About
"Woahh!! its so tiny!!"... I love micro size RC models, they are just little marvel that blows our mind how engineers able to crammed all this R/C technologies into pint size platform. It makes me goes 'ooohh!! ahhh!! wow!' ogle at every intrinsic details on micro/nano
size R/C chassis, little boys and adult man always love technical stuff. That feeling of "i must have these!" hit hard on any hardcore hobbyist especially if its a niche products. Its a dream come true to have this replica little Hot Wheels and Matcbox models on top palm of my hand able to move around with full proportional radio system onboard. My love for tiny R/C goes back decades ago with introduction of 1/28 scale I-WAVER's first with SUBARU STI rally car replicas, then handful of KYOSHO's MR01 and MR02 series, next RADIO SHACK's X-MODS, later 1/43 YOKOMO D-NANO crawler (the smallest 10 years ago) and recently did some projects on 1/32 scale LT832 series micro off-roader mods. All these little thing spark further my interest into Radio Control hobby as its very convenient to work on my table and uses less space. I remember how conveniently it was whipped out a 1/28 KYOSHO MINI-Z: HONDA NSX 'Castrol Edition' out from my pocket and raced on smooth open car park behind the office. It zip fast like a tiny road runner, amazed such a power house on such tiny model...an engineering marvel for an adult toys! I spent 5 years into tuning, upgrades and mods just to see outcome of my work. I was in my early 20s, spending on KYOSHO MINI-Z series had no limits. Lol!...an there goes my saving! Jeez!...can't blame on my irrational young minds. The only thing i regret back then was not able to own a 1/43 scale KYOSHO DNANO R/C cars which short lived for no reason. 
All i can say i do have heaps amount of mini and micro that comes and goes out my inventory.
Going back to 2020 (damn pandemic year!) a company brand 'TURBO RACING' surprises us R/C community with the smallest consumer ready to run RTR model out of box; a 1/76 scale licensed MINI COOPER replica car. Priced at USD$65.70 that's a lot of money to throw at for a thumb sized R/C car but still i must have it!!!! The first shop to sell it was Asiatees.com. My itchy finger clicked the Cart buttons, drained my wallet and it arrived almost 2 weeks during Covid-19 pandemic season.....year 2020 is not good for everyone globally but ironically my hobbies seems to grow rapidly due to lockdown; being at home is boring!..so this little wheels keep me busy at that time. Did i enjoy it?
Specification (as describe by vendor/manufacturer)
Brand name: TURBO RACING
Model name: MINI COOPER (TRBC1B01)
Production release date: Sept 2020
Scale size: 1:76
Chassis type: Hard plastics
Bodyshell: Hard plastics
Length (Bodyshell): 49mm
Width: 23mm
Height: 19mm
Wheelbase: 32mm
Drivetrains: Worm drive gearing 2WD
Motor: Coreless brushed
Battery: 75mAh
Drive time: 22~30 minutes
Radio frequency type: 2.4Ghz FHSS protocol
Radio range: 20~30m
Read and front lights: Yes
USB-C charging (Chassis): Yes
Full proportional control both steering + throttle: Yes
Electronic Speed Controller module: Integrated with servo and receiver (Single board)
Items inside the package
- 3 channel radio transmitter (Requires 4x AAA batteries)
- 2x blank bodyshell for personal paint customization
- 1x USB-C charging cable
- 1x binding pin
- 1x Manual book
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Pros:
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Cons:
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Quality and builds.
The box was severely crumple as result of shoddy parcel delivery services, not overly impressed with the shipping with the amount money i paid at Asiatees.com. Fortunately i'm not overly concern about it since the packaging is not as aesthetics nor collectibles as TAMIYA and KYOSHO box art. The black packaging however does reminds me of I-WAVER 1/28 box give overall impression of hobby grade models. As usual inside the box have everything as listed above 'ready to run' (RTR) package with the exception of 4x AAA battery required to run the radio controller unit and that's it.
