Mugen Seiki MTX7R

The kind of vehicle the maker sells it as. It sets what the car is built to do and which cars it is fair to compare it with.

• Touring cars are 4WD on-road cars for asphalt and carpet tracks, often raced in classes with fixed motor and battery rules.

All four wheels are driven, which puts power down more evenly and keeps the car steadier accelerating out of corners.

• The cost is more parts to maintain.

A small two-stroke engine running glow fuel (methanol, nitromethane and oil).

• It needs fuel, a glow igniter and some tuning.
• It has no motor KV or battery rating.

A kit you build yourself from parts.

• Most kits come without motor, ESC, servo, radio and battery, and many without tires or a painted body.
• The manual lists what to add.

The maker's nominal size compared with a full-size vehicle. It works more as a class label than a measurement.

• A 1/10 monster truck is far bigger than a 1/10 touring car, so compare length and weight for real size.

The maker's product number for this exact version.

• A V2, a new color, or a kit instead of an RTR usually has a different number, and parts can differ between them.
• Check it against your box or receipt before ordering parts.

On a nitro car the gear on the engine is the clutch bell.

• Its teeth work like a pinion's: more teeth gear the car taller, for more top speed and slower acceleration.

The large gear the pinion drives. A bigger spur with the same pinion gears the car shorter.

• Pinion and spur must have the same pitch, or tooth size, to mesh.
• On a nitro car the clutch bell drives it.

Every reduction after the spur, multiplied together: transmission, differentials and axle gears.

• It is fixed by the design; the gearing you change is the pinion and spur.

How many times the motor turns for one turn of the wheels. A higher number is shorter gearing: more acceleration and pulling power, less top speed.

• On-road racers often compare gearing by rollout instead, because tire sizes differ between cars.

Silicone oil sealed inside the differential. A diff lets the wheels on one axle turn at different speeds in a corner; thicker oil makes it act more like a solid axle.

• At the front, thicker oil keeps both front wheels pulling out of a corner but makes the car turn in less willingly; thinner oil steers more easily.
• It is graded in cSt (centistokes), a measure of thickness that means the same across brands. M means millions, so 1M is 1,000,000 cSt.

The rear diff mostly shapes drive out of corners.

• Thicker oil there puts power down more evenly on loose or slippery ground; thinner oil lets the car rotate more easily through a corner.
• This car runs thicker oil in the front diff (1M) than the rear (50K): steadier on turn-in, with a rear that lets the car rotate.

The outside diameter of the mounted tire, tread to tread. A taller tire covers more ground each turn, which gears the car taller.

• Race tires wear down over a day, and a smaller tire gears the car shorter.

The stock springs, in the maker's own wording: a color, a rate or a length.

• A stiffer spring holds the car up and resists bottoming out; a softer one lets it squat and follow rough ground.
• Rates are not comparable across makers unless they state the same unit.

An engine has no KV rating.

• Nitro engines are sized by displacement in cubic inches, such as .21.

An engine car has no drive battery.

• A small receiver pack or a BEC powers the radio and servos.

An engine has no KV, so a theoretical top speed cannot be worked out from the gearing alone.