A black and orange scale trail truck with a loaded roof rack climbing between boulders

Pick your kind of driving

Three kinds of car, three kinds of ground

BashingDriving for fun wherever there is room. Jumps, grass, dirt and gravel in a monster truck or short course truck built to take hits. Where most people start, because it needs no special surface.

Start here

Find an empty lot, a ball field or a patch of rough ground you are allowed to use, and run a full pack there at half throttle before you try a jump.

CrawlingWalking pace over rocks, roots and trails in a scale truck with locked axles and soft tires. Quiet, easy on parts, and it works in a small yard or on a hiking trail.

Start here

Stack a few rocks, bricks or firewood logs in the yard and try to climb over them without flipping. Slow is the point.

RCCrawler forum

DriftingSliding a low on-road car sideways on hard plastic tires. It needs smooth, clean pavement or polished concrete, and it rewards throttle control over speed.

Start here

Sweep a section of smooth concrete (a garage floor or a tennis court after hours), set out two markers and hold a slide around each one.

Drift Mission

Open a card for its first step. Each card also puts that kind of car and its spare battery into the pit box.

Going deeper on crawlers

RCCrawler Free forum covering crawler builds, tires and course setup in depth

How to choose a first car

Picking one puts that car and its spare battery into the pit box and takes the other two out. You can still switch any line in or out from the kit.

Buy ready-to-run.

The car comes assembled with its radio and electronics installed. Kits are a better second car, once you know what you would change.

Check parts before price.

Search for the model's suspension arms and drive shafts. If they are in stock from several sellers, the car is repairable. If you find nothing, it is a toy with a hobby-grade label.

1/10 scale is the standard.

It is big enough for grass and rough ground, and it has the widest choice of tires, bodies and batteries. Smaller scales suit indoor use but stall in a lawn.

Brushed or brushless.

A brushed motor is cheaper and plenty for learning. Brushless is faster, runs longer per charge and needs almost no maintenance. If the budget allows, brushless saves an upgrade later.

Four-wheel drive is easier to control.

Two-wheel drive costs less and teaches throttle discipline, but it spins out more.

Look for waterproof electronics.

They let the car run on wet grass and through puddles.

Note the battery plug.

Brands use different connectors, and every pack you buy later has to match the car or use an adapter.

A truck chassis seen from above with the body off, showing four knobby tires, red shocks, wiring and a cooling fan — A chassis with the body off

Your first week

Tick these off as you go

Before and after every run

BeforeSpin each wheel by hand. A wheel that grinds or wobbles means a loose nut, a bent axle or grit in a bearing.
BeforeCheck the mesh between the small motor gear and the large plastic gear. There should be a hair of play. Too tight overheats the motor, too loose strips teeth.
DuringTouch the motor after five minutes. If you cannot hold a finger on it for three seconds, stop and let it cool.
AfterUnplug the battery from the car. A pack left connected drains flat and may never charge again.
AfterIf the car got wet, dry it off and spin each wheel a few times so water does not sit in the bearings.
StorageLithium packs keep best at about half charge. Most smart chargers have a storage setting that does this for you.

Close-up of a red coil-over shock and a knobby front tire on a truck parked on carpet — A coil-over shock and a front tire

What trips beginners up

You will break parts in the first week, usually a suspension arm or a steering link. This is normal, and it is how you learn the car.
Run time is short: 15 to 30 minutes per pack depending on battery size and how hard you drive. One battery makes for a brief afternoon.
Steering reverses when the car drives toward you. Everyone oversteers into a curb at least once before it clicks.
Buying for top speed. A car that does 60 mph is hard to control and breaks far more on impact. Learn on something that tops out near 30.
Full throttle from a standstill strips gears and flips trucks. Roll into the power.
Upgrading before anything is broken. Replace parts as they fail, and the money goes where the car is weak.
Skipping the after-run check. One loose wheel nut turns into a lost wheel and a stripped hex on the next run.

Battery and driving safety

Lithium packs can catch fire if they are overcharged, punctured or charged while damaged. Charge only with a charger set to the right battery type and cell count, inside a fire-resistant bag, never unattended and never overnight.
Retire a puffy pack. A lithium battery that has swollen, been dented or been run flat should not be charged again. Take it to a battery recycling drop-off, not the household trash.
Balance charge. Use the small white balance plug on every charge so the cells stay at equal voltage.
Stay off public roads. A 6-pound truck at 30 mph can break an ankle or dent a car door, and you cannot see it from a driver's seat.
Give people and dogs room. Keep at least 30 feet from bystanders, and stop when a dog shows interest. Dogs chase RC cars and bite spinning wheels.
Check park rules. Some city parks and most school grounds ban motorized models. Empty lots, your own yard and RC tracks are the safe defaults.
Keep fingers out of the drivetrain when the battery is connected. Unplug before any repair.

Two hands turning a screwdriver on the engine of an off-road buggy beside a clay track

Where to learn

The manual first, then forums, a hobby shop and a track

The manual that comes with the car is the best first read: it has an exploded diagram with a part number for every piece. For everything else, the forums and review sites below answer most beginner questions for free, and searching your exact model plus the word "broken" shows what fails and which part fixes it. A local hobby shop is worth a visit even if you buy online, because the staff know which tracks and parking lot meetups are active near you. Organized racing is the usual next step after a season of driving for fun: clubs run heats on indoor carpet or clay and outdoor dirt, most have a novice class, and race cars are usually built from kits to that class's rules. Visit a race day and ask what the novice class runs before buying anything for it.

Free forums, reviews and the racing body

How the kit is put together

The car is most of the cost, and it depends on the driving you picked, so the car and its spare battery sit behind the Bashing, Crawling and Drifting choices below. Pick one. Ready-to-run cars include a transmitter, and most include one battery and a slow basic charger, which is enough for the first day. The lines everyone needs are small: hex drivers that fit the screws properly, a charging bag, and thread-locking fluid for the screws that vibrate loose. A smart charger and a second battery are what turn a 20-minute run into an afternoon, and both move with you to the next car.

A blue off-road buggy on a wet gravel trail, with its driver holding the transmitter out of focus behind it — A buggy on a gravel trail, its driver behind

Load the pit box

The hex drivers, a smart charger, a charging bag and thread-locking fluid start in the box. The three cars and their spare batteries stay out until you pick Bashing, Crawling or Drifting, here, in the kit or from its card above. Compare the options, set your tiers and check out from the kit. Clicking a card selects it there, and clicking the selected card takes that line out.

RC hex and nut driver set

essential · Tools

Every repair starts with small hex screws and wheel nuts. The L-shaped keys packed with most cars round out screw heads within a few uses.

budget

HobbyPark 6 in 1 RC Hex Driver Screwdriver Set 1.5mm 2.0mm 2.5mm 3.0mm & Hex Nut Driver & Phillips Bit and Wheel Wrench for RC Car Hobby Tool Kit

4.4(396)

$24.97

RC Cars

Pick your kind of driving

How to choose a first car

Your first week

Before and after every run

What trips beginners up

Battery and driving safety

Where to learn

How the kit is put together

Load the pit box

RC hex and nut driver set

Smart balance charger

Fire-resistant LiPo charging bag

Medium-strength thread-locking fluid

Ready-to-run monster truck or short course truck (1/10 scale)

Spare 2S hard-case LiPo battery for a 1/10 truck

Ready-to-run rock crawler (1/10 scale)

Spare 2S shorty LiPo battery for a crawler

Ready-to-run drift car (1/10 scale)

Spare 2S hard-case LiPo battery for an on-road car