The solution isn’t as simple as it should be! There are two speeds that manufacturers can report. First, there’s scale speed. Scale speed is a way of measuring how fast radio stations Controlled (RC) vehicle gets into relation to the full size model it’s based on. So, for example, if your Dodge Charger is made on the 1:26 scale, it is going about 1/26 the speed of a full scale Dodge Charger.

Some manufacturers use that number in order to fool buyers into thinking a specific model is faster of computer really is.

A far more transparent and useful speed number is the actual speed a specific RC model will go. What this means is of reporting speed is known as, simply enough, the actual speed.

The plethora of actual speeds attained by most RC vehicles is between 10 and 70 miles per hour. A hobby-grade RC vehicle at top speed could possibly get up to pretty fast speeds; some specially modified RC cars can drive in excess of 100 miles per hour.

Generally speaking, hobby-grade RC toys tend to be faster than toy-grade RCs (like those sold at traditional toy stores and marketed to toddlers and preschoolers). And while most speed records for nitro RC cars are held by electric RCs, nitro gas RC cars are in fact the fastest overall.

Learn to browse the small print. For instance, a 1:8 scale electric RC car listed having a scale speed of 110 miles per hour probably really has an actual speed around 14 mph. Another RC toy, like Radio Shack Zip Zaps (1:64 scale), with a scale speed of 110 miles per hour really has an actual speed of about 1.7 mph. So even though both vehicles possess a scale speed of 110 mph, the actual speed performance you’ll see driving them is hugely different.