Shaft drive vs. belt drive is not even an issue at the club level. I run a TB-02 that I put lots of time into it and I am running just fine with x-rays, 415s, etc. The TC4 would be perfect because it is "older" technology and would be cheaper for him to start with.
Once you find the set-up, its all about being consistent. I ran a New Years day race and my fastest lap time was 14.3 with 21 laps at 5:06. The guys in my main ran fast laps of 13.6s 13.7s, but we were all within a second of each other. We had 6 mains of stock rubber...and this was the C-main, and I ended up finishing the day out dead center out of a whole bunch of guys getting ready for the Novak race. My final drive was at 5.4 instead of 5.0....I'm getting that fixed once my 27t tamiya pinion gear comes from Japan
.