I checked out the XRAY XB808, it seems to be a good kit from what I can tell. What would be some pros and cons of it?

I went back and looked at the specs of each of the top choices in a bit more detail. I found that the Mugen is as wide as it is long (18"), while the RC8B, the Z01-B, and the XB808 are about the same length as the Mugen (17"-18"), but only about 12" wide. What are some of the pros and cons of the narrower chassis and the wider chassis?

I've been doing some more thinking of how I want to approach my first (or later) race. Though it would be a couple of months or so after my initial purchase of the buggy, I was thinking that it might be beneficial to not only have plenty of spare parts (including glow plugs), different tread types of tires, different compounds of each tread type tire, different weights of shock oil, different weights of gear oil, different stiffness springs, etc..., but also to have a complete spare buggy of the same type as the primary (not a cheaper RTR version, but the exact same buggy set up with the same gear and setups where all I would have to do is change the model in the radio, fuel it, start it, and race). My thought on this would be that if the primary racer gets damaged to badly to be repaired, setup checked, and re-setup what's not right in between heats, I would have a car completely ready to go for the next heat. The spare would be run just enough to keep it ready to go at the drop of a hat, but not enough to cause extra wear and tear on it or it's components. If feasable, would it be adviseable to do this? Would most tracks allow this (Cape Fear Raceway does not mention this on their site)?

Also, can anyone recommend a good 1/8th scale off road specific setup station and other adjustment tools? Would it also be adviseable to keep a binder with setup sheets with the track raced on, date raced, weather conditions, track conditions, and race results? If you can't tell, I want to take this pretty seriously to give me a better (not gauranteed) chance at success.

Thanks again for all the advice.