Everybody (in the UK, anyways!) knows that GT12 is the cheapest class to run, right? Or is it? I’ve been taking a look around, comparing different kits…

Edited (2015-09-06) to add the Mardave Assassin Pro. Edited (2015-12-03) to add the ORE TwelveGT and CRC Xti-WC.

I’ll be leaving out electrics, as for all of the kits I’m looking at, they all take the same, or close to (motors of the same brand/model usually all cost the same, even if they have different number of turns).

Schumacher SupaStox GT

I’ve been a bit gentle, as some might go for the Zen diff (£49.99) instead of the Schumacher one, to allow fitting JFT tyres, which not only adds another £20, but also needs (at least) another set of rear, since the kit provided ones won’t fit, as well as £10-20 of other parts (spur gear, bearings, spacers, etc), getting it well past £200!

Mardave Assassin Pro

The Assassin really benefits from Mardave’s frequent and quite generous deals. For example, when I looked, it came with a free LiPo brass weight (normally £14.99, which would have brought the total price to £200.14). I was a bit surprised that using a 2mm motor spacer was recommended even with the Pro model, considering it comes with an offset pod? I didn’t include any in the price, but small extra balance weights are commonly needed.

Different tyres to the kit ones have also been recommended to me, but I didn’t include that for fairness, as I feel it’s still likely that you might need different tyres with the other kits.

ORE TwelveGT

If you want to run Contacts wheels/tyres, the ORE TwelveGT is a pretty interesting combination, being truly fully upgraded, and sporting an unusual design that has a fairly low centre of mass. In practice, a bit of lead weight ballast is going to be needed, but not enough to warrant an under-LiPo brass weight, I’m told, so all told, this is the cheapest one by far, it would seem!

If you’d prefer to run JFT wheels/tyres, ORE sells a kit without axles and wheels, but it’s a bit of a “death by a thousand cuts” to put this together.

This brings it from one of the cheapest, to one of the most expensive! If you really want to run JFT wheels/tyres, you might want to look at the…

Zen-Racing RSGT12

The basic starting price here is higher, but not as many upgrades are necessary. The brass weight yields the best weight distribution, putting it low, in the centre, but one could save some money with use regular lead weights, or some other cheaper brass plate. The offset rear pod obviates the need for motor spacers or a pod balance weight (both of which add weight right where you don’t want it, unsuspended), which makes the whole thing simpler to set up and run (note that the Pro version of the Mardave Assassin also has an offset pod).

I included the carbon front shims set, which isn’t strictly necessary either, as the Race kit includes washers for setting the ride height, but the carbon shims are so much more convenient! Changing the ride height trackside with the washers would be rather annoying, for example. I also included them to lead on to the next kit…

XRay X12 2015

The title didn’t say “competitive GT12 racing”, did it? Strictly speaking, this is the most expensive kit, although, impressively, still less than the SupaStox kit above with a Zen axle! But anyone who’s had an XRay car in their hands can tell that we’re looking at quite a different level of quality (and performance!) than even the best GT12 cars have! That’s not the fault of these cars, but they have to work within the limitations of the GT12 rules (such as the price limit on the basic kit), and, despite their popularity in the UK, are of fairly limited production in comparison (so costs are higher).

For that price, the XRay includes all the bits the other do, like all the ride height adjustment bits. Even if you’d want to upgrade the car, there’s very little to upgrade (there’s a graphite axle and some more rigid graphite suspensions parts, not much else).

The tyres aren’t included in the kit, but for some reason, LMP12 tyres can be had for cheaper than GT12 ones? They also last a bit longer than GT12 tyres, as the main factors for tyre wear are the surface pressure (weight per area) and how much they’re worked, and LMP12 cars have the edge in all those ways, being lighter, having a bigger tyre contact area, and a lower centre of mass. On the other hand competitive LMP12 racers tend to true their tyres quite small! Personally, I’d true tyres on the large side, use them for club racing, and when they wear down, set them aside for bigger events (after a skim on the truer).

CRC Xti-WC

This is the 12th scale World Champion and almost the cheapest kit (only the Contacts version of the ORE TwelveGT is cheaper in my comparison). I’m not really sure what more to say here!

Conclusion

The most obvious thing that appears to me is that the Zen RSGT12 Race isn’t as expensive as it seems, for a front runner car. But another, more surprising finding is that a front running GT12 car doesn’t seem that much cheaper than running a very good LMP12 car would be!

But one thing that GT12 still has is a lower cost to entry: while you can get a cheaper GT12 than those, and have a good deal of fun at club level, the cheapest LMP12 is about the same price as a very good one. That’s good news if you’re looking for a top car, but if you’re trying to save some coin and you’re more focused on having fun than being competitive, a GT12 can be cheaper in that case…

Think of what kind of racer you are and what you’d like to be doing with your racing, and you can find the right class for you.

If you’re looking for the most speed (and fun!) for your money