Is Remote Control Car Racing A Sport?

Racing RC cars is a lot of fun, and over the years as a hobbyist builds momentum, tunes their car and competes with other drivers they will enjoy the adrenaline of winning races. The deeper you go in RC racing, the more you will learn. RC racing becomes a part of you. The racing side of the remote control car hobby is enormous, and over the years it has gained popularity in major cities. You will find magazines, sponsored drivers, club races, national events and even world events.

With all of that being said the question still remains, Is RC car racing a sport? 

Remote control car racing is considered a sport by many people. Sports are considered to be athletic activities that require skills and physical prowess and are extremely competitive in nature. This would include racing, baseball, bowling, boxing, hunting, fishing, golf wrestling among others. Since RC car racing certainly requires a high level of skill to win then it is a sport based on the purest definition. 

In RC car racing a lot goes into preparation. To win a race, it requires the right mindset, training, the right vehicle, and the top driving skills among others to succeed. Remote controlled cars have the same elements as full-scale racing. If you search on Google for anyone else who may have come across RC cars around you might not find any. However, there has been massive coverage of RC cars features on forum and main RC tracks across the states.

To see some amazing footage from RC races you will want to check out the video below. 

Remote controlled cars racing courses

There are enormous tracks for RC racing all over the world. The courses cater to various types of RC cars with a variety of surfaces. However, there are only two types of RC cars: off-road and on-road. An off-road track is designed with bumps, jumps and obstacles to catch you off guard and make the race more interesting.

The most common off-road track surfaces are made of dirt, clay or even astroturf. You will also find some made of carpet which is common in mostly indoor tracks.

On the other hand, road tracks are flat surfaces that are designed for just straight speed racing. They are best for RC cars with a low center of gravity such as touring or pan RC cars. RC cars on-road track surfaces are normally made of tarmac or concrete for outdoor racing. Indoors RC road tracks can be made up of carpets for smooth driving or they might have concrete or asphalt as well. 

Local RC car racing events are structured the same way full-scale racing events are planned. It all starts with a practice so each car and driver can get used to the track and how their car handles on it. They will then move on to the qualifying that will normally set the order in which the cars will start and sometimes even disqualifies the slower cars depending on how the race is set up. Qualifying is then followed by the actual race where racers will show off their cars and skills to try and win the event. 

RC car event sizes depend on the location and dictates the number of rounds for qualifying and finals. Most RC car races are hyped online in forums and you can find out the structure or how to join.

RC racing media and new coverage

Interested in RC cars news and media coverage? You only need to do a web search of RC news near you and you will often find a lot of websites on the topic. Still, your local hobby shop is an excellent source of information on what events are coming up, product releases, in depth insight and much more.

The racing culture is spreading across the states, and it’s easier to get a good understanding of how large the RC racing industry is by looking up the number of races and meets that seems to increase every year. 

In the UK you can engage with the British Radio Control Car Association, a governing body that sets rules for each class of RC racing. There are over 13 different classes and every driver that races in the UK will need to be a member of the association.

In the USA we have ROAR (Remotely Operated Auto Racers) which is divided into 12 different regions and is designed to grow the sport of RC car racing. 

There are three leading websites you can follow for RC racing news:

• Red RC- it’s an old RC website dating back to 2006 and releases daily news covering product releases and event coverage. The site is dedicated to covering the major events and new RC cars.
  
• Live RC- includes live scoring of events over the internet. The site covers events with live streaming and scoring. It’s a great site for newbies looking to understand the world of RC cars racing.
  
• The Neo Buggy- the website focuses on off-road RC racing, especially the Neo Race started by Philip. The event takes place every year and has become one of the largest indoor off-road RC racing events in the world.
  
  

RC car racing and sport sponsorship

Sports generate a lot of coverage and companies tend to leverage such exhibitions through sponsorship. It is tough to think of RC racing as a sport when support is involved. Right? Surprisingly, the industry attracts many different types of sponsorships, most of which include discount rates on products purchased from leading RC manufacturers. 

You will find top RC racers professionally supporting particular brands in return. Such racers can consistently win races and offer support to newcomers in the hobby.

RC racing sponsorship opportunities have become popular over the last decade as a way of generating revenue. Racers are focusing on sponsorship to make money, while the sponsors are trying to get exposure and in turn generate more sales. 

Some people think that sponsorships shouldn’t be a part of the RC racing community and that it devalues the races but racers want to make money and without charging a lot for people to watch the races or join them someone has to pay the bills. Sponsors are normally one of the main sources of income for RC racers and often help support the tracks as well. 

There are even some racers who travel all over the world to compete with best and they certainly couldn’t afford to foot the bill on their own in most cases. 

Sport encourages participation

Over the years, RC cars have attracted different stakeholders. A decade ago saw the release of an RC racing simulator that gained much popularity. Today, RC simulation is certainly a part of the culture and newer people to the sport tend to train and learn skills through using it. 

The simulator is designed just like a real RC car with different classes of cars and trucks to choose from. The tracks are normally copied from major world tracks and features all the racing experience that you strive for. 

Conclusion

RC racing is certainly a sport by definition and is even mentioned as a sport on the ROAR website. Some people still aren’t convinced that RC racing is a sport simply because it uses small cars instead of real cars but if you consider Nascar to be a sport then there really isn’t much of an argument that you can make about RC racing not being a sport as well.