I'll let you tackle ROAR to push for changes to Sportsman.
As for C ratings, I agree. Or maybe I'm just one of those sportsman drivers that would never see the minute difference.
As for adopting the ROAR battery list. I won't advocate that since I firmly believe there are way to many decent batteries out there that anyone on a budget should have access to. You're right about newbies who move up to ROAR racing classes and if they're thinking that far ahead then they should buy whats appropriate. As for existing racers...if they already have ROAR approved batteries then why would they have to buy another for RCGT ? You confused me on that one.
I speak as one of those sportsman drivers on a budget looking for what I need and can afford. All my packs are Zippy 4000's. Never had a problem in over a year and they cost $25 a piece. The ROAR list is a good reference and anybody needing those batteries should follow it. But there doesn't seem to be any good argument to start implementing a lot of ROAR guidelines when RCGT isn't a ROAR program.
If a change to the battery rule needs to be done, then lets make it for the sake of bettering RCGT and not keep looking to make RCGT part of anything else.
So does anybody have any particular issues with opening the battery rule up and simply making it "Any Lipo 2S up to a maximum of 5000mah. Hard case packs are highly suggested"