I hadn't given any thought to an upgrade. At the moment we're still trying to finalise which dampers to use, who sells the cheapest body posts, and how not to blow the budget on tools when there is a mix of metric and imperial screws, stuff like that.

Likely the initial run will be small numbers intended for the Australian market, specifically the East coast where not having to pay for overseas shipping will make the price tag more appealing.

Our goal has never been to make money, rather provide a cheap but capable car that will bring more people into 12th scale, and maybe generate a bit of a reputation. The race meeting on the weekend has 33 12th scale entries total across 2 motor classes, and this is the most I can remember seeing at any Australian race. I've been racing since '95, so that gives you an idea of how desperate 12th scale is for a shot in the arm here.

Elsewhere in the country the situation is far worse. There is a good chance that the National Championships will fail to get the minimum numbers required to even run the class this year. This happened in 2011 in Perth. The NSW Champs just ran and couldn't declare a State Champion because they only had 5 drivers.

What's happened is that 12th scale has got a reputation for being an elite class. Everywhere else in the country it is run as Mod only, and only on billiard ball table smooth tracks with massive traction. We don't have enough tracks like that. And with no feeder class people are scared to drive the cars. I've made an effort to promote a spec motor class and run a tour this year in NSW and the ACT, and we're having some success. Building a car that makes the class more accessible was really just a natural extension of that goal.

Sorry for going on a bit. It will be a while longer before the car is in production. Both of us working on it have other jobs, and testing time is limited. Within the next 4-6 months is a realistic goal to see a kit.