First of all I will present myself. I am Andreas, I'm from Belgium and now driving a little year. I'm 14 years old, so I still have a full life of driving RC cars in front of me ! I'm someone who thinks allot when I do things. I see people, not thinking, but just doing. I'm someone who always looks behind it, and I won't stop until I found it. In this little "tutorial" I will be talking a bit about driving an RC car, in my little year of experience with racing, I was really looking what important things are when you drive RC cars, things that could actually make a difference in you laptimes, but also to make it more fun ! This is not only mentioned to rookies, some things I say in this "tutorial" are also something to think of for the (almost)pro's.

RC Cars are not so normal as you think.
RC is not as apparently as you think. A lot of people don't even think about it anymore, it is al about going fast, faster end being the fastest. But what you are doing, is actually a wonder. You are driving a car with a remote control, that you have in control yourself. Without any wire or connection, is that car reacting to your inputs. A little car that can hit high speeds up to 50mph because you pull a little trigger. I think that is awesome sh*t. Some people at my local track begin shouting at their car: "He doesn't steers in early enough!" I always think by myself that it isn't the car, but they, that just doesn't steer in early enough. You, and only you, are controlling your car so it's all up to you.

Transmitter
It's not only your car that is important in having fun driving your cars, but your transmitter is EVEN as important ! I am driving a Spektrum DX3C right now, very basic, very simple. A friend of me has a Futaba 4PK. With the same car, same setup and on the same track, we switched cars. I was handling his car with the 4PK. Because of the feeling that I got from the 4PK I just began smiling. The feeling was a big difference with mine. I made driving more fun, and I was about 2 seconds faster ! The feeling and control I had over the car was allot more with the 4PK. I have no idea why, but it was ! So don't get the cheapest transmitter possible, invest in something you like. That little thing is the thing you hold in your hand the whole time while driving, so it should be as comfortable as possible.

Throttle control
When you are controlling your car, one of the importantest things is how much power or gas you give the car on what type and end of the track. Even when it sounds so logic and easy, it is done so wrong by many drivers that begin racing. The badest thing about is that they don't know they are doing it wrong so they will never change their driving style. Never is a big word, but they won't get it that fast, when they did it wrong for a long time. So begin learning the throttle control. Set your travel 50% of the normal speed in your transmitter, get to the track and begin driving. Drive wide arcs around corners in the beginning and get to a good line more an more when you are improving your driving skills. What this will do is that it will let you drive the track as fast as possible with only that little of throttle, you will give throttle and break more controlled when you do this, than when you have allot more power. When you go to the track with maximum travel, most of the beginning drivers will be driving like an on/off switch. Power/no power. When you get the thorttle lower, your 50% power will be seperated over your hole trigger, so it won't be that sensitive, and that is good for learning... When you watch the pro's, they will not go over 50% on the trigger at more than half the track, they use the bottom end of their trigger a lot more, and that is not something that comes directly.

For example : A guy at the track is working as an on/off switch. When he drops down his travel to 50%, he will learn driving with only that amount of power. When he kicks up his travel to 100% again, he will feel that the first 50% of his trigger feels like his full trigger as when he dropped down the travel. This will cause that he uses the lower 50% allot more, because he learned driving with only that amount of power. That wil be a big advantage later on.

Steering control
Dropping down the steering rate on your car is also very good to learn driving. You will also learn driving slower and tighter with a less sensitive steering. A little bit the same as above. I also want to mention that you NOT always have to use full turn to get a good tight turn in a corner. Going very fast thro a corner with allot of steering is NOT the same as going a bit slower thro a corner with a little less steering. The speed you hold up in a corner is very beneficial for when you come out of a corner and go onto the straight. I will tell you more about this later. Steering is something that you really have to learn to do smooth. Never throw your car to much because you are going too fast and can't stop. You will loose al your speed because you throwed him in. Brake a bit, take a SMOOTH corner, and than power up coming out of the corner.

Driving Lines
This is where throttle control, braking control, steering control all comes together. Driving a good line and going slower will give you a very consistent feeling and give you allot of control of your car. Instead of that you can slam the gas, steer maximum everywhere, hope you not tractionroll or make faults, and try to work your way up. Be sure, the second method will only cost you money, time, wins, and allot less fun.

Driving lines is very important, but not as apparent as it sounds. A good line is all about braking before the corner, holding your speed through the corner, and working you speed up again coming out of the corner. A lot of people forget the second thing, holding your speed. It's not when you turn tighter, you will be faster. When you come around 1 inch from the apex, in a very tight turn you will loose al your speed because you have to slow down to much to take it that tight, and you can't power out your corner as good with this method, because you will drive him of the track, what you can see in the picture. The best thing to do, is to drive about 10 inches away from the apex, consistent, so you hold that 10 inches through the whole turn and you power out to the outside of the track. With this method you will keep your speed up because you take it wider, and you can really power out of the corner and because you drove thro the corner with a good amount of speed, you will reach your top speed faster, what will make that you win allot of time. This all depends on the track. On a very loose track with very low traction, going wider is a good idea. When you have an astroturf track or a sugar clay track with allot of traction, going a bit tigher (max 5 inches is best!) could be benificial. (This doesn't mean you have to drive like an onroad driver with a big arc, coming from outside, in, and back out. You just want to drive straight to the apex, but with a good wide turn around it. see picture.)




And last but not least ! Practice as much as you can, whatever what setup your car is on, just drive. Too much beginners are tweaking on their cars while they can't drive !

Cheers, Dre

Great article, thank you.

About transmitter, the high-end transmitter will have faster response rate and also more sensitive input control for both steering and throttle.

The racing line for off-road in my opinion is not exactly the same as you though. I'm racing nitro 1/8 buggy and I use the green line but try to hit the apex as near as possible.

That is something you can do indeed, but you will loose a bit more speed (I think) With my XB4 on an astroturf track, I come around fastest with the green line, but than also a little bit tighter, because of the grip that is possible.

Thank you for the reply !

The racing line will be different between each track, each driver, car setup and track obstacles. Never want to give up the inside lane..

Good job.

that is exact what I mean in my tutorial. Thanks !

Awesome tutorial but I have a question does the "Good Line Method" apply for off roading as well

yes, It is for offroading in general

Great info