my idea of a check would be random officials walking round checking charger settings too, dont think off road will be as much of an issue as has been said, too much power is not allways a benifit tc goes for all out power, off road go for drivability

Which is completely irrelevant in off-road as the chances are there will be another 3 winds of motor you could drop before you were at the 'power' limit, and if you are at the 'power' limit you will probably be doing rubbish as your car is too quick.

Regarding EFRA, ideally I think we want to have the same rules as them, unfortunately our AGM is before theirs so we have to hope that we pick the right choice.

I cant understand why "grunt" is an issue in off road? :confused: Surely if you need more grunt you use a faster wind? If its too fast, ease off the slipper a bit & gear down maybe? Can someone please explain to a dunce why having a slightly higher voltage is important?

It isn't! You charge a lipo to 8.4V and NiMhs to whatever voltage they peak at, which is usually over the 8.4V that comes out of a lipo.
The big difference comes with the sustainability of the voltage when you apply a load. Depnding on the continuous output capability of the lipo it will not dip so far when you apply a load (i.e. accelerate out of a corner)

All of this is pretty irrelevant in offroad as the power is nearly always limited by the surface you are racing on and the design of the cars. You might find that a lipo with a higher C rating at the same capacity will feel a little more punchy if you don't compensate with the settings on the speedo or a different motor (say a 3200mAh 25C compared to a 3200mAh 20C)

All well said :). Anybody cheating the cells by abusing them is only cheating themselves, as we are currently able to go far faster than we are doin but we choose not to. Those that choose to go nuts just crash faster/more often, break more and wear things out - and all at the expense of the cell which will be Fubar'd after a few charges.