Deleted. Not worth arguing about. buy what you want. I know what is best as I have raced with all of the top brands.
It's ok tony we all get passionate about the brands we feel are best to us. I'm guilty of it to and have a bias towards one brand over another. As I got older I realized that stuff didn't really matter. What was really important to me might not be really important to the next guy. So now instead of try to convince someone I just tell the my thoughts and let them make the decision based on their needs. So its ok with me if your passionate we can have a good disagreement
Case in point. You don't see anyone going out and winning the freestyle competition at helimasters with an HK600GT, but they sure do sell a LOT of them lol.
Now I know you just didn't try to compare HPI to HK right? Lol
HPI makes good stuff they have trucks for bashing and trucks for racing. It depends on what you want to do. Get the appropriate model for the appropriate function. People only call it bashing because the low COG trucks they use for racing are so low to the ground that in order to get over the obstacles they have to bash them into stuff and kinda fling it over. Where the big trucks will soak it up and drive right over.
I'll add that most of the races of yesterday and today benefit the cars made at the time. Kinda how 4 stroke 450's get to race with 250cc dirtbikes. The race was designed for the 4 stroke 450 to replace the 2 stroke 250 thus give it the advantage and let the market canabalize the 250. For RC trucks this usually meant a truck with a really low COG, low weight and significantly less shock travel was what the tracks were designed for. That makes sense because that's the kinda trucks everyone was selling. When you make an entirely different class of truck you are putting yourself at a disadvantage by entering a race that was designed for what is essentially a car with dirt tires and truck canopies on them. Just my $.02
The link I was trying to make with motorcoss Tony is that equipment is only a small part of the equation. Races are for promoting products and getting the customer base excited about the hobby/sport. They do little to prove out which company is better. Which Mcgrath was able to dominate and win no matter which manufacturer he rode. Honda didn't become any less of a company or stop building a quality product when he left.