If I may ad my five cents. Well Ive gone full circle with this sport/hobby. I built my own track thought I was going to revive a dead sport or get new people involved.
I built a facility in a sportcomplex away from residential areas, not very far, closer than a cornfield. Rigged it up and what happened?
People refused to want to pay to ride on the track. I had a track that was fully maintained on a daily basis. Holes were patched up as they appear. Tracked would be altered to suit. I even gave up my job to start a hobby shop.
I think I am intitled to share a opinion on the future of RC. And I am refering especially to 1/8th scale. As far as I am concerned everything else in RC is toys. Sorry but thats just me.
I own only buggies and truggies. Nitro and brushless. At the moment they are shelf queens as I refuse to bash with them. I refuse to bash my OS Speed.
It will remain a shelf queeen till one day I ride it on a track.
Thats how seriously I am about my racing.
I have all the engines I would need. IMO the best. The chassis I have is of the top 10 brands of 2008 worlds so I dont need a new chassis. The new cars are not faster, and we are being hypt into constantly upgrading. If you have a good chassis it will be sufficient.
Now brushless in my opinion is awesome. I can make it go very fast ,wheelie etc . I'll do a few laps around the track and say woww and then I'l throw the buggy in boot and take out the real nitro buggy and do the laps.
So people that dont like nitro should drive brushless. I just like the tech of Nitro. To fast you must have the combination of tech ie engine tuned perfect, clutch setup, diff oils, tyre choice driver skill the lot.
The Future for RC 1/8scale? Grim. Only the die hards will remain and you have a churn. The end numbers remain the same. As one leaves a new one start. They only leave because of money or wife.
Chhoo long post. Enjoy you die hard.
Long live 1/8 scale.