I just purchased my first car as well. I bought a Kyosho Landmax for $35. It needed a little work like the throttle linkage and new brakes and I had to tune the engine. I spent hours online and reading whatever I could find. I found a Hobby Shop in my town and started to hang out, asked questions and the owner was more than happy to help me into this sport. I'm finding that RC owners like to talk... sometimes they have good information, sometimes they don't. I have sent many letters to the customer service department at Kyosho asking every kind of stupid question and they have always been very good about responding.

In short ask questions!!

I just purchased my second car yesterday - Kysoho MP7.5 and I'm looking forward to both on and off road racing. I live in Michigan and we still have snow to our butts so It will be a bit before I see any dirt. But the parking lots are dry.