G - I didn't ask how many cars are competitive out of the box, I asked how many people race their cars out of the box without upgrades.
I can't speak for the other makes but I own a B4 and a B44 and it seems most people at the very least run Losi shocks on them right?
Or how about some bling race winning screws and whitie o-rings!? 
Most racers don't give a monkey's about the cost (to a point obviously - I mean are Losi shocks really that much better to justify that cost if Mr Martin can win a national with Associated shocks on his B44?) or the reason for the upgrade as long as they end up with a good reliable car that is race worthy at the end of it.
DCM - in the US the only cars on podiums are the XRay M18 and the Associated's. They don't believe much in the Vendetta's there for some reason so they are very good cars in the right hands. These cars are very robust and the parts that break (and all cars break!) are cheap to replace.
This is not a what's better or worse thread so that's not the point of my posts.
It seems to me that a lot of 10th scalers are under the impression that they are cheap crappy things that don't last 5 minutes when that can't be further from the truth
so it's worth driving home if for the very least to spark interest so that some people can at least come and have a look or think twice about micro cars and the micro race scene.
Where else are you going to find what i would consider what could potentially be your best bit of practise during the winter season for next's years 10th nationals!?
