Ok, getting back to the original question, Where do we stop??

Being a person that has been involved in RC racing for over 20 years, this is a question that I have often asked.. I remember the "good ole days" where you were a god if you had a pack of "Sanyo Yellows" and the speed of your car, or the gear ratio you used was governed by being able to finish your 6 min race. Thankfully, the worry of dumping before you finished is now a thing of the past.

Progress, technology, development, evolution, call it what you like, but this is what has happened here.. It's that continual need for the racer to gain some form of an advantage over his / her competitors that does it, and it doesnt matter how small that advantage is, or how great the cost.. Unfortunately it is the majority of the racers that are not at the pointy end of the stick that are now starting to feel the cost of this, especially when it comes to batteries.

IMO, at some point this evolution will have to stop, and hopefully it will before it kills the hobby.. (or everyone converts over to Nitro)

Radio Active, remember that nothing in life is free. When we charge a NiCd / NiMh battery (and I assume LiPo is the same), that we must put more capacity into the pack, than what we can expect to ever get back out of it.. So if we charge a NiMh pack at 1C, it will take approx 80Mins (not 60Mins) to reach full charge..

TIME.. is one area that LiPo should be an advantage (given that you dont need to discharge before recharge) in that you will only need to "top-up" the battery after each race..