As a 13 year old kid in 1985 I used to stand in Beatties on a Saturday watching the Tamiya promo video over and over, and basically be a pest asking to look at and bounce all the cars on the counter. Parents couldn't afford a kit so I saved up all my paper round money and bought a 2nd hand Tamiya Frog with radio and battery for £80 from a kid at my local race club, Brinsworth Buggy club.
I was the solo kid that turned up on his own, 3 buses each way and half a mile of walking carrying a car battery in one hand and a Beatties bag with my buggy, tools, spares, radio and nicads in the other.
Mum couldn't drive, and Dad was an arse.
I quickly realised the Frog was way behind everything else there so saved up and bought a 2nd hand Hotshot off another bloke at the club. This was pretty crap too, always breaking front knuckles and popping driveshafts out - not to mention the chocolate diff bevel gears.
After this I bought a 2nd hand 1st gen Optima off another bloke at the club. Better than the Hotshot but that ladder chain was a PITA. Also, who in their right mind thought the optional 19T front diff housing (with 18T rear) was a good idea?! Asking the front to spin faster with no centre slip was asking for trouble.
Had a Demon 19T quad in that and it was fast.
Eventually managed to get a 2nd hand gold pan RC10 off the same bloke, again off paper round money. Brought my driving on quite a bit that did. Around the same time I finally got my first ESC, a Futaba MC108 which looking back at the specs says it was only good down to a 27T single, but it happily ran a 16T triple in the RC10 without catching fire!
Lastly I had a 2nd hand PB Mini Mustang which I adored. I don't recall ever breaking anything on it.
Radio wise I started with original Acoms stuff which stripped servo gears for fun, then a Futaba 2MR (wide one with built in carry handle and aerial at the side), and lastly a Futaba Attack R which I used to run in 60/40 throttle mode as I preferred it. It was supposed to be for nitro cars but I liked how it felt.
Sold the lot in 1990 as I was at college and needed fuel money for the motorbike and beer money for me.
A brief play with an 1/8th nitro buggy in 2003 was the next time I had any interest in it, that was an impulse purchase from a model shop in Stoke somewhere whilst I was on a job. Soon got bored of just bashing it at the local park so gave it away to a good friend who had always wanted one, and had done me a huge favour whilst I was living abroad.
Present day - last year in an attempt to lure the stepson away from the sofa and PS4 I bought him a Tamiya DT03 for us to build on holiday. Still on NiMh and a silver can, I took him to our local track for a practice day and he loved it, so started racing. Earlier this year after another breakage we decided to buy him something more robust, so a 2nd hand Yokomo BMax2MR was bought, and after seeing the same bloke was also selling an XB4 I bought that for me!
Since myself coming back in March this year I've gone from a 45 second lap to a 29 second lap but still crashing quite a bit. I've also changed back from wheel to sticks and seen improvement again.
I'd definitely say start racing again, see if you can get on a practice day first to just get a feel for it if it's astro, it handles very different from grass.
Pitfalls to avoid? Take spares! Have a read up or ask about common parts that break on the K2. Also having the right tyres for the track and conditions helps loads, my first race was on completely bald mini spikes as I couldn't afford new ones for me, so bought some for the nipper.
You don't need new ones every race / heat / final as the top boys do, I'm on the same dart rears from 5 meetings ago and they still work ok for me - and they were 2nd hand when I bought them!
Most importantly, have fun.