Lipo, Nimh, Ni-cad. They all have their dangers. I don't see any of them requiring less respect than each other, and as most people know that Lipo is in fact a safe option, I'm pretty sure that the lipo danger argument is becomming a red herring.

You said it, you'd rather have to add weight than subtract it, so Lipos should be a choice open to you. I'm already under weight, so Nimhs should be something I can stick with if I so choose because my Nimh's provide a lower battery CG than a ballasted lipo, and the Centre of mass of the battery compared with a low height position of ballast Lipo is closer to the CL. This results in a lower polar moment of inertia. A car that takes my fancy that is designed around Lipos would get Lipos and I wouldn't think twice about it. Right now my Fav cars are designed around Nimh's and I would like the option of keeping them on a level playing feild - i.e. no reduced weight limmits.

As people can probably gather, I'm for Lipos, just not for reduced weights.