A friend of mine had a 4WD grand prix slot car - I can't remember what it was, but I do remember it was slow because it had steerable front wheels with the power being applied to them via universal joints, which was way over-engineered. It looked beautiful, though.

I also used to smash cars into walls - I had a Scalextric AC Cobra, that was basically just a flexible plastic shell with a big motor inside - couldn't corner worth a damn, but the fastest thing we had in a straight line. We set up a drag strip and fired it and others off the end.