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Week 6 [20-26.11.17] Radio-controlled cars



Today I want to share with you some informations about my hobby which is a car races. I have in mind not typical cars but a bit smaller which are controlled by remote radio and what is interesting they are not much slower than real cars.




How does it work?

This cars has receiver inside and you control it using a transmitter. This cars are made very similar to real buggy cars but in smaller scale. They have a really resistant construction which can deal with a serious accidents during a race. I mentioned before that they are fast but how it is possible that such little car can drive more or less 100 km/h? They have nitro engines fueled by a special mixture of nitromethane, methanol, and oil. The best engines of them takes 45000 rpm which is 3x more than in real cars engines.




A toy or not?

Most of you probably think that is is only kind of toy but I can provide that of course it gives a lot of fun but it doesn't has much similarities to rc cars which you can buy in a supermarket. The price of such models starts from 1000 PLN to even 6000-7000 PLN. It is a barrier which limits popularity of this hobby in Poland but we should remember that all of extreme hobbies can costs a lot of money.



RC Championships

Around the world there are organized a championships which usually are a very big events. Such events are take on special tracks and atmosphere is like on normal scale motor races. Drivers have to respect rules during the race because they could be ban for inappropriate behaviour on the track and sometimes it happend because races gives drivers a lot of adrenaline and all of them want a win.

This sport in the USA or in Asia is much more popular than in Poland. There are event exists special TV channels which shows only a rc races and there are drivers who are professionals and they is their way for living because they even earn a lot of money by winning races.




How it looks like?

It is really hard to describe how much fun gives being a rc car driver so please watch a video and later answer to questions below. Thank you very much for your attention and I am glad that I was able to share my interests with you.



1. Have you ever heard about radio-controlled cars? Would you like to try drive such cars on your own?

2. Do you think that such races can be treated as a motor sport?

3. What do you think about the future of radio control racing in Poland? Will it be more popular in Poland or it stays a niche?


Comments

Unknown said…
Yes, I have heard about radio controlled cars. I had such a cars. Electric car and combustion car. Electric car I had when I was a kid, combustion car i had one year ago. Great fun. I played like a little kid :). I gave it to my nephew.
For me these races should be treated as fun, competitive, not as a sport. I don't know if such races are organized in Poland. I think that in Poland it will not work
Unknown said…
Thank you for your reply. We have tracks and we have even a championships which are hold in Poland. Some years ago I took part in one of them and it was a great fun! Unfortunately, nowadays less and less racers take parts in such events in Poland because this hobby is much more expensive than 5-8 years ago because of high value of dolar.
Unknown said…
It’s obvious. Every healthy and young boy in it’s childhood heard about radio controlled cars and also loved them. Me too, but I wasn’t enough for me. I’ve always tried to make them faster by replacing electric engine from bigger car to smaller. It was great fun.
I think that it can’t be treated as motor sport. It is great, it can be treated as a sport but it has nothing to do with motor sports. I love real cars and I love rc cars and I would like to keep them separately.
It is hard to say but taking into consideration the growth of popularity of rc cars from my childhood to now I think that it won’t grow much more. It will be niche.

