There is no substitute for practice to fine tune those RC car driving skills but there isn’t always the time.

If you find work interfering with your practice, why not look at taking your RC car to work with you?

There is of course a time and a place, but there is always opportunity to cheer things up a bit and help everyone let off a little steam to relieve the pressure, and you can do some practice at work in the car park during your lunch break.

You never know, some of your work colleagues may get interested in racing the real RC cars so you could get some new race team partners at the same time and have a few make shift races around the car park.

If there isn’t any suitable area around your workplace, then why not have a look at the tiny Micro RC cars. They are one of the latest must have RC gadgets. Racing along at up to 20mph due to their turbo switch and with full front, back and left/right controls you will still need to be rather adept at controlling everything and it will keep those fingers agile.

At 1:52 scale, they will take a bit of controlling to keep them running on the four wheels at speed, but if you can keep one of these little babies going, your main RC car will be a doddle.

Reading a track or the surface that you are running on is not that easy. So choosing the right tyre for the conditions can be very difficult.

Even those Formula One teams with all their expertise get it wrong on occasions, so don’t beat yourself up over it if you get it wrong periodically.

Experience is the best teacher when it comes to “reading” a track or surface, so to start off, the best thing to do really is to go and get your hands dirty and feel the track surface.

If the surface feels hard, with very small grains of dust, it is a safe bet that you are going to need to use soft compound RC off-road tyres.

Things can get more difficult when the weather is changeable and the track conditions could therefore change or are varying. You could even find some parts of the track remain damp whilst other parts dry out much faster, leaving you with a dilemma as to tyre selection.

If a track is drying up or has hard “blue grooved” sections and soft breaking up sections then you really need to test the car using different compounds and choose the tyre best suited to your driving style.

As you will have probably gathered by now, reading a racing surface can be difficult and you will get it wrong at times. But, that’s part of the fun of racing RC cars and trucks.

As experience grows, you will find yourself making the wrong choice less.

The chances of winning any race, in any sport, by playing it safe and not stretching yourself are remote at best.

There are many facets to the art of winning and most of those facets have endured time and are still prevalent today.

In the RC car racing world, you will need to have the right mindset, car setup and above all, support, confidence and belief in your own abilities.

Knowing what changes need to be made to your car on the day to take account of both the track and weather conditions, when to take a big risk and when to take a measured risk are going to be key elements of your strategy.

Therefore, make sure you arrive in plenty of time, ensure you get as much practice time on the track as you can and watch and learn the way your competitors are running their cars.

Look for trends in their race style, take note of the good points and try to build them into your skills base, paying particular attention to any mistakes or weaknesses you see in either their car setup, or driving abilities.

You may recognise that their car is slow around corners or they always take a particular corner wide so if opportunity arises, you can take them on the inside. Your straight line speed may be better than theirs or their car might not run in a straight line.

You need that competitive edge and spirit to win, so also perfect your skill at closing out a race. Keep the momentum and winning thoughts going and you will eventually take that coveted first place in your race.

Well not quite, but entering that first race at your local RC club meet will seem extremely daunting.

Just seeing how well those experienced racers get their RC cars flying around the track will probably make you feel inadequate and nervous, but try not to let that dominate your thoughts.

You need to stay focussed, have belief in your own abilities and above all, be prepared to crash and burn (so to speak).

You will make mistakes and remember if you don’t have a go, you will never gain the experience to really compete and to be honest, that’s why you are there, isn’t it?

Your first few attempts will probably involve you trying desperately to just stay on the track itself, speed will be secondary. This will give you chance to get to know the track and where the danger spots are located.

It will also clearly help you identify where your weaknesses are such as cornering at speed.

Getting involved in the sport is not overly expensive, but it can be if you aren’t careful. It just depends on how much you like it.

So why not get along to your local RC car club and check it out.

You will get the chance to meet some fellow enthusiasts and be in no doubt, you will meet people who are friendly, eager to help, support and advise you.

A remote control car which is described as an “RTR” model infers that it is “Ready to Run” straight out of the box.

It’s a remote controlled vehicle, pre-assembled by the company and all you need to do is to install the batteries and off you go, you’re up and running.

Some of these RC cars are even ready for racing which is becoming increasingly popular amongst all age groups, young and old.

One of the best routes to sourcing and indeed buying RTR cars is the internet. The World Wide Web (www) offers literally thousands of suppliers and manufacturers all vying for your business and offering support to help you choose the model best suited to your needs.

Some RTR manufacturers offer RC cars in the design of the most infamous cars ever made. Endorsed by the original manufacturers, these cars offer both, realism in the way they look and carry all the right decal - just like the real thing in fact.

Furthermore, for your first adventure into the world of RC cars, don’t just go and buy the model with all the bells and whistles; a state of the art serious speed machine.

Just like the real thing, it takes time to master the controls so have a chat with a specialist supplier, tell them who it is for, what they hope to use it for, such as On-Road or Off-Road, racing or pleasure and they will be glad to point you in the right direction and recommend suitable models.

Suppliers will want you to come back and make future purchases and most are keen remote controllers themselves.

It’s all well and good having the most efficient and powerful batteries in your remote controlled car but, like everything else, they still have a limited useful lifespan and will at some stage need to be disposed of and replaced.

Unlike the older manufactured Ni-Cad batteries, the modern lithium-polymer batteries are environmentally friendly, but for health and safety reasons it’s strongly recommended that unless your battery is physically damaged, you should ensure that your discarded cells are fully discharged, and cool before disposal.

You should make every effort to arrange for the legal disposal by taking it to your local council rubbish tip ensuring you leave it in the specialist area marked out for batteries, but if you don’t, or are unable to, there are internet sites offering specialist advice.

There may even be a disposal service offered by your local RC car club or one of the members may be able to arrange disposal for you.

That said, given these batteries are capable of causing damage to both people, property and the environment if not disposed of correctly, your local council should be your primary choice.

Once the battery has been discharged and you are going to discard it, store it in a fireproof container or a bucket of sand until such time as you can arrange safe, final disposal.

Currently RC racing enjoys worldwide popularity and kits are sold across the globe.

Kits come ready to run or kit builds where you can put them together yourself.

RC racing is very exciting and an ideal way for families and individuals of all ages to get involved in a healthy hobby and with them being made up of both mechanical and electrical components, they are ideal learning material for kids.

The most common scales are 1:12, 1:10 and 1:8 but the monster trucks 1:5 scale models are becoming increasingly popular. Cars are powered either by an electric motor or the faster, nitro-powered engines.

As a general rule, if you want to jump off curbs and drive in the grass and dirt you probably need to opt for an off-road buggy or truck. If you want to whizz up and down your local streets and roads, then you are probably looking at buying an on-road type car.

It is a good idea to learn a little about the subject before jumping into things. The internet offers plenty of research material but if you prefer, there are numerous magazines you can purchase.

RC car racing is not just a local sport; there are professional drivers who travel all around the world to various races. There are even World Championships.

There are some seriously fast machines and drivers out there and good luck if you want to have a crack of challenging for their titles.