9 Places Where You Can Race Remote Control Cars

If you are an RC lover or if you simply have just gotten an RC car and are unsure on where you can race these amazing vehicles then this article is for you! 

We will try to cover the most common places where people race or bash (drive for fun) their RC vehicles. Of course this will be far from an exhaustive list but it should get you pointed towards some great options. 

How close some of these places are to you will obviously determine if they will work for using them there but all of these will work for some people. 

Some great places to race your RC cars are: 

• Private land
• Parks
• Woods
• Beaches 
• Mountains
• Hobby shops
• Tracks
• Skate parks
• Parking Lots

Each of these places have their pros and cons so we will run through each of them in more detail in the rest of this article to help you know which one is better for you and your situation. 

Not all of these will work well for certain types of vehicles as well. For example if you have the Traxxas XO-1 supercar (found here) that has a top speed of 100+mph you would likely not want to try and use it on the beach, mountains, or woods! 

Private land

This is the most common place to race RC cars and is likely where everyone started out. My first RC car I got as a kid and I lived to race it around my back yard against my friends and family. 

Private land usage isn’t just relegated to backyards however as you will likely have friends or people that you know in the community who have access to using large parcels of land. Those make great places to set up a quick race track and have a blast going up against your friends! 

Parks

Outside of private land this is definitely the second most used area to race RC cars since parks are available virtually everywhere all over the world. Parks come in all kinds of shapes and sizes and so you can easily find one that is big enough for you and your friends to have a race without bothering anyone else. 

Speaking of bothering people, one big downside to using parks is that you have to worry about running into people or them messing up a race. There are normally parks that don’t get used very often if at all because they are just green spaces. Those sorts of parks are excellent for an RC race! 

Woods

Racing your RC car in the woods can be an absolutely crazy amount of fun however it isn’t something that you should do unless you have an RC vehicle that’s body is off the ground significantly. If you don’t have enough ground clearance then racing in the woods will be far more hassle than fun. 

This can be especially fun if you have multiple people and the woods is hilly. You can have some people at the top of two different hills and then just race the cars down into the ravine and then back up the other side to see who wins! There will also be natural paths in the woods from water or animals so you could also choose to race along those paths as well. 

Beaches

This is another location that wouldn’t be very good for some RC models while others it would be great fun. 

One huge upside with racing in the sand is you can literally dig out a race course with very little effort required. You could also have it run closer to the water to have some harder ground on part of the course and then run it further away from the water to make the Rc cars have to deal with loose sand as well. 

As with parks you will have to make sure not to bother people and of course this place to race your RC car will only work if you actually have a beach nearby. 

Mountains

This place to race is similar to the woods but is different in that most mountainous areas won’t have much vegetation but will have many more and larger rocks. Again, this makes this place not good for RC vehicles that are closer to the ground. 

In the US there are mountains in many states however some of them will be state or national parks which might have rules against using RC vehicles there so make sure to check out local laws. 

As with the woods you can race up and down the sides of the mountains or simply have a race up the mountain to see who gets to a predetermined spot first. 

Hobby shops

Hobby shops are a great place to race RC cars as many different hobby shops will have tracks on the property where they host races or allow people to race at. 

One downside of this not organized racing spot is that they will typically be busier but also they might charge a certain fee for use of the track or for joining in a race. Every hobby shop is different so be sure to ask before making a decision. 

Tracks

In many places in the world the RC community is big enough that they will have regularly scheduled races at real tracks. These tracks will typically be designed to fit certain sized vehicles and some will even be indoors so they can be used year around. 

Some cons to these tracks is that they will require a membership or fees to race there as well as the competition might be quite fierce which in turn can make it not as much fun for beginner or intermediate racers. 

Skate parks 

Again, this is a place that will work in some areas while others will strictly forbid using RC cars there. Assuming that you can use your RC car at your local skate park you can easily have races around the park or even over some of the jumps! 

One huge con to racing at a place like this is if you are not careful you can easily destroy your RC car when it lands on the concrete wrong. You also have to try and find a time when skaters aren’t there which can be difficult in some places.  

Parking lots

The last place that we will discuss on this list is parking lots. Obviously you don’t want to have an RC race in the middle of the road and risk hurting someone who swerved to avoid it or ends up destroying your RC car.

That is where parking lots come into play. 

Often there will be parking lots in places like malls, abandoned stores, etc. that you can easily use without hurting anyone or having to worry about getting hit. This isn’t all parking lots however as some will strictly forbid using the lot for anything other than parking and some cities will be quite strict about enforcing it. 

However, if you can find a place that is pretty lax and the store or mall has gone out of business then it can be an amazing place to set up an RC race! 

Conclusion 

Hopefully this article has been helpful in giving you some ideas where you can race your RC cars. There are obviously many other places besides this that you could race such as abandoned buildings (assuming you get permission) empty inground pools, cul de sacs, inside a house (if smaller RC cars), and more. 

Honestly you are only limited by what your local laws say about RC cars and your imagination. So get out there, find a spot with your friends, and get to racing!