I just cannot bear it, not tuning my cars (with useful parts, that is.) I look for (potential) performance or durability gains and also good looks - but the latter only, if they don't negatively affect performance. Do these parts really make my car measurably faster with me driving? I dare say: no. Does that change anything for me? Again, no. I just enjoy putting the parts in (usually during the build) and knowing that they are there, looking awesome . It's a hobby after all, it doesn't have to follow a business plan. The only car in my signature that isn't hopped much (actually barely at all) is my Xray SCX. Anything else is hopped up to the max (of what I consider useful, so no aluminium A-arms or such, sorry). Just because I want to. I know, driving in a spec, out of the box class would be fun as well - but even while the driving part is not, the building and owning part would be somewhat boring for me.

Also I'd like to debunk the myth that it's only about the driver in these spec-out-of-the-box classes. In my experience, in any stock or spec class it's also about the tinkerers who manage to get the maximum performance e.g. most free, most efficient drive train, etc.) out of the allowed components. And unfortunately that's often where cheating happens, or at least people acting in a grey zone. In open modified classes, everyone has (more than) enough power. That's where a driver actually makes the most difference, IMO.