Oh god, a stint running offroad and all of the headache thereunto just makes me want to pound my 1/12 around the track and feel a real racecar again. Tenth in the A-main (there were only two mains) isn't worth the headache and new tires every two races.

For timing in the motor keep it at 0 when running boost, and don't go crazy with the ESC ramping, and you should be fine. I've only ran boosted in the WGT and it is insane fast; it has a lot of natural RPM so you don't need to run the same amount of boost as you would with the D3.

Keep an eye on temperature and it will be a great motor.

looking for opinions... Been in the game racing for 10 years and have ran everything from 1/8 on road to 1/10 2wd buggy, and im looking to playing on the rug a bit this winter in some 17.5 blinky 1S but I cant decide on a car. So Im looking for something that will be fairly easy to set up, fast, wont break my wallet. thanks in advance.

I think that the CRC Gen-XL is one of the cheaper cars, and may be on a sort of clearance now that the news of a new car is circulating. its plenty fast and durable, and easy to work on. Just be certain to get a Slapmaster thrust bearing for the rear diff as the kit doesn't come with one.

The cool thing about 12th scale, is that there are no BMW kits.

Every kit is cool, and has something to offer.
At TQ the majority of chassis are CRC & Team AE

HERE is a list of them all, with a bunch of setup and build info.

Least costly = AE
Best quality = BMI

There are no bad cars on the market today, its really about which one appeals to your eye. I'm biased because I run them but I think that the BMI is very easy to setup, fast and durable, and works well on different surfaces. Also it does help if you get a car that others are running at your track so you can get help with issues and setup, 1/12 is a great class so enjoy.

Not quite, CRC is cheaper.

Why do you say that AE is the least costly? The CRC has the lowest purchase price from what I've seen. I'm going to get a new 1/12 soon. My LHS carries CRC, AE, TOP and maybe others. I was leaning toward CRC because of price but I'm open to any of them. I don't know much about the TOP cars. Anyone have any experience with them?

CRC offer a lower intro price due to the cost savings of some plastic parts, and an open pod design
They have all the upgrade parts, and if you need them ? the cost will be more or less the same as an R5.1

Stormer prices are as follows

Price:
$169.95
Carpet Knife Generation XL 1/12th On-Road Car Kit


Price:
$229.99
12R5.1 Factory Team 1/12 On-road Car Kit


Price:
$249.95
Copperhead Lipo Edition 1/12th Pan Car kit

I say that because as redbull pointed out by the time you get the quality parts to upgrade the bargin buy-in CRC kit you'll spend at or more what the AE costs. Yes you could do without the upgrades but I'm not a big fan of plastic parts, mabey thats just me. I have seen the TOP 1/12 but have'nt driven one, looks a nice bit but in reality all the 1/12 kits on the market can win with the right set-up and driver, thats why I said it really comes down to what looks good to you.

Got it. I've also heard that some kits require upgrade right out of the box. For example I've heard that the CRC kit would be better if the AE front end were installed. If that's true what kit needs the least amount of work out of the box?

Don't know who is telling you that, the CRC front end is excellent. Yes the fully boxed pod upgrade is nice but the car has won MANY major events without it.

The AE car is also very good but I'm not a fan of the shocks. Nothing really wrong with them, just not my style. Give me an HB or CRC shock and tubes any day.

Most of the guys at our club that have a CRC, run it straight out of the box.
It does just fine.

Some prefer the bling of aluminum, and/or want the added strength for running mod.

The Top Rebel is another great out of the box kit.

It's hard to go wrong with any of the 12th kits out there.

Just remembered, there is one required upgrade for the CRC. The car still comes with the thin upper plate which will break if you aren't a world class driver so if you don't go the boxed pod route, you will want to get the thick top plate. Fortunately, it's fairly cheap.

I actually fully boxed the rear pod on my CRC before it was even complete, but its not really needed. The plastic parts that are spoken of are pretty sturdy, carbon-fiber reinforced composites. I thought the same thing at first, that the plastic wasn't as good as the aluminum standoffs and such, but today I'm not so sure. The only thing I don't really agree with is the use of stainless screws instead of aluminum in non-critical areas, but they said that the additional weight down low in the chassis is good if you don't need to fight to make weight.