Like a bunch of others here, I am a former RC car guy. After about 15 years of not running a car, I really want to get back into the fun. Basically, I don't race competitively, I just want to jump stuff and drive fast, and have a good time.

Way back when, my buddy had a Grasshopper and I bought The Frog. I remember my RC was way slower, but took a beating. The Grasshopper was sooooo fast compared to The Frog. I bought the Avant I think it was called. I also bought a truck... an EK5 or something? I built it, ran it twice. Left my stuff at a coworkers house one day... then crap happened and all my stuff was never to be seen again.

I want to get back in the game and just have a fun time driving again. All I remember is that the battery packs I used to use didn't last very long, the little white resistors melted down and burned me, and I did a bunch of upgrades to The Frog including a larger engine.

I really don't know where to start again. As I read the forums, I realize I don't know what Lipo is, what batteries I should get, what controller, stock vs. upgraded engines... and so on.

I am thinking about buying The Grasshopper and just having a good time. However, I don't really know what I need to get other than a controller. I want it to run more than 20 minutes... which means more batteries I'm sure, and I want to make sure I'm not going too crazy getting back into the hobby. Any direction would be appreciated.

I think I am going to head down to the local hobby shop and look around. Is the Grasshopper my best bet to start back up? Will I be bored with it? Any thoughts? Suggestions?

Thanks a million,

Joe in San Diego