ORIGINAL: gubbs3
I am a nitro guy at heart. I raced a Losi NXT and XXX-NT for about four years on a budget of about $15 a week. They only costs I had were a $5 race fee, $25 every fifth week for a pair of tires, $20 a month for fuel, and a $6 glow plug every other month, new engine every 6 gallons or so. That's it.
My good friend and his dad race modified trucks. Our laps times were nearly identicle. Here are his costs:
A $5 race fee, a $5 set of brushes every week, cut the comm (lathe $200 or so) and replace it every few weeks at about $30, they have two chargers running over $100 a peice, about 15 matched batteries at about $50 each. Every season they would buy about 6 motors ($300) and 6 new batteries ($300). That's $600 just for new motors and batteries. My new motor was $150, maybe $20 for glow plugs, and $100 for gas. That's $270.
Wow would sum that up nicely. $600 vs. $270 for the same lap times...
The above is not only true, it's why electric off road racing has all but died out. There are still pockets of it around, but nothing like it was just a few years ago. While it still takes skill, electric racing really comes down to how much money you spend to get the latest and greatest. Nitro racing on the other hand is more of a level playing field due to the fact that most nitro vehicles are overpowered anyway so skill becomes the deciding factor in all but the highest ranks of racers.
With that said, if I was not racing I wouldn't own a nitro vehicle of any kind. I raced electric before I was forced to go to nitro to be able to get a race with more than 2 other cars in it, and if it was not for that I wouldn't put up with the hassle that nitro is when compared to electric.
In short, if you are wanting to race off road, nitro is the only real game in town (at least in my part of the world), but if you are just looking to have fun electric is the only way to go.