peakman

To be honest with you I have been running the RTR and so has the team up until the point of the pro kit parts trickling in, so in my honest opinion I would run the car the way it is and upgrade to the necessary parts that will benefit to the upgrade. Surpisingly enough the RTR kit is very competitive in that form. The only aftermarket thing I would run would be the front steering knuckles and the center spur gear. There are other parts but they can be purchased later down the road, but basically those parts make the car stronger for racing applications. If you do plan on racing the Matrix I would get the aluminum pieces that support the arms both front and rear. You can also get the hardened gears for the transmission, those would be upgrades that I would get first. And anything after that would be up to the owner. Here is the setup I have been running at my local track. NOTE: this setup may not suite your driving style but it works for me. I know some have asked for my setup but I was making some changes and didn't want to give you something I wasn't comfortable with. So here is what I ended up with:

Front:
5,000 GS diff oil
450 cps GS oil with (5/64) pistons
Stock Springs
middle top hole on tower
inner hole on arm
lower hole on upper arm
22 caster
Middle hole on ackerman plate
1 degree toe out
upper hole on caster block
ride height - arms just above level
Max travel

Center:
5,000 GS diff oil
Long milled chassis

Rear:
3,000 GS diff oil
300 cps GS oil with (5/64) pistons
stock springs
middle top hole on tower
inner hole on arm
3T2S block
hubs forward
Outter upper hole on hub
inner lowest hole on tower
lower hole on bottom of hub
-2.5 ' camber
rear arms level
Max travel