I was kind of surprised that the HPI rep gave you a date. They are usually pretty tight lipped about release dates for this very reason. I still remember the flaming and whining that went on in the old HPI forums when the racer2 finally hit the shops. It was after that incident that HPI put the clamps down on any "possible" release date for new kits. If we can all stay calm and be paitent like we are doing now, maybe we can coax some more information out of HPI. I'm sure that the problem is manufacturing related.