Welcome aboard Chris. Racing Lines does cover a lot more gas/on road type stuff purely because its so popular with the bashers out there. Electric Offroad is alive and as good as it has been probably since you stopped racing. The NSW Titles were the biggest event seen anywhere in Oz this year with a heap of people like yourself making comebacks.

In terms of cars, 2wd is the same, you cant go past an Associated B4 or Losi XXX-CR. 4wd has grown massively in recent times with cars like the BJ4 WE made by JConcepts which has basically won every major race since its release at the worlds last year, Losi is competitive with it's XXX4, and the new Yokomo MR4-BX. These cars can win on any given day. The Japanese are getting back into the fray seriously with Kyosho building an offroad team that keeps getting stronger with Tamiya and Hot Bodies currently running around with super fast prototypes set for release in the near future.

Batteries have changed heaps, but anything with 3700mah will be more than enough for any offroad class, the GP and IB cells are regarded as the best. The GP's are very durable, the IB cells have a little more power but can be a little prone to venting.

Classes are Stock and Mod, Stock's now are rebuildable 27degree motors, Brushless motors are allowed in Mod, but the technology has had a few teething issues.

Hope that helps