Of course I have heard about radio-controlled cars. I have played with them as a kid. I think it would be fun to play with them one more time, but with a bigger engine power this time. I would not treat it as a motor sport, but it is a kind of sport, where peaople can compete. As for the future of radio control racing in Poland, I personally know only one person who was interested (not anymore) in it. Will it be popular? I do not know, question is is it very popular abroad, or is it a niche?
I'm mean who haven't heard about radio-controlled cars ;)? When I was younger I had some toys like that. My favourite one was a model that had three wheels. I don't remember it's name, but it looked a lot like this: http://eu.chv.me/images/SfMoTgow.JPG. It was very fun to use it, thanks to it's "special" shape, it could took the stairs and it was quite a big deal back then.
It's hard to say if it's motor sport, but I don't have problem with fact that people are calling it sport. If chess or Counter Strike: Go are sports, why races of radio-controlled cars can't be?
From my own experience it's so hard to predict what will happened in future, that I will not even try to do it ;). When I was younger cars like that were popular, I don't know if they are still popular among kids nowadays. Maybe drones are reason why those cars won't be popular in future, but I dunno.
Unknown said…
It is nice to hear that you have tried remote control cars. I think that you should try a real racing rc cars which will give you a great fun. If you like to tinker, it will be a great hobby for you!
Unknown said…
It is a popular hobby around the world. In the USA they have a lot of championships and professional tracks which we can't even dream about them in Poland. I think that the reason is simple - they can afford to buy a rc car. They can spent $500 and start racing but here in Poland the same price affter currency conversion is a lot of money which not everybody can spend.
Unknown said…
Andrzej, thank you for your reply. I am happy that you also have some experience with rc cars. I think that you should check this cars in the real life and then you will feel the difference between this and toys from supermarket. From my own experience more adults do such hobby because of price and because of fact that repairments are sometimes very complex. I think that you would love it when you try. :)
Andrzej Gulak said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
Of course I have heard about radio-controlled cars! I had a lot of fun playing with it as a kid.
Races of radio-controlled cars can be treated as a sport, but not the motor sport but some other type of sport.
In one of your replies you have already mentioned that such races are less popular than before because of expensivenes of that hobby so the future of RC cars races looks pessimistically. But who knows, maybe it will change for batter?
Unknown said…
Of course I heard about radio controlled cars. My friend has it and I played with it. I was so surprised when this car drove at more than 120 km/h. It isn't a toy. Personally I never wanted to buy it because it is very expensive and I would probably use it only a couple times.
Of course races like this can be sport. I think that this kind of races will never be very popular in future in Poland. Personally I like drone races.
Unknown said…
It is nice to hear that you understand a difference between rc cars and toys. You are right that price is a huge disadvantage of this hobby. I had a rc car and I was even a racer which participate in polish championsips but now I don't race anymore because of expenses which you have to incur if you want to race and have some chances for win. I am very curious about races drone and I really want to try it someday. Do you have any experience with it?
Unknown said…
I hope so that PLN will be someday stronger and a price like $1000 would not breathtaking and then it would be possible that rc cars would be more popular.
Unknown said…
I agree with you that drones are also interesting but I think that it is really hard to compare this two things. It is simmilar to compare car racing and plane show. It is different category but both can give a lot of adrenaline and satisfaction. :)
Unknown said…
I have heard about radio-controlled cars and I used to play with them when I was younger (smaller, normal ones). Special RCs attached in video seem to give a lot of fun and I would love to try driving such car on my own. Unfortunately, I think this joy wouldn't last for long and I'd get bored soon. In my opinion comparing RCs to real cars and treating them as a motor sport would be the same misunderstanding as treating computer games as sport (e-sport). I think the market of RCs wil continue to grow and gather more people around it, but I think it will never achieve the same level as the real racing.
Unknown said…
great hobby, I haven't met any person yet, who is keen on these cars. Yeah, when I was a child I wanted to get such car, but it rather concerns toy cars which can't speed.

I reckon that such races can be treated as motor sport but only when more people around the world will be keen on it
Actually, I have no idea about it though I am sure it's for rich people
Patryk Pohnke said…
1. I've heard and I owned a couple of them. Those were cheap electric models from market which weren't very resistant to crashes, so they didn't serve mi a lot.
2. Not really. It is a great source of fun and of course RC races are very competetive, but they shouldn't be called sport.
3. It will become even more niche. Nowadays young people have tendency to desire electronic gadgets not oldschool tnings like radio-controlled cars :)
Unknown said…
My best friend has one. It is great fun, but little expensive. Whole fun depends on persons taste, but i wouldn't buy one for myself. Best is when someone has it and allows you to play with it. Same thing goes for RC planes/helicopters/ships. This hobby will stay niche but you can easily find group of people here in warsaw who weekly meet to drive those toys:)
Unknown said…
I think that you should try it! It looks that it is easy but in fact...it's not because of high speed and lack of traction. You need some practise to get fun from driving but trust me - it is worth it. :)
Unknown said…
I don't feel like a rich person and I was able to have a rc car. Of course at the beginning it costs 1000-2000 PLN but when you have it and when you don't take part in championships the costs of driving are not breathtaking.
Unknown said…
I don't agree that rc cars are old school. They are made with use a lot of new technology and a producers still develop this cars. Please watch some videos and compare nowadays rc cars to oldschool models. ;)
Unknown said…
You are right. It is easy to find a group of people in Warsaw which have rc cars. I think that everybody who was interested in rc cars after this presentation should try it themselves. If you need some information about it you can feel free to contact with me because I can help. :)
Yevhen Shymko said…
I do remember my endless joy when I got one for a birthday present. The whole neighborhood came to watch and play with it. It was so excited at that time but as of now it stays game for kids at least for me. Now you don't have the filling of this race to be sport rather some game that you don't treat seriously. Obviously it don't look like a motosport. For me it like drones competition. Yes it's fun but no more.
Foodocado said…
I think everyone heard about rc cars and many had one. It was a great fun to play with them. Despite this, I would be interested in buying one now, those cars are not cheap and I think I would get bored soon.

