Originally Posted by
mkiiina
Care to explain that a little more? Looking at 1/8 buggy (either nitro or electric) and the cost is similiar or higher. Heck even 4wd SCT is in the same ballpark.
Sure... a long time ago (late 1990's) when touring race racing started, an HPI RS4 or a Losi Street Weapon sold for only a little bit more than a RC10B2 or Losi XX buggy. Associated had not released a touring car kit yet, and the Tamiya (TA01 and TA02) kits were still kind of a joke at the time.
The price of a Losi or HPI touring car kit was a little more than a 2WD electric race buggy($180), and a little less than a 4WD ($250) electric race buggy.
Back then 1/8 scale nitro buggies were considered insanely expensive. The fact that people in this thread consider 1/8 nitro buggy costs to be "normal" is part of the reason why tracks are closing. Most people can't justify the costs of racing at that level. Plenty of them (including me) could "afford" it, except I can't justify the cost. I would rather race full-size cars for that kind of money.
For all the time I raced from the mid 80's to the late 90's , in both off-road and on-road (1/10 and 1/12th scale - all electric), there was an even mix of kids and adults racing at the track.
Today when I go to the track I only see adults. It is way too expensive for most kids. That is part of the problem.