Hobby Expo China – Turbo Racing, small scale with big potential!

With the date for the 25th edition of the Hobby Expo China recently announced as 16-18th April 2027, and this year’s Expo the biggest one yet with an official attendance figure of 72,000, we wanted to revisit this ‘seeing is believing’ exhibition with a look at one of the stand out exhibitors for us.  On travelling to the Beijing Exhibition Centre, one of the manufacturers we were keen to chat with was Turbo Racing.  While not a brand that would feature much in Red RC’s daily product news, this producer of small scale hobby grade RC cars had caught our attention.  The first time we became aware of the brand and what they produced was at the original GDC Indoor Track in Foshan, China, while attending the inaugural Foshan Invitation RC Championship in 2023, their branding appearing around the indoor track.  That support of RC racing transferred to the impressive new Hongyu GDC track, widely recognised as the one of the greatest RC facilities in the world.  The logo of this maker of small cars appearing alongside some of the biggest brands in the world of competition RC racing.  However what really made us take serious notice was when this Chinese company announced none other than 3-time back to back Electric Touring Car World Champion Bruno Coelho as a brand ambassador.  This wasn’t a sign that they suddenly had ambitions to enter the 1:10 Touring Car market but rather them seeing a value in being associated with one of the greatest drivers in the world and using that to get more kids into playing with their products.  Greeted by the Turbo Racing stand on first entering the Beijing Exhibition Centre through the impressive main entrance arch, it got us thinking could Turbo Racing be a brand that is sowing the seed of future RC racers – its small scale having big potential!

As we covered in our previous article on attending Hobby Expo China, the exhibition covers both RC and diecasts and it was the latter that was generating the main hype and the mind blowing queuing that we witnessed on our arrival each day (thankfully we had our media pass to fast track the lines).  With Turbo Racing on your left acting as the lead into to the RC side of the Expo and one of the world’s more identifiable diecast brands Hotwheels as its neighbour on the right leading people to the diecast section, their stand of 1:76 scale fully RC controlled cars was the perfect transition from diecast to RC.  Having the car from the hugely successful movie franchise Pegasus 3, a Chinese only released rally movie, their miniature RC version of this Audi based rally car was attracting huge interest – the detailed body up there with many static diecasts.  Meeting with the owner Tony and his Sales Manager on the stand, after a quick group selfie to WhatsApp to Bruno, they explained that this company was originally set up in 2004 starting out as a manufacturer of OEM electronic components (transmitters, receivers, ESCs, and motors) for RC cars.  It wasn’t until 2019 that they started to produce their own brand of complete 1:76 ready to use RC car.  Highlighting that now it products are popular in markets like Japan, the United State, and Europe, on their relationship with Coelho they were clearly very excited about working with him and using his profile to further grow those markets and in particular get more kids playing with RC.  As a manufacturer, getting kids hands on with RC is driven in their home market by a collaboration with over 2000 schools in which the pupils get to play with their cars as part of their school day.  Discussing the huge popularity of diecasts in the Chinese market, they said they are working on breaking into this ‘very very large following’ for the static models and this played a role in their creation of a 1:43 line of RC models, starting with the movie licensed rally car.  Their attendance at Hobby Expo China also key in that quest to capture diecast enthusiasts.

One of the keys things we observed from chatting with Turbo Racing is that their products are a cost effective way to get an RC transmitter into the hands of new people.  We witnessed it ourself on their booth when kids and ‘big kids’ tried the demo track – their reaction when they realised it was their skills, or in some case lack of skills, that was driving this car around the track was instantly clear on their faces.  It was a real life rather than virtual experience and had kids quickly engaging with each other.  These small cars are a cheap way to pull attention away from mobile devices in a world where it is well reported that our attention spans are getting shorter & shorter as a result of screen time.  These everything in one box cars offer instant fun, no building, just plug and play, and require literally a table top space to be enjoyed.  The other great thing about them are that when they are not being played with they look pretty good as static ‘diecast’ models.  Taking up little space, again their low cost means collecting multiples models adds to the experience.

Discussing the potential of 1:76 or 1:43 scale RC cars with a number of industry veterans over the show weekend and afterwards, one did highlighted how the failure of the 1:43 dNano for Kyosho almost bankrupt the legendary Japanese company.  The world has changed a lot since 2008 however – Facebook had only just knocked MySpace off the top spot as the world No.1 social media platform that year and Instagram was still two years out from launching.  With many what we would view as ‘racing brands’ now starting to offer small scale RTR offerings, mostly offroad models, it shows that there is a market for low cost, cheap RC fun but in the case of Turbo Racing its that similarity to diecasts that adds that extra level and potential to covert people.  These cars are at a price point were went little Johnny gets one, the parents of his friends are more likely to be in a position to purchase one without major financial consideration or any mechanical knowledge.  Get couple of kids driving together and suddenly they are telling their friends in school and RC has entered the conversation.  Sure, we are making it seem all very easy, but the point is this a great entry point into RC.

Like all activities and sports, the more people that start out, the bigger the pool of people you can take to the next level.  This next level for us is getting them to join a local club/track and go racing.  I know from my own personal experience when I get asked by parents about RC racing, once they start adding up the costs involved in their heads the follow up questions quickly dry up!  Get that kid to developing a genuine interest in RC through the likes of Turbo Racing cars or similar, HPI Racing recently joining the sector too with their officially licensed BMW 1:64 Nano TTR (Table Top Racers) models, making the investment to go to the next stage can be view more positively by their parents.  Starting small could be the big thing that gets more people to enjoy our hobby or for some take on the competitive world of RC racing.