Mid life crisis - looking to go race.

[Tezcat]

Hi all. I have a bit of a dilemma. I'd like to go racing. I've never raced before and only messed around with Tamiya electric cars in a field.

I've found 2 clubs near me that race 1/8th rallycross and also short course trucks (they have the 2wd/4wd classes as well but these 2 appeal more).

I don't have any old kit lying around apart from tools and have a budget of £400 to spend to by all I need. I've had a good look around and I'm looking for some advice. I'm technically minded (well, I think so ) so I'm happy building, repairing, tweaking stuff. I've noticed a lot of cars are available as RTR, which is great financially but they all seem to have steerwheel controllers and as a left hander I really don't get on with these, I prefer sticks. Would I have to by a complete new system or just a Tx?

These are the cars I've been looking at:

Hyper 7.5 RTR

Associated SC10 Brushless RTR Pro Comp

TEAM LOSI 1/10 XXX-SCT SHORT COURSE TRUCK - RTR

For the trucks I'd get a couple of lipos and a charger from HK as I've seen mentioned in other posts.

I'm trying to look at the pros and cons to running nitro or electric. Some alternative inputs would be a great help.