RC Car Engines...A Nitro RC Cars and Trucks GuideEngines for nitro gas powered radio controlled cars and trucks run on specially made nitro fuel. You should NEVER put r/c airplane fuel, or worse, regular gas or diesel fuel from a gas station into these engines. Use only fuel that says it is specifically made for r/c car engines.Blue Thunder is an excellent choice. It's what I use. But I hear that O'Donnell, Trinity Monster Horsepower, Duratrax, Traxxas, and HPI fuels all work well, among a few others. Anywhere from 10% to 25% nitro is good for 1/10th scale vehicles, while larger scales use 20% to 35% or more. I usually stick with 20% regardless, only because it's easier to keep up with just one. The bottom line is to make sure you use the right kind of fuel because your nitro engine is the heart of your vehicle. If you don't keep it well maintained it won't run the way you want it to. And if the engine isn't reliable or can't give you the speed and power you need, your car won't be able to perform up to its full potential. The following engines are perfect to suit any application... 
The O.S. CV Max is probably the most popular .12 rc car engine of all time. It works great and it doesn't cost a lot of money.
This is the engine I started out with when I first started racing and it has never failed me. You might want to step up to a faster engine once you get into heavy competition with the "big boys", but you can still win with an old faithful like the CV. Reliability counts a lot in my book. Due to its outstanding quality, good power, and value, I highly recommend this engine to anyone first starting out. 
O.S. has now released an all new nitro engine called the .12 CV-R. This is their race engine based on the regular CV but completely redesigned to compete against the more powerful... ...and more expensive high horsepower nitro engines. Some of these engines exceed 1 horsepower and since they power vehicles weighing only about 3 or 4 pounds makes for rooster tails and wheelies all the way down the back straight away. But be careful... some racers believe that the extra horsepower can be a disadvantage in racing conditions with limited available traction. Of course, if you know how to tune your suspension, you will be able to take better advantage of the extra horsepower. All in all, I highly recommend these newer race engines if you have a little more money to spend, but keep in mind that any engine from a reliable manufacturer will do as long as you take care of it well. More on RC Car EnginesRC Car Engines in RC Car Talk MagazineCheck out the home page and subscribe to RC Car Talk Magazine for more on rc car engines. Want to Share Your Experiences, Tips, and Tricks?
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