I'm definitely not am amateur, I just cant get 3 fiddlesticking tanks of gas through this thing without spending a fortune every 10 minutes of run time!!!!! so far, in 3 tanks of fuel, I have, broken 2 rims, 2 steering mounts, melted 2 gears, and melted the upgraded gear mount. That's pathetic if you ask me, especially considering most of it was done on flat brand new asphalt driving in straight lines back and fourth because I know if I dared take it off road I would break something major. BTW RIMS ARE 50 A PAIR!!!!!! So that's about 5 dollars a minute to run it. BUT, I will admit, I'm biting the bullet, I ordered the aluminum gear mount, and converting it to HPI rims, tires, and hubs. I will be ordering steel gears when they come back in stock. When I do this I will also be installing everything in the upgrade kit.