Destined - I'm willing to bet that the IC with the sticker on it marked "27" and "2345678901" is actually the RX2 half (16-pin DIP version) of the TX2/RX2 chipset pair. This is a very commonly used chipset in cheap R/C toys; a couple of things would help in making this a firm diagnosis:
- A much more clear picture of the board (and peel that sticker off too - see what the writing is underneath)
- A clear picture of the backside of the board, too (so we can see the circuit diagram).
As it is - I can't tell which end is "pin 1" (I can tell if that is a divot at the top of the chip in the pic or what - too much glare).
Likely the two heatsinks at the bottom are part of a 4 transistor or mosfet h-bridge, probably for the main driving motor; the four smaller transistors at the bottom right of the pic are likely for the steering "servo". All of this is just guesswork.
You do still have everything connected, right?
Anyhow - if it is the RX2 of the TX2/RX2 pair - you can find a good datasheet that will explain all about it here:
http://www.et.byu.edu/~bmazzeo/LTR/tech.phtml
But get us those pics, too!
BTW - based on your explanation of hookup - did you happen to connect the grounds (of the Arduino and the car) together? What you should be doing is following the diagram in the app-note on the datasheet (for reference implementation), and perhaps just using a jumper from the positive supply on the -car- to the -input- pins of the chip (follow the diagram on the datasheet - you do this wrong, and you could blow the chip, and who knows what else).
If none of this works out, you can always just rip out the board and hook up external driving circuitry (a couple of L298/L293 h-bridges would likely suffice - an L298 for the drive wheels, and an L293 for the steering would likely be best).