I believe every activity which require practice, skill and is about competing might be called as sport.

I assume the popularity of rc cars will stay as it is.
sasha | s14611 said…
I had radio controlled car when I was child. I remember my feelings when I first try to control it. It was really cool. Even now when I'm not child anymore I would like to have radio controller car. I think it because men always stay children.
Filip Sawicki said…
I used to own one of the RC cars, unfortunately the quality was poor and it had broken down. Nevertheless, it was fun to play with it such that I may consider buying another one in the future.
RC races and Drone flights should be treated together as a separate sport from motor.
I think that RC races will stay niche. However, it may gain some popularity, as RC cars are more affordable nowadays.
Unknown said…
I used to play with RC cars when I was a kid, actually I had four or five of them. Of course they were cheap and slow electric toys but still they gave me huge amount of joy. It would be nice to play with more powerful and faster ones with gasoline engines. Despite of the fact that RC car championships are organized around the world, I would not treat them as real motorsport as it is actually a hobby for me. When it comes to Poland, as far as I know, there is a RC community and there are some competitions organized but I don’t see chances for this kind of hobby to become very popular because of the high costs, as post’s author mentioned.
Vladlen Kyselov said…
I used to have RC car in my childhood. I have had a lot of fun playing with radio controlled car.I took part in RC races with my friends. I think radio controlled machines, cars or drones, can not be treated as sport because its just a toy for the kids.
I used to have RC car like many boys when we were younger. We were doing some races with tracks made from books or whetever we found that suit our needs. Funny thing was, when we found a RC car at one of parties. It was this proffesional one with great suspention etc. It was really funy to drive it again. Meh, i think it won't. It is not that exciting. There is no danger etc. In normal racing funniest part is that those cars are going really fast, they are hard to steer sometimes and those cars are not, comeon, toys.
When i was 7 i used to have my first radio-controlled car and that was so unforgettable. I'm not interested in cars or toys like that, but having a leisure time, one day i will try it.
Yes,i think this type of races can be treated as a motor sport, but not today, maybe a little bit later, when technologies would grow up and cars would use more features, speed limit would increase and this process would be more entertaining. Don't even know in Poland, but in USA,for instance, it would be more popular i think,but who knows, hot it would be after 10 years here.
Unknown said…
That's definitely more interesting than football. I'd like to watch some races or to control a car like this. When I was a child, I only had a small radio-controlled car (a cheap toy, of course) and was riding on it after my cat :) Neither my cat nor my parents liked this car. But I always wanted a radio-controlled ship and also a helicopter.
But better to drive small radio-controlled cars than the big ones. Even it's expensive, it's cheaper than the big ones. And I'm talking not about the cars costs. It's safer. And people can't die in a car accident/crash.
I wonder, do they have cameras? It's difficult for drones to follow such small cars and record everything.
Unknown said…
I've just cheched the price on Allegro. They really cost from 1000 zl. Ok, now I can have Lamborghini for 1000.
Unknown said…
Of course I heard about radio controlled cars. Is someone who has not heard about them? Unfortunately I have never used this small cars. Unfortunately - because it looks like a great entertainment. I hope that in the near future, I'll have a chance to manage the radio controlled car.
Can it be a sport? Mhmm, interesting question. In my opinion it is more fun than sport.
Racing cars controlled by radio in Poland will remain niche for sure. It's not like for example, football or basketball where all you need is ball and pitch. These cars need to invest a lot of money and not everyone can afford it.
It's interesting how we see a lot of these niche sports emerge in the recent years. The society is getting richer, people have more money and time to spend on various hobbies, so demand exists for things that were considered toys not so long ago. The best example of this would probably be video gaming, but it's not the only one. I remember playing with toy plastic guns in my youth, and now ASG has grown to be a proper sport rivalling paintball in annual sales.

As for the RC championships in Poland, I've seen a few events organized in BlueCity shopping mall in Warsaw, but they probably weren't addressed for the professional RC enthusiast, as the track was only 5 by 5 meters large.

In the future, who knows. It's a fun hobby, but apart from spare money it requires specific conditions, like good weather and proper terrain. They have plenty of deserts to use for that in the USA, but I suppose you could imitate that with beach races in Poland.

