1. Can't afford a fancy transmitter, simply stick a cheap digital watch onto your basic transmitter and let it bleep intermittantly, just like the real thing! It won't give you any fancy adjustments that you don't really understand but hey, if you had a fancy transmitter you wouldn't actually use them anyway?
2. Can't afford to keep buying tyres for each race meeting? Simply buy a cheap rubber car floor mat, cut it into small rectangular strips and glue them round your wheels.
3. Can't afford new battery packs? Simply buy a really long length of common electrical cable and run your car straight from the mains! Say goodbye to duration issues.
4. No mates to act as your IC pit crew? Simply steal some monkeys from the local circus, train them up in starting up and re fuelling your car and hey presto, cheap reliable labour! At least they won't wander off to the tea hut.
5. Can't afford the latest trick hop up options? Every few months simply paint things like shock tops and drive shafts in purple or blue then say its the latest bolt on goody!

More to come
Wilks

Welcome to Rcuniverse, first of all!
If you can't afford a servo, become a drag racer.

lol. My contribution is obviously the most down to earth: If you can't afford the latest car, steal it!!! Works every time.

I do the thing where you paint parts different colours to imitate hop ups. If you paint them lots of colours, they start thinking you custom built have the thing!

If so strong with the force is Yoda, construct a sentance with words in the right order, why can't he? Hmmm?

WARNING! I used fiberglass arrow shafts for pushrods in my new airplane, but it crashed when the feathers got hung up inside the fuselage. JIM

EDIT: Oops, see your point.