Ian - you are more than welcome mate. Glad to see you came and found the FORCC massive on Sunday.
Firstly - please don't be phased by the standards on Sunday. This was a national level meeting and is beyond the norm for most of us at FORCC. Club nights on a Wednesday are a much different ballgame!
FORCC strives to provide friendly and approachable entry level club racing which is still competitive for all ages and abilities. You won't be laughed at as a newbie, only encouraged and given advice on how to change things to suit what you want your car(s) to achieve. As you saw on Sunday these are proper model racing cars, not toys, and as such all the principles you can apply to full size racing cars will apply here.
Right - onto some of your questions - although hopefully you'll be up Wednesday so we can show you first hand without the distraction of a big meeting going on!
Both the Durango DEX410 and Associated B44 are great cars, as are Schumacher's SX3, the Tamiya range of 501 / 502 / 511 and Predator X11.
Now out of the 2 you mention, whilst I think the 410 is ultimately the faster of the 2, it does require more maintenance and TLC to keep it going at full pace. Others may differ - this is purely my opinion!
If you're just going to race at FORCC to start, you'll only need a 13.5 brushless motor and ESC - Perhaps as a good place to start you may consider one of the Hobbywing / Speed passion combo's? Tend to be a bit cheaper but with good performance and reliability.
Lipos - the higher the C rating the more "punch" they will produce in a nutshell. Really your budget dictates what you're looking at here. Lipos come in 2 sorts - stick or saddle - and what you want is dictated really by which chassis you choose to run.
Servos - no personal experience of Durango servos - but any of the top end Savox, Futaba or Sanwa servos will serve you faithfully for a long time. As with all electrical equipment in this hobby - quality costs money but will be more reliable for longer.
No-one tends to run reverse on their ESC. Mainly as this prevents people backing out into traffic and causing a big crash, but also "Forward only" ESC's tend to be slightly more efficient. It's not a mechanical reverse gear - just reversing the electrical polarity of the motor.
Anyhoo - I really must do some work. Glad you and your son enjoyed what you saw on Sunday and hopefully we'll be seeing you both before long at FORCC where we'll be ready to answer even more of your questions
