Originally Posted by EXT2Rob

Oh man, you'd be surprised how fast these suckers can go on those indoor carpeted tracks! Amazed, really.

If you have the skills, you can build anything! You could spend days on YouTube looking at amazing home-made creations. You can put just about any kind of body on just about any kind of RC car. Hell, I put a Tamiya Subaru WRX body on my Duratrax Evader. Had to create my own body posts, but it works. And HPI even makes a Savage monster truck with a Dodge Charger body on it.

Glad to hear you have a store nearby. Definitely, go take a look. You'll answer a lot of your own questions just by going to see what's current in RC. Sizes and prices of cars are myriad. So consider where you plan on running, and what you're gonna be running ON. Street, or dirt? Since you're interested in a Viper type car, and expressing interest in racing, your looking at a street / carpet-track racer. (BTW, street and indoor racing cars use different tires) The guys at the hobby shop should be able to help you.

But serious racing cars can be pricey. And since you're new to the new stuff, ya might wanna take a step back, get something to learn with, then look at getting a racer. There is a LOT to learn. ECX makes a line of RC vehicles that are very reasonably priced, under $200, that you could learn with, and grow with.

Get used to the idea of a pistol radio, that's where it's all at now. You'll probably start out with a car with a brushed motor system (if you're looking to keep price down so you can get two) but you can upgrade to brushless later. Brushless motors are the norm today, MUCH more efficient and powerful, and virtually no maintenance. And like I said, you'll want to get a REAL charger like I listed in a previous post.