Noob: need advice

[jolyon]

Hi guys,

My son James (aged 8) and I (Jo - aged - too old boo hoo) have just sold up all our Mardave 1/12th scale stuff and decided to get into buggy racing at Stotfold because it looks a whole lot more fun and its what I used to do when I was a kid (Turbo Optima Mid era).

I am a little bewildered by the amount of choice there seems to be out there now, and I am only able to pick up snip bits of information, so some friendly advice on the whole picture would be really really appreciated.

In the way of kit, we currently have:

1. Cat SX LiPo
2. 2 x GM LiPo 2 / 5000
3. 2 sets of spektrum radio gear
4. A tamiya desert gator and a tamiya sand viper (same car, different shells) with standard tamiya 540 motors in (27T?). Bog standard Tamiya ESCs with 27T limit.
5. 2 sets of 3000mAH 7.2 NiMH for the Tamiyas which seem to deplete very quickly.
6. 2 x Ansmann xBase Deluxe chargers.

Firstly, for my son, he will racing 2WD probably with either of the Tamiyas:

1. Is there a class for this?
2. Is there any chance of being competitive with current set up or should I be looking at a lower turn brushed motor and if so which ESC?
3. Would I just be better to get him a Kyosho Lazer RTR or something like that and run 4WD? Or will that in turn need further upgrades to be competitive.

For me to complete the Cat:

1. I understand LiPos need a balancing board to charge the cells evenly. What would a suitable board be and are they expensive? I think these Lipos have two cells per pack. When I look up recommended GM part numbers on google things seem to > £100 and I thought these things were about £20.
2. I believe our existing chargers will charge LiPos so hopefully nothing to buy there. They can charge up to 5A.
3. I have no motor/ESC combo yet for the Cat. I might as well go brushless I figure because brushed seems fairly hard to get hold of economically. If so, what is a common ESC + Motor configuration (I have heard 6.5T on the grapevine). I have a 34-year old's reactions so I don't want something undrivabley quick! Also I believe the ESC needs to cut the power draw from the Lipos when they reach a certain level of discharge.
4. I have heard that reverse is not allowed under BRCA rules. Is it OK to buy an ESC with reverse and disable it for the race? I would want reverse when playing with the cars in the park you see.

Miscellaneous questions:

1. We have lost our BRCA cards but I can get hold of our numbers. Is this sufficient or must a card be produced to race?

Sorry about all the questions but like I say I am getting a bit bewildered and I am getting all sorts of conflicting advice. I would really appreciate your feedback.

Thanks a lot,

Jo