Street racing is never a good idea. Perhaps some of us are guilty of it, but the truth is street racing is illegal and incredibly dangerous. Though, some still find it difficult to resist the urge. There is always legal racing at a local drag strip or race track, but that is not always accessible.

What if there was a safe, fun way to race against a friend without all the bad stuff like the risk of death, destruction or losing your car? What if we told you that there is a way to settle things on the track without technically having to leave your home?

All it takes is a pair of these impossibly small RC cars.

Tiny RC car street racing is amazing

The global pandemic had a lot of obvious negative effects. On the other hand, there have been some small positives to come out of it. One of those is that people had much more time on their hands to invest in hobbies and start new ones. One of the most popular new hobbies among gearheads on YouTube is taking small die-cast scale cars like Hot Wheels and converting them into RC cars.

It might seem pretty complicated at first, but plenty of videos on YouTube demonstrate how to do it. It just takes a few tools, a little soldering, and some patience. Once you get the hang of it, you can convert any die-cast car into the tiny RC car of your dreams. That Lamborghini die-cast on your desk can be your weapon of choice in your next mini street racing exhibition.

You don’t have to build your own

It is understandable if the thought of taking apart a perfectly good die-cast car and going full McGuyver on it is intimidating. No one wants to mess up a collectible Hot Wheels car accidentally or potentially burn themselves soldering. Not to mention that some of us aren’t thrilled with the idea of fiddling with tiny parts that can easily be lost.

Then there is the time it takes to do it. Not everyone gained an abundance of time during pandemic lockdowns, and many people are working from home. For those who just want to jump into some fun tiny RC street racing as fas as possible, pre-built mini RC cars are available from anywhere between $60 to $90.

Some of the tiny RC cars we found aren’t exactly “licensed” by OEMs, but they are close enough to cars you know, like the Mazda RX-7 or MINI. If you look in the right place, you can find just about any sports car in tiny RC form.

If you don’t want to spend that much Hot Wheels sells their own mini RC cars and they go for about $23 each. Hot Wheels even has a mini RC Nissan GT-R.

How well do tiny RC cars work?

In a recent video, RC YouTuber Kevin Talbot picked up a pair of mini RC cars as a departure from the more serious cars he is used to. Upon testing, he noticed that the small RC cars have features a step above larger RC cars of lower quality. The steering is more precise than he expected, and the car’s speed surprised him.

The true test would be a tiny street racing session against a friend on a make-shift track in his workshop. After watching, we must admit we are combing the internet looking for a tiny RC car of our own!