The 1:76 scale car unit is a replica of licensed MINI COOPER models; very scaled looking model. I've chosen the red colored model. First time i was shocked to see how small this little car was and hard to believe it is a legit full proportional R/C system....."Unbelievable!, are you kidding me!". The body shell is hard and solid nicely molded from solid plastic molding. On surface have sharp looking lines of panels and detailed aesthetics like door handles, exhausts port, head lights rims, hoods and etc making it looks very hobby grade scale models similar to what you would get from 'KYOSHO AUTO SCALE' models except it shrink down to 1:76 size. For those who love to collect diecast models and have eyes on quality aesthetics in tiny package this one will put you on a spot light. The bodyshell attachment to the main chassis is via 'snap-lock' mechanism which can be easily detached by slightly peel/pull the back side of the body and lift the lid/cover up pretty much like how we snap solid plastic hard plastic scale bodyshell on KYOSHO MINI-Z and ORLANDOO HUNTER small models.
The 3 channel 'pistol grip' 2.4Ghz (FHSS protocol) radio control unit really interest me a lot because it feels very convenient to hold on; weightless, handy, solid and compact. 
The plastics body texture doesn't feel cheap to hold unlike those HSP and low budget type radio transmitter you would get from stock R/C models. The radio unit can be disassembled into two pieces of parts; the main body and the grip (battery case for 4x AAA battery) which easily stored in narrow places such as inside your pocket or open mouth water bottle. Stock radio unit comes with dialed/analog knob adjustment for DUAL RATE, EPA throw and sensitivity adjustment for both steering and throttle setup. There's a single button to activate the front and rear lights. I like the ideas the radio runs on 4x AAA battery rather than rechargeable li-po battery so i could use back on forth house hold batteries from other non-R/C devices around the house eg: air-conditioning controller, wireless mouse/keyboard, tv controller and torch lights. I have issues of dead li-po battery pack on many radio transmitter in the past so prefer no li-po on my radio unit and go for AA/AAA nimh battery like how i like in on my air controller FLYSKY FS-i6X.
On the model internal chassis its confirm everything is fully proportional control. Electronics are integrated into on piece of tiny pcb board that act as servo, esc and receiver. The servo steering movement is smooth like unlike 'stepper' type servo common found on cheap micro, this one is legit proportional and same is true for the throttle function. Both front and rear lights uses tiny 
SMD type lights to lit which can be activated on CH3 button. Interestingly there's two tiny coreless brushed motor of the same type that act both for servo and rear wheel drive function. The motor that drive the rear axle to the wheels are driven using 'pinion worm gear' to drive/rotate the axle. The axle doesn't come with differential gear, however i notice it doesn't hinder the turning radius performance as it has no problem making a narrow U-turn when driven around. Wheels attachment to axle is via plastic press fit into the skewer like as seen on normal toy car. Wheels comes with high quality grippy rubber which give good traction overall on flat surface. Overall very impress with the quality of tiny scale MINI COOPER car, i felt this tiny R/C car suits best as keychain ornaments, lol!
If you're looking to do some creative modification on this model the best ideas is going into creating custom body shells and wheels which can easily achieve by scouring through aftermarket bodies from diecast like, plastic model replicas or custom 3D printing which i did previously. As for performance mods there's not much room for improvement as the electronics foot print is too small and not modular enough to enhance anything electronics. So its best to keep the models electronics stock. However owners can opt for optional upgraded radio unit from TURBO RACING which offer digital display and multiple models support such as radio model P52 or P62 at their official website. As extra ego boost; cool digital radio makes your model collection looks very professional, irony as its best! Why not? Btw i'm on the frugal side so i'll keep mine stock.
Driving performance
After two years of ownership of this model i concluded it comes with 'love & hate' relationship. Its hard to say but i really like this 1/76 TURBO RACING - MINI COOPER on my hand but at the same time interest started to dwindle down a bit. If you've raced a
proper hobby grade R/C car around race circuit anything from 1/18 to the smallest 1/32 scale models the driving experience you'd get from this 1/76 scale Turbo Racing can a bit daunting for anyone looking for a competitive micro size racer or if you wanted to duel with other racer. Why the hate?......first let's talk about the good part.
The good part; this model drives very smooth like butter both throttle and steering as expected from hobby grade fully proportional R/C control system. Its tracks your driving line like on rail; solid maneuver and very predictable. It tracks solid good like train on rail track...seriously! The driving, steering and cornering are as if the tires traction are sticky like glue. The throttle speed are at 'scale' speed meaning it drive at speed very scale like as you we're driving a 1:1 scale car...not too fast, not too slow but stick to real world speed. For its 1/76 scale size without suspension system its meant to be driven on flat surface such as on your table or clean floor. As for general casual R/C driving this is good enough but if you wanted to feel like a normal racer car it missing critical part of the experienced for those enthusiast racer.
