I have had a fascination with cars for some time. Had I been able to afford a full size one with the ability to race, I would have bought it. Since I had no such money, this was my substitute. This was my solution to filling time in the summer of 2001.

I had owned a glow powered car years before, and eventually became frustrated with the upkeep. I wanted something simpler and more reliable, that still offered the thrill of racing. I wanted a car that would drive on-road, because it was my primary interest. The RS4 Rally had just been introduced, and accompanied the hype of the recently introduced Subaru Impreza WRX. I found myself enjoying rally races, admiring the versaility of a rally style setup. I decided that it would be neat to have something similar; a car that could easily switch its personality between onroad and offroad. An RS4 was on order.

The kit took almost two months to arrive. I've found that HPI has some supply issues at times with certain parts, and getting them can be frustrating. Fortunately, only the consumables absolutely need replacement, as nothing seems to break on this car. I did end up waiting about two months for a second set of onroad shocks, but haven't needed anything since.

When I got the car running, I was amazed how fast it was. I had never seen an electric car tuned even close to its potential, and this car was faster than anything I had seen. Needless to say, I was very happy with my purchase. It gives me the opportunity to play with suspension geometry, shocks, springs, motors, gearing, and many other facets of the car's performance. Plus, I find driving a road course at high speed one of the more challenging tasks I've encountered in R/C modeling.