Nightkidz: i dabbled in nitro for a while, but i found that i still like electric more. those who think nitro is fast have never seen a 1/10 pan car with a 10turn motor at PA track.
but you are right in saying a lot of pple associate ep cars with nikko toys.
most pple, even newcomers, are indeed attracted to nitro becos of the noise. someone once commented to me that ep drivers/racers tend to be younger, better educated and more interested/adaptable to technology (just look at our escs, chargers, etc) while the opposite number (ah bengs, boy racer types who like loud exhausts pipes, etc) like nitro becos they can't understand the instructions on todays' escs and chargers
(no offence to anyone, this is someone else's light hearted comments which i'm just putting here, pl don't take it seriously)
as long as we support the ep races (eg Terence's CCK series), ep will still be around. anyway, in land scarce and densely populated spore where noise pollution can be an issue, ep will continue to survive.
long live ep.