Don't worry: it was working well before I broke the wing, so it shouldn't be too hard to get working again. I'd like to get LiPo saddle packs and try a couple different layouts, but as long as these nimh's work fine I'll probably delay the investment : would need a charger, maybe abalancer and new ESC too then.
Someone came up to me and told me had seen the car here. He made a nice action shot later too; hopefully he'll post it here