smolnik and hickerson left cen and went to agama, and they are coming on strong. Back in the day, I ran the same setup with the matrix tr that andrew did, even had the radical 628. It was an awsome truck when I first got it, and I did really well. Then I started seeing the 8t, and the people I used to beat got faster and faster while I started to fall behind. No matter what upgrades I did to cut weight, it still became a struggle. Finally gave in and got the 8t, and I was right back in the mix again.
now I am getting old with 3 kids and a wife. I don't have the money to drop like I used to. I buy what works and have fun. I have driven every major brand of rc out there as I used to work part time doing repair work at a hobby shop. Our little toys have come a long way in the past few years, and losi was a big factor in starting it.