- change fuel tubing often. very cheap stuff. use fuel filter. Use body clips ove fuel tubing over both gast tank outlets. Will help avoid air leaks.
- keep engine temp in acceptable range. monitor contantly.
- wash air filter often, when re-oiling, drop filter element in plastic baggie and squirt filter oil into baggie and saturate lightly. Hands stay clean.
- Rebuild shocks often.
- When refilling shock fluid, spray out old fluid and debris with Spray cleaner.
- check your tire adhesion to the rims often. you'd be surprised at how often the tires aren't sticking closely to the tires.
- protect your electronics well - use a balloon, platics molded cover,etc.
- use after run oil.
- use fresh fuel.
- if you can afford the engine wear, you may experiment with 30% nitro. Beware that engine life suffers a lot.
- Check brakes often.
- make sure your battery pack cannot come loose. If you have the alkaline pack, use electrician's tape to secure the batteries from falling out.
-Bodies can make a difference in handling. Spoliers as well. I had a Viper body with no spoiler, switched to 300M with spoiler, and difference was very noticeable.
- As mentioned by someone else, keep car clean. Use air compressor if possible.
- Fastest engine does not equal fastest car. Handling and driver skill are equally important!
- When storing fuel, compress air out of gallon/quart and then seal the container to let out excess air that can contribute to moisture in fuel.
- Once in a while, take car apart and clean in the places not accessible with sprays, air compressor. You will be amazed at how much dirt comes out, even for on road cars.
- Rebuild your diff once a year.
- try different springs, every surface and track is different!
- Recharable AA batteries in your battery pack don't put out enough volts as alkaline. This may compromise your handling ability!
- if you mess with toe, camber, etc - get a tweak board.
- practice on a track is possible.


Good luck. Hope I'm not preaching to the choir.

Peace.