Elec­tric racing

“Radio-controlled (RC) model car racing with an elec­tric motor is governed by the battery. To verify that the driver has not manip­u­lated it, the orga­nizers measure the battery voltage prior to a race. They also weigh the e-cars because they must all drive in the same ʻweight class’.

On account of the short running time of the battery, the driving time for an e-race is limited to ten minutes. The cars have to be recharged between the different runs. Battery recharging takes about 30 to 60 minutes. The inter­vals between races are long for this reason.

Combus­tion racing

The tank of a RC model car with a combus­tion engine may only be filled with 125 millime­ters of fuel at the most for a race. That is also checked by the orga­nizers before the race. The nitromethane fuel mixture in the tank must also comply.

A RC model car drives for about eight minutes with such a tank. During a regional race, such as the Baden-Würt­tem­berg cham­pi­onship which lasts 30 to 40 minutes, around four pit stops are needed to reach the finishing line. The driver has to have a helper for refu­eling. It would other­wise take much too long for the driver to leave his elevated posi­tion next to the track, from where he controls the car, to get to the pits each time. I always get a friend to help. He also fetches the car and restarts it should the motor stop during a race.

The engine sound of the RC combus­tion model cars is similar to that in Formula One or German Touring Masters (DTM) motor­sport. The exhaust must comply with specific stan­dards to rule out exces­sive noise. Before a compe­ti­tion, the judges check the autho­riza­tion number of each exhaust for this reason.

I person­ally prefer racing with a combus­tion engine. It is more exciting – due to the pit stops and because the car has to endure more, which means that parts may fail more often. Further­more, the stress of battery charging does not apply here.”