -
fast, 4 wheel fun!

Nitro rc cars are preferred by many people to electric ones because of their speed, noise and smell (we'll include 'buggies' under the general term 'rc cars', for convenience).

While it's true that electric cars are simpler to operate and cheaper to buy, a nitro car provides that little bit more fun and high-speed excitement, especially with models like the HPI RS4 EVO around!
The RS4 EVO has various bodyshell options, the Dodge Viper is shown below:

On-road or off-road nitro cars?

Nitro rc cars can be purchased for both off-road or on-road driving.
This again is down to personal preference; you may want the high speed thrill of racing round a tarmac track, or you may love the idea of racing over humps and through mud and puddles!

Off-road cars will probably end up needing a bit more maintenance than on-road racers because they sustain more 'wear and tear' due to being driven over much rougher terrain, but in my opinion the off-road option is by far the best - much more fun!!

A couple of fairly standard types of rc cars are shown below, a buggy and a road racer:

This rc buggy from Duratex is a great choice if you're looking for an 'all round' mega-fun nitro rc car, whereas...

...this 4 Tec from Traxxas is a classic on-road racer, made for burning up the tarmac

Admittedly, nitro rc cars can sometimes be a bit temperamental, especially on cold days when an electric car is off and away at the flick of a switch. But once running, a nitro car can reward you in greater ways by longer running times and faster speeds than electric powered models.

Also, nitro cars definitely require a greater degree of maintenance than electric ones simply due to the presence of the engine - but in my books this is no bad thing, as this kind of technical involvement is a great way of gaining hands-on knowledge and practical experience about how stuff works!

The picture below shows a few basic features commonly shared by all nitro rc cars:

You can buy nitro powered rc cars in three ways; either 'RTR' (Ready To Run - motor & radio gear fully installed and set up, body pre-painted), 'ART' (Almost Ready To Run - no motor or radio gear but otherwise pretty complete and usually pre-painted) or as pure kit form where all the components need to be added to the basic chassis, piece by piece.
The choice is purely down to your own personal preference and in part depends on your interest in building models or just your interest to get driving as easily and as quickly as possible.

But even if you've never built a kit before, that's no reason not to try - nitro car kits always come with pretty comprehensive instruction manuals and if the worst comes to the worst, a visit to your local hobby shop for help in putting the car together would always solve any problems.

Nitro RC car accessories

One 'down side' to nitro rc cars is the extra field equipment that you need when you travel. This is purely because of the engine and is true for any nitro rc model, such as an airplane or boat.

This essential field equipment includes a starter (if the motor is not pull-start), fuel, glow plug ignitor, spare glow plugs plus cleaning items for wiping away any oil that has got onto the car body after a drive.
But hey, speed and fun must have a few sacrifices and these field equipment items are small sacrifices indeed!
Read about rc car accessories in more detail.

The nitro rc cars mentioned on this page are all available from Red Rocket Hobby Shop.

Related pages

Nitro engines - the basic principles of how they work.

RC accessories for cars - see some essential field items.

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