The hate part; this car doesn't drive like real race car 
does because it missing one of the fundamental element of proper car....'coasting' or 'free wheeling'. If you speeding and you release the throttle it doesn't coasting or free wheeling forward with its weight momentum until it stop on its track. Instead when you release the throttle trigger it immediately stop as is it has 100% drag brake (hand braked) at throttle neutral point on your control trigger. You don't have to trigger reverse to brake, it brake immediately. For those who have driven a rock crawler R/C models with 100% drag brake enable its drive just like that and you could stop on the mid of steep hills at stay there without coasting about..stuck on very stop where you spot (aka brake assist). For 1/76 Turbo Racing Mini Cooper its one of common attribute of motorized driven 'worm geared' transmission. If you can't picture what how it feels like driving this model then below are comparison in words:
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Normal (Any scale) R/C car when push throttle and finger released:
Press trigger: Speeding/Go forward > Release trigger: Coasting/Free wheeling forward > Will stop when forward inertial momentum lost. -
On 1/76 Turbo Racing Mini Cooper when push throttle and finger released:
Press trigger: Speeding/Go forward > Release trigger: Immediately stop
This driving behavior can only be found on specific rock crawler trucks build to stop with 100% drag brake or having pinion worm gear type gear box or inside drive axle which stop immediately as the motor stop turning. It can be a bit awkward driving experience to race without coasting/free wheeling around the track. You'll have to force emulate 'coasting/free wheeling' effect by gradually relax the throttle trigger by your own finger before it hit trigger neutral point (0 = zero). Overall its spoils the fun for natural challenging way to race a car around the track else feel more like trying to race a rock crawler that's build to climb a hill. Hey look at the bright side, at least this Mini Cooper have natural 'hill brake assist' feature if you stuck in midst of climbing sleep incline at race track, lol!
The runtime is very decent if you keep throttling around the track, i usually get between 22~30 minutes of drive time on small 75mAh battery at full charge instead of manufacturer stated at 40 minutes. Charging time takes between 30~40 minutes via USB-C cable, noted that charge time depends or rate of 'A' amp charge value from charging port. Usually most USB charger rated between 1.5A ~ 3A. The higher 'A' amps the faster the charging time.
The models is very durable and robust too. It can take massive impact/crash to solid ground when i drive of the table and landed hard into ceramic floor tiling falling from waist height. You don't have to worry if kids driving your model off the furniture or cats trying to do their usual thing. Another important critical note to mention; despite being small scale, any light tiny clump of dust or debris of human hair follicle can easily lodged into any wheel easily veered the model into unwanted direction regardless how much effort you try to steer the car into any direction. So if it does this do check and clean off stuck debris.
Who should get this?
After driving a lot, tinker around with mods and hanging out bunch owner of 1/76 TURBO RACING modelers at various online forum i have ideas what of kind of people should get behind this niche model. I'll try to keep it short so below are some note to point out:
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Creative scale modders
If you look around forum discussion groups
dedicated for 1/76 Turbo Racing mostly people would show off their creative sides 3D print, fabricate and add after market body shell and wheels from diecast or plastic models to fit into the chassis making it aesthetically interesting. At 1/76 scale this makes it more attractive to add as collection of shelf queen display with extra capability to drive around as R/C car than being static. Some people love to do this as a challenging project rather than driving. This is what make 1/76 scale TURBO RACING products stay afloat among enthusiast keeping everyone busy with creative mods on it. -
Diorama builders
People who love build big diorama landscape like replica city models, train tracks and other table or room size landscape love to drive tiny cars around as seen many on Youtube video most popular featuring German hobbyist and other parts of European modelers that worked on diorama models. From tiny R/C models tractors, trucks, bus and etc the 1/76 scale Turbo Racing Mini Cooper driving style and characteristics fits nicely into the scene. *Extra note; other brands like SIKU and DASMIKRO models are build for diorama enthusiasts too.
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Lunch time fun
There are moments i don't have much time or commitment for R/C activities as i have to spent time away from my hangar to work in the office and some other formal chores. Models such as 1/10 scale up to 1/35 scale cars and truck as too big and a hassle to bring and play into my work place. However at 1/76 scale size the Turbo Racing Mini Cooper can be easily fits as whole inside my pocket and enjoy leisure drive on any 2x A4 size paper work space to race around or practicing driving through tight corners between keyboard, mouse, books or even strays of pens laying on the tables. You can drive inside drawers too. This makes lunch time more fun for any R/C model enthusiast to have a quick fix on their hobby addiction.
