I agree, I origionally started out thinking of getting a nitro car for bashing, but was shown the light from a helpful fella on here called SI, i now have a b4.1 to start out on a budget to race at local clubs, i enjoyed it so much ive spent almost £500 upgrading every single part on it

but its paying off as im getting better and better and coming 2nd in most of my rounds on wednesday and 2nd in the final!
its to addictive.
get the b4 buddy, its a brilliant buggy to start with, but I also agree with a 2nd hand system, get the manual, strip it down and rebuild it! its a great learing experianc. b4 take a while to get dialed in but after last night i think im almost there. its a very competative buggy.
i was in the same boat as you almost 8 months ago, but after some great help and visiting the local club its only fair I pass on what i have learnt.