Marcin Górski said…
I've heard about radio-controlled cars but it is too expensive for me. I think that is the same situation like with drones. You can buy cheap version but it can spoil very quickly.
I think that races shouldn't be treated as a motor sport, as a competitive? Of course!
In my opinion radio control racing wouldn't be more popular in the future because It will be too expensive hobby for a most of people.
Maciej Główka said…
Of course I've heard about RC cars. When I was a child, I wanted one so bad. Unfortunately I haven't had even one.
Of course such races can be treated as motor sport. They can be really fast, you have to have a lot of skills to drive them. Can they be more popular in Poland? I think so, but not without some big sponsor or some tv programme. shou
Generally, I think that all of this "controllable" stuff it's our future sphere of entertainment. Right now we can see smth like Dota 2 LOL CS.GO and a lot of other computer games which is popular and exist as sports disciplines as well but in nearest future people probably will be interested in smth more real and there we have this type of Radio-controlled cars, drones and another stuff for playing with.
Unknown said…
As a kid I had one, not such expensive, professional but a simple toy, radio-controlled. Ohhh had an endless fun with it, took it everywhere and tested it in any possible way. It was special because it only turned right. Or left, I don't remember but it wasn't easy to control ;)
Such races treated as a motor sport? From the video it already looks like, why not. In Poland it's gonna stay a niche for a while yet, one because of cost, second because I wouldn't know where to take it and play with it. As a kid I knew, but now I can't think of a place.
Unknown said…
Personally I had an RC car, but it was the battery one, not for any kind of a liquid fuel. But it was a cheap crap so it didn't last for long. But as far as I remember it was fun.

As for the classification of this sport... Well, it shouldn't be a motor sport, because it's much less dangerous during the crash than the F1, Nascar or in other non-RC car contests. All RC sports (cars, planes, drones, etc...) should have category of their own.

In Poland it would be niche, because of the price barrier and lack of support from the society. But when there will be more and more autonomic cars on our roads it may change in the future...
Yes, I have heard about radio-controlled cars, my brother had one when I was younger.
I guess I would like to try driving RC car, but I don’t find it amusing really.
Hmm, do I think that these races can be treated as motor sport? I think that if playing computer game can be considered “sport” and gamers called “athletes”, I don’t see why this wouldn’t.
I think that it will stay niche.
This comment has been removed by the author.
Zygmunt Z said…
Yes, I have heard about radio-controlled cars since I had my own one. It was a Subaru Impreza built piece by piece from parts available with a weekly or biweekly advertised by Krzysztof Hołowczyc, it was called Radio Control. When it comes to races, I can’t say that RC can be treated as a motor sport. In my opinion it is more of a hobby which requires from you a little bit of practice to master controlling of your little car and, at some point, very deep pockets which will allow you to upgrade your car so it can be even more competitive. Motor sport, or generally every sport requires from you years of dedication, hard work and practice to become master in your league. Take a look at Formula One drivers, especially the top ones – they are consistent, patient and they know that they have to work hard to become champions. They regularly practice on and off the track, during the season and after it. Today, the season has ended but it doesn’t mean that drivers finally can go on vacation. No, they return to cities where their teams have their headquarters and start working to prepare them and their car for the next season. Radio Control races, in its simplest form is limited to working with your both hands to keep your toy on the track and make it pass your oponents’ cars. Lastly, I think that RC racing in Poland will be a niche for a long time, mostly because it is very expensive to buy your basic car and then to upgrade it and other factor is that Poles prefer to sit in front of their TVs watching football rather than go somewhere to a small racetrack outside the city to watch a few geeks who turn their wrists left and right alternately.
Yes, obviously, I have heard about radio-controlled cars, when I was younger I had plenty of them. They were quite cheap and without liquid fuel - for kids. Personally, I think that RC races can be treated as a motor sport, those races are fun, competitive and the most important there is a community which loves and develops RC cars, so why not. But still I think that RC cars will stay a niche.
Unknown said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said…
I saw a lot of videos with radio controlled cars and I was suprised, for example this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0AJll1qoo4
I was like "Whaaaaaat? 200km/h?!", its awesome and I would like to have one someday. I dont think that it should be treated as a motor sport but more as fun. I think it won't be more popular because it's "DRONE TIME":)
Magdalena Popek said…
I've heard about radio controlled cars and tried to drive some of them, but only like the toy cars. I've never driven any "professional" radio controlled car and I would love to try. I think it can be classified as a motor sport but I think it won't get much more popular in Poland in few years time.
Unknown said…
It is a bit weird for me that you are saying that you had a some experience with this hobby but it is only a 'toy' for you. You should know that repairing such 'toys' are very complex and time consuming. I respect your view on this case but I don't understand why you sum up that it is only for kids and that's it. :)
Unknown said…
I see your point of view this hobby and of course rc racing are less exciting than e.g. the F1 but the difference is fact that probably now you can afford rc car and start participate in racing but you probably can't even dream about beeing professional racer. I think that is a point - you can feel a bit like a racer which can give you a adrenaline and it is a beauty of this 'little' sport. :)
Unknown said…
If you are really interested in starting such hobby, please feel free to contact with me on facebook. I will give you some basic informations about it which can protect you from buying something which would be 'expensive toy' rather than real rc model made by trustfull company.
Unknown said…
The same situation like Anastasiia. If you are really interested in starting such hobby, please feel free to contact with me on facebook. I can tell you where you can try driving such cars in the Warsaw. :)
Unknown said…
You are right. In the Blue City shopping mall usually were organized championships which was addressed for kids because people try to promote this hobby in this way. :)
Unknown said…
Just saw the race of this cars yesterday. This is very awesome, fun, but this is just a toy. We could use this time to invent something in robotics, not toys.
Unknown said…
It is bad to hear that you had such experience with rc cars. I have heard about such 'models' from newspaper and after summarise of costs it cost more or less 1000 PLN. For such price you could buy a real used rc model which could give you a more satisfaction. :)
Unknown said…
I know that on this video they prepare special track for achieve a record but still check this video and trust me that you will be surprised:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wg9HTzZVxag
Unknown said…
You can also said that we should solving sudoku than watching a TV because it would be smarter. Of course it would be but please remember that in our human life we need also some entertainment. :)
Wojtek Kania said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
Wojtek Kania said…
Yes, I heard about radio-controlled cars. I own a few. My favourite was created by LEGO. I like radio-controlled cars but I don't think that such races can be treated as a motor sport. I think future radio control racing in Poland stays a niche, because in my opinion there are many funnier activities like go-karts.
Wojtek Protasik said…
I've heard about radio controlled cars. However, I was never so much into them. I guess I never will be. I was cool to try it for 5 minutes.

Today we've got a lot competitions in sport. I think this might be one of them easily.

I don't know anything about the people who do this in Poland. If you have enough enthusiasts to make it profitable then community will grow and follow. I don't see it coming to be honest.
I heard about them, it's quite interesting. Of course as a kid I had a similar toy, but of course much cheaper and not that powerful. I find it quite interesting as a hobby, even though I'm not that big fan of cars in general :). Thanks for nice presentation!
Unknown said…
Cool hobby, I have heard about it, but I have never watched it in person. It doesn't look like a toy, more like a sport. But a safer version than racing driving:) One day I would like to visit the place where they compete. It could be interesting, I guess. I don't think I could manage to control such car by myself because I have a poor spatial thinking.
Marta Kowalczyk said…
My brother used to have one when we were kids - but it was a toy that was probably cheaper than the prices you gave. I remember we crashed it many times before we destroyed it for good.
Once my friend broke his hand before a tournament that was in Blue City - I could steer his Lamborghini Gallardo on track - that car speed was awesome - felt like a child again. They are pricey though. About 5000 for a remote control toy is a lot. I remember once he was practicing on the school field he has injured his leg when other car hit him. These are really fast and dangerous toys but I love them.
Unknown said…
I have never heard about radio-controlled cars but now i think its's awsome!!! For sure i would like.to try it.
For me it's a motor sport because you have to have huge knowledge about cars and how it works. It isn't like a toy. Really i think that is greater than normall races because you don't risk your live. It's saver but your knkwledge and abilities have to be similar.
I think that it will be more and more popular because polish people like competition and cars and races. For sure my famili (my dad and his brothers) will love it'it! And i also like cars so it's my new dream from now!

I love remote controlled cars. I own one and also a remote controlled motorboat. This is a great fun and I would recommend to anyone. You do not need to have the great skills to have fun like a baby in a sandbox.
Unfortunately I do not think to treat it as a sports moto. I think that in Poland the popularity of this sport will not change due to the considerable costs for the average citizen.
Unknown said…
Thank you all for your attention and that you took part in conversation in my presentation. I hope that I show you something what was interesting and it wasn't a waste of time for you. I was a great pleassure to moderate it and I hope that you enjoyed a topic. :)
KamilG said…
I've heard about it, but not in the aspect of sporting rivalry. I think they should include radio-controlled cars in the list of sports.
I would pay attention to the fact that
between the real drivers and those that control cars there is almost no difference. Driving a car requires same skills as
real riders. I have no idea how it would evolve in Poland, but I think that the younger audience would accept this idea positively.

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