Nice track!
As if smoking isn't dangerous enough already
The graphite parts certainly bring the TC3 alive and make it more responsive. That said, even the racer spec car is pretty stiff compared to some on the market.
Coming from an off road background (both 1/8th Rally X and 1/10th EP Buggies), I had to give tourers a try to see what all the fuss was about. I started with the TC3 Racer spec car and was glad I did. It didn't cost much, never went wrong and was competetive at club level from the start. I beat loads of guys with team and factory team cars too
Which kinda proves that you don't actually need to have all singing all dancing bells and whistles kit to do well. All you actually need is thumbs.
Well that was then. I enjoyed touring cars so much that before long our whole house was full of them
Improvements were made and my old TC3 was kept as a spare. I race mainly indoors on carpet, so graphite actually helped improve things quite a bit. If you need to do things in order;
1)Sort out your composite driveshafts first - they'll die if you use mod motors, especially the front ones. Get the AE blue alloy ones. IRS pin cushions are a good idea too.
2)You'll need a proper competition charger/discharger sooner or later, so you may as well get it now. Theres nothing going to hold you back more than half charged cells.
3)Then get the best batteries you can afford. For the money, you'd be hard pushed to beat Demon matched GP 3300s
4)Then the best ESC. I use a GT7, but LRP Q2 are supposed to be as good if not better.
5)Buy a high quality motor - the new Orion V2 motors look like the way to go.
6)Then up grade the chassis components/suspension etc
7)A competition radio like KO, or Futaba can help too - but it can take a little while to get used to new sticks. However, I swear that you can drive more smoothly with a decent radio plus extra features can help dial you car to the track.
There's so much to spend your money on, if you're on a budget it's difficult to know where to start! I hope this list helps.