Thanks Larry.

One more question- do any of you know of any indoor 1/12 tracks in the St. Louis area?

check RC411.com or Rc Driver's website as they have local track directories (google rc track directory) and you can find a bunch of tracks near you

Sorry, we will not be attending.

can someone help me gear my direct drive with a 13.5 brushless. what is a good spur/pinion to start with or the correct gear ratio i want to reach?

We usually use an 88 tooth spur for 13.5. From there you need to learn to calculate roll out. The formula I use is:
tire diameter x 3.14 x pinion / spur
A good place to start 13.5 roll out is around 63mm, but it depends on the size of the track what your final roll out should be.

For a detailed, if somewhat lengthy, explanation of roll out look up Scottrick's excellent post #27638 on this thread

What is a good rollout for 19T racing (Orion V2, 12L4)? For a technical carpet track, medium bite.

Try 50mm or 2.0". You may need to gear up from there. We run those motors around 55mm or 2.15" outdoors.

HOLY GUACAMOLE BATMAN!!! Not only am I "quotable"...MICHAEL is quoting me!!

I can die fulfilled.

Well, that was one hell of a quotable post

car gen-x
servo jr
spedo 007 sphere comp
motor 10.5 novak 12.3 rotor (comes with it and stay with it)
tires to start pink rear's,purple fronts
crc high rollers or jaco
battery's ENER-G by SMC

Right now is a great time to be in 1/12 in some parts of the country its growing in popularity again. The answers you've received are solid so I'll address the used question. You indicated that your looking for a carpet track so I would suggest that you look for a link type car as opposed to a t-bar style. You should be able to find a CRC Gen-X roller for less than $200 or a 3.2ck for under $150. There are other brands like speedmerchant, and BMI that you might also take a look at.

You might want to look at the results of the upcomming "birds" race, that will tell you what the pros/fast guys are running on carpet. And keep in mind what brands your lhs supports, online is allways an option but not as convient.

Has anyone done some serious testing to see how a good 27T stock compares to a 17.5 with proper gearing for both?

there very close
like 19t and 10.5

I was more impressed that any of us knew the correct way to spell "guacamole".

Spell checker works wonders Probably wrote it in MS Word and copy/pasted it over