Driving tiny cars is awesome. Driving tiny cars over piles of dirt and terrorizing the family dog is even better. Last week, we asked you for your favorite R/C cars, and here they are. Add your favorites below.
Welcome back to Answers of the Day — our Jalopnik summer feature where we take the best ten responses from the previous day's Question of the Day and shine it up to show off. It's by you and for you, the Jalopnik readers. Enjoy!
Photo Credit: ZeroRC.com
10.) Tyco Rebound
Suggested By: jodark
Why It's Cool: It's certainly not the fastest or fanciest car on today's list, but it did have the loudest commercial. I had one of these, and there was no end to the number of times I drove the thing up the wall in my backyard only to have it come slamming back down and scoot off towards my feet. The Rebound was a nice, easy way to get little kids into R/C cars, and into flipping things over.
Photo credit: Youtube
9.) Tamiya Lancia 037
Suggested By: E39Ed
Why It's Cool: The 037 was just one body that could be applied to Tamiya's four wheel drive chassis, but it was one of the coolest. It shared the platform with a plastic-shell Subaru Brat, among others, but who would rather have a Brat over some Group B madness?
Photo credit: Ultimate Tamiya.com
8.) Tamiya Lunch Box
Suggested By: SubcompactCulture
Why It's Cool: It's a monster truck van. What's not to love? This thing was a wheelie machine, hopping up on two wheels at the slightest provocation. It could tackle piles of dirt, other R/C cars, the cat... The list goes on. Also, if you ever got bored watching a van with giant tires do awesome things, you could swap the body for a regular monster truck's. But that's not nearly as cool, is it?
Photo credit: Radio Control Car Action Forum
7.) Team Losi Junior-T/Junior Two
Suggested By: Jstas
Why It's Cool: For the R/C racing enthusiast, the Junior-T was the starting point. Read more from Jstas' highly informative comment:
"Why's it cool? Well, back when it was released, Gil Losi Jr had said he wanted to make a kit that incorporated all of the stuff he learned dominating the racing circuits and winning the national championships with the JRx-T and JRx-2 chassis cars and trucks they campaigned. And he wanted to make it affordable. hat changed everything and brought the high end market into the Tyco toy market realm. Lots of kids got in to it cheap and lots of kids, including myself, started winning rather quickly. That's what made the Junior T/Two cool. It brought a whole world of fun, competition and learning to a whole new and impressionable audience. I know I learned alot about electronics, suspension tuning and vehicle dynamics from racing my Junior T. I even learned how to solder at the ripe old age of 12 to fix things when they broke."
Photo credit: 3-b-s
6.) Flying Vauxhall Astra VXR
Suggested By: maximum_sarge
Why It's Cool: Leave it to Top Gear to bring to our attention one of the coolest R/C cars of all time. I had a remote controlled blimp that I flew around my living room, but it wasn't nearly as cool as this full-size Vauxhall flying around the Top Gear studio. The first time I saw this clip, my jaw literally dropped. Also, I think some props need to be given to that guy at the helm of the thing. He's staying pretty cool under pressure, and doing a hell of a job keeping the Astra out of the lights.
Photo credit: Youtube
5.) Tamiya Frog
Suggested By: airsix73
Why It's Cool: The Frog was a tough-as-nails offroad racer. It was pretty cool on its own, but airsix73 added some special modifications that made his even better:
"...Set it up so if you turned the wheels full-lock to the right it would close a circuit and a 9v battery would ignite a piece of steel wool that lit the fuse on these little 2-inch aerial fireworks that looked like little plastic finned rockets. I'd just drive around avoiding full right steering lock until a target presented itself. Victims: dog, cat, neighbor washing car in driveway..."
Clearly airsix73, you were that kid.
Photo credit: Ultimate Tamiya.com
4.) Tomy Bit-Char-G
Suggested By: SennaMP4
Why It's Cool: When you're at work and just need to drive something across your desk, the Bit-Char-G's were your best friend. Sure, they weren't the fastest or most technologically advanced R/C cars to come on the scene, but they may have been one of the most fun. They came in a variety of body styles and recharged right on their controller, so there was no mess of cables or anything to deal with. Tomy even sold a whole bunch of extra performance parts, so you could hot rod your car and have it scoot across your desk even more quickly.
Photo credit: blargg!
3.) Buddy L Rattler
Suggested By: zziro
Why It's Cool: It's got ten wheels and it's up for grabs. The Rattler is a snake-like creation that looks like it can tackle pretty much everything (including BMW race cars). I'd never seen it until it came across my screen, and I'm going to be supremely disappointed if one of our readers doesn't make this guy an offer and send us a review.
Photo credit: Craigslist
2.) Associated Electrics RC10
Suggested By: Quattro-luvr
Why It's Cool: The RC10 is another one of those cars that revolutionized the R/C racing world. It's credited with starting the off-road racing industry and featured a number of impressive technical achievements. It had an anodized aluminum chassis with oil-filled shock absorbers, limited-slip differential and A-arm suspension. Even though it was first sold in 1984, evolved versions are still being produced today.
Photo credit: Team Associated
1.) Mars Rovers
Suggested By: valdaviper1
Why It's Cool: Can your R/C car function on another planet? Can it analyze atmospheres and rocks? Does it have solar panels? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you probably work for either NASA or the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. These guys are our eyes and ears on Mars, and so for that, we tip our hats to them. Stay strong out there, little guy.
Photo credit: SJAA Ephemeris