Origins of the Remote Control Car

The beginnings of the remote control car can bein the early 1970s.
traced back to the 1940s, when small,During that period, several commercial products
nitromethane-powered engines first entered thewere manufactured by small firms in the United
market. At the time, the only way to control anStates. Most of these companies started out as
engine-powered model car was with a tether.slot car companies, then moved into the remote
While these cars were fast, they merely ran in acontrol car field, which was becoming more
circle from the tether. In the late 1960s, the firstpopular. Early kits were 1/8 scale nitro-powered
miniaturized solid state radio control systemsaluminum flat pan cars powered by a .21 or
were introduced, allowing model cars to havesmaller engine, with the bodies made of
servo-controlled steering, throttle, and brakepolycarbonate.
functionality that could be remotely controlledIn 1976, the Japanese firm Tamiya released a
from a transmitter unit.series of highly detailed but mechanically simple
Several early commercially viable remote controlelectric on-road car models. Although more
cars became available by 1966, produced by El-Giexpensive, these kits and radio systems sold
(Elettronica Giocattoli), a company from Reggioquickly. Soon, Tamiya began to produce more
Emilia, Italy. Their first remote control car modelpurpose-built remote-controlled model cars, and
was a 1:12 Ferrari 250LM. This was followed bywere the first to release off-road buggies with
their 1:10 Ferrari P4 model, which was first shownreal suspension systems. This allowed remote
at the Milan Toy Fair in early 1968. Between thecontrol cars to be driven virtually anywhere, not
mid to late 1960s, a British company calledjust on bitumen and smooth surfaces. It was this
Mardave also began to produce commerciallydevelopment toward the off-road class that
viable remote control cars. Their first productsbrought about much of the hobby's popularity.
were nitro- or gas-powered cars which were sold