Nitro Powered RC Cars
One of the most enjoyable and awesomely fun hobbies any child or adult can take up is rc car racing with nitro powered cars. Nitro powered cars are affordable and powerful. You can get a decent nitro powered car for a few hundred dollars and when properly tuned, these monsters can go up to 100 mph! Because they are so powerful and affordable, nitro powered rc cars are one of the most popular hobbies around and have a huge fan base. Maintaining and tuning your own custom nitro car can be a very interesting and complex task, as nitro powered cars come with a variety of options for parts, fuel and configurations.
When choosing your nitro rc racer, the first thing you want to look at is the type of engine you have and how powerful it is. You generally want an engine with the most RPMs possible in your price range. A powerful nitro engine can crank out 30,000 rmps! That’s amazing considering that in real life a car engine only cranks out between 5000-8000 rpms. Your engine should also have a rating for horse power. Most nitro powered cars today can crank out at least 5 hp. That’s a lot if you consider that your nitro car is just a small scale model weighing 10-15 lbs. In real life, on a full scale car this would be the equivalent of having a 1200 hp engine.
One of the big differences between how an rc car engine works and how a real car engine works is the engine start up process. Real car engines depend on spark plugs to start the engine and ignite the fuel. Nitro powered engines and other gas powered rc engines don’t use spark plugs but instead rely on either a pull string or electronic igniter to start the car in the beginning, and then the combustion becomes continuous. Most nitro cars today still use a pull string but if you want you can get the more convient ones that use and electronic lighter which work just as well. Another notable difference between rc cars and real car engines is the lack of a piston ring. Because of their small scale nitro engines are directly sealed to the mechanics of the car.
The fuel mixture you will need will also depend on the engine type. You can either choose between a two cycle engine or regular nitro powered engine. Both engine types are pretty powered fuel. The advantage of nitro powered engines is that they are easier to fuel and are pretty powerful. Nitro canisters are pretty cheap and average around $15. Two cycle engines are a bit more complicated and require a fuel mix of nitro and Becoil.
Rc car engines like normal car engines will require maintenance keep things running smoothly and from breaking down. Unlike a regular car, one of the most important things you have to do to maintain your nitro rc car is make sure the engine is properly oiled and lubricated. You’ll basically want to get after burn oil into your engine parts to make sure everything is properly lubed internally. With nitro cars you will need to do this often because the alcohol that is in the nitro fuel mix tends to dry out the parts very quickly. To be safe it is recommended that you lube the engine after every race.
Another important performance enhancement to be done is making sure your air filters are always clean. The air filters keeps the air intake clear and makes sure dirt or other bad things that can grind up the engine stay out, this will affect how the engine runs overall. Properly cleaning your air filters will boost the performance of your engine and will also have the added benefit of extending the life of your engine. Keeping your air filters clean is pretty simple, follow the instructions from your manual and remove your filter. Take it apart and separate the foam filter from the rest of the parts. You can clean your foam filter and filter parts by simply using warm water and soap. After you clean your filter let it dry out and then reassemble it and put it back in the car. A clean air filter will help keep your engine clean and running normally.
One last tip is pretty simple but essential. Keep your nitro rc engine dry at all times. It is metal and water will make the parts possible rust up and break down the engine. This simple tip can prevent damage or a complete breakdown of the engine. Keeping your car dry in general is a common sense tip, as there are also a lot electronics and circuits in and around the car you will want to make sure does not short out.
Once you get the hang of maintaining and knowing the inside outs of your nitro racer you will discover that nitro rc racing is fun and intense. It’s probably one of the funniest things you can ever do. In real life we have to drive within 55 mph of the highway limit but on a race track we can go closer to one hundred with our rc cars and do other fun things like jump obstacles are try to survive crashers. The great thing about rc racing is that outside of simple maintenance it is not complicated mechanically so anyone can really take it up.