I'm belong to group number (1) and (3). Different people have different expectation and fun way to enjoy it so try pick which path the best.
Videos/Medias
Here are sample of video of i posted on my Youtube channel contain fun driving & bashing around my 1/76 Turbo Racing model.
- Product gallery: 1/76 Turbo Racing nano car
Vendor/seller
Here are list of reputable vendor/seller which i bought from and also verified by community forum discussion groups. Also i've experienced buying from these places that have good support and services:
- Seller Banggood.com (East Asia): Turbo Racing RTR 1/76 2.4G RWD Fully Proportional Mini RC Car LED Light Vehicles
- Seller Asiatees.com (East Asia): Turbo Racing 1:76 Finger Sized Proportional On-Road RC Car RTR
**Note: There are many vendor/seller for TURBO RACING models around the globe but the above is closest to my country in east asia.
Support group/articles:
Places where you can find help and resources related to this product:
Company website: http://www.turboracing.net
RCgroups forum: 1:76 scale Turbo Racing full proportional (49mm x 23mm)
RcTech forum: 1:76 scale Turbo Racing nano car and mods
Summary
Its been two years since i owned and have fun with 1/76 TURBO RACING - MINI COOPER, did i enjoyed it and had my money worth buying? I would say both yes and no. Yes; i did enjoy driving on my table during free time especially lunch time at the office testing my parking skills and drive through narrow obstacles. I've also enjoyed creative way to
create alternative body shell via 3D print (TOYOTA TRUENO AE86) that fits nicely on the chassis. No; i didn't spent much time to adore it as much as i did with other models because the driving characteristic doesn't fit my enthusiasm. However my interest started to dwindle as i time moves on. There are time it just sit there for 3 month without being touch and just recharge it just incase the battery discharged over time when idle.
Overall for me buying the 1/76 scale TURBO RACING - MINI COOPER is a must have niche; its rare R/C but also comes in with my FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) syndrome. In fact i spent less time racing with it and doesn't put 100% effort to plan for interesting future mods like what i did on my other R/C models....maybe i just got that 'R/C burnout' enthusiasm with this one (being mid 40's i harsh,lol!) and need time to relax a bit but 'worm geared' drive system is a big turn off for me. On side note; some social media influencer says this R/C model consider the world smallest R/C model at 1/76 scale however that's not true. DASMIKRO brand did make 4x4 crawler models (DAS87 4x4 series) scaled at 1/87 sold at Banggood.com and Aliexpress.com in the past while other DIY hobbyist able to create smaller than 1/90 at home. So 1/76 scale isn't the smallest in the world but as a consumer grade RTR (Ready To Run) out of box model it is in the eyes of general toy consumer but not for serious R/C hobbyist.
If you're into a special 'niche' micro scale models whole love to
do creative scale modification, diorama type driving and need something to kill time between during lunch time or working behind desk then this 1/76 scale will fit your R/C crave especially for any miniature car enthusiast primarily those with background into Diecast or Matchbox models. At the time i purchase this model in year 2020 it costs USD$65.70 at Asiatees.com, but now all over the internet market it costs average USD$40 for MINI COOPER in first quarter of year 2023. I wish it could go as low around $30 so i would have a good reason to buy more just to do scale mods to fill in my display shelf and keep me sane with technical hobbies. By 2023 TURBO RACING company have released several variant of models with different bodyshell and wheel styling but underneath remains on same chassis which include car models replica from 'Fast & Furious' to semi-drift capable on NISSAN SKYLINE R34 replica all cost between USD$65~75 (approximate). Will i get back my full enthusiasm with this model? Yes!, but not now. Time will tell if i decided to jump into the band wagon of 1/76 again; the cost and lack of proper driving feature can be prohibitive factor for me now but while in a pause state i'll save up for another R/C models. My final verdict; Good for serious racing = No, Good for scale projects and other creative mods = YES. Is it a keeper just to have it in hand? = YES. Why not, i'm proud to have a very tiny R/C, its a niche model! ....Let me see if i could make a big diorama models like how i did on ORLANDOO HUNTER track....hmmmmmmm..
