Interesting thread this - I have thought about this issue for a bit and come up with most of the pros and cons already listed, to be the honest only way around this issue I found was to utilise "RTR" cars for spec/RTR classes, that takes away a fair amount of the the issues people raise with motor and speedo combos.
Make it dead simple - STOCK RTR chassis/Motor/ESC/Shocks - Tyres/Servo/Battery/Radio all free to use what you want. Tyre wars will always exist and servo and radio can make a much bigger difference to your driving than motor and speedo in my opinion.
This would be a cheap way into racing, as there are a number of very very cheap buggies out there.
Sure people are going to say "but yeah each RTR has a different turn/kv motor". It would not take long before people tested them out and chose the fastest/best one then everyone would just follow suit so then you make the class specific for that car, then one heat for all the others. Over time Manufactures could always change the RTR motor to fit with what is popular.
Someone suggested and ECX TORMENT cup to run alongside the short course nationals and I thought that was a brilliant idea, the truck is cheap enough and capable enough to race at a novice level with, then if they get into it they can progress into the main 2/4wd SCT classes which are effectively MOD classes.
