I would look at a Tamiya TA05..I know it's an "entry" level car but it's very fast and their are a lot of hop ups for it, I know a lot of racers who prefer it over their 415's..
I would look at what type of racing you plan on doing..Do you plan on racing carpet or asphalt, Stock or Mod. On road racing has become more type specific than what it was 2 years ago. Carpet..Xray, Corraly seem to be the top 2. Asphalt seems to be Xray, Tamiya, Hot bodies, Corraly, The Xray and Corraly do need application specific chassis's..I do think that Yokomo and AE will have new Belt cars out by the end of the year. The Yokomo will be a mid motor design..look at their new off road 4x4 buggy..