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The smallest RC car in the World? Review

We always like to see new innovations in RC, and here is another. The worlds smallest fully proportional RC car! 

You might have seen other small RC cars over the years, but this is not only tiny, but unlike those other cars it is fully proportional. This means that you have a range of steering and throttle input. So you can drive this little car in a similar way to your standard 1/10 RC car. 

What's in the box?

  • 1:76 Turbo Racing Rc car
  • USB charge lead
  • Two spare bodyshells that you can paint / modify yourself
  • 2.4 GHz Transmitter

As you can see, the body is very detailed for something so small, and it is obviously based on the Mini.

If you noticed this on someone's desk you would assume that it is just a model car, it is really very 


Charging the Car 

You just need to charge the battery in the car by plugging in the USB cable. 

It's good to see that the USB-C standard is used so it is easy to attach. When the car is charging you will see the front Right headlight light up red.. Once charged, the LED will switch off. 

Transmitter

The transmitter is in two parts.
You need to fit 4xAAA batteries in the handle and click it in place. 

The controller is light and easy to hold. As this little car is fully proportional you have dual rates to limit both the throttle and steering throw, alongside trims for both the throttle and the steering. There is a Channel 3 button that is not used and a steering reverse switch. 

The chassis

You can pop the shell off by undoing the clip at the rear of the chassis. 
Underneath you can see the USB charge socket and the steering arms. 

Here you can see the chassis in all it's glory. As you would expect it is all very well packaged. The 3.7v 75mah lipo battery is mounted on the top of the PCB.

The LED's light up the front and the rear. The rear mounted motor is able to be seen, along with the spur gear that drives the solid rear axle.  


Track Test. 

With the battery charged it was time to give this tiny turbo a spin. I have a smooth wooden floor so I thought I would give it a go on that to judge how it works. 

With a gentle squeeze of the trigger it moved away at a slow crawl, and on the large wooden floor it was very slow so I decided to give it full throttle.  Let's get this out there, this car is not fast.. its tiny.. so the speed reflects that. 

Whilst on the floor I also trimmed the steering so it would go in a straight line, once this was sorted I checked the dual rate. At full steering lock the front wheels can catch the chassis, this will ultimately cause damage where the steering servo is binding, so I would recommend you check that. 

With the car running in a straight line I just did a few laps around the floor, getting used to the steering feel. Having a full range of steering control on something so small is actually quite a strange phenomenon, it seems strange seeing something smaller than a hot wheels car run around like this. 

I placed a few items down to create a basic track and started to run around, getting a better feel for the handling. It didn't take long to get on top of the basics. Despite the fidelity of the control that you can apply to the chassis, you do have to battle a few other unique handling considerations. 

The chassis is RWD, and there is no differential. I am used to this after years of carpet oval racing, but the other consideration is the amount of grip that the tiny hard rubber tyres give you. If anything I would say that the car is not too quick to really trouble you with a lack of grip in the corners, which is a bit of a shame. Although as the car is so diminutive the amount of visual feedback you actually get from driving it around is much less than normal RC car, along with the smooth but not fast steering it might be unrealistic to expect to be able to catch any snap oversteer that could happen if the car was faster and grippier.

With the fact that the car is quite solid, even at top speed their isn't much of a challenge driving it around a larger surface unless you are racing against another one. So I moved it to a more challenging environment, my office desk.

Now this was more fun, driving around the desk, using drinks mats, pens and other items as obstacles. The confined space made it much more challenging as you use the fine controls needed to to navigate around. Using the spare shells I even set up a parallel parking section. I never thought I would mention parking challenges on this site but I soon lost about 20 mins just trying to parallel park in ever decreasing spaces.  Luckily the battery does last for a good amount of time, around 30 mins or so. 

Overall

It is something a bit different to drive something this small that offers a good range of control. It seems pretty sturdy judging by the few times its crashed off my desk onto the wooden floor with no damage.  I would prefer it to have a bit more speed, especially if running in a larger space, even if it was just like a nitro boost (Using the channel 3 button). 

Its great fun though and the tiny size means and large amount of control makes it unique as an RC experience. 

I'm tempted to get another one so I can race against my son on a makeshift track on the dining table, I think this would be the best way to experience the real potential of this car, but then I like to race just about everything :)

Ultimately over the last few weeks it has become an essential desktop toy, it provides a nice break from the screen when sitting at a desk over the day. It would make the ideal gift for anyone that cannot get enough RC action.



review 793848160398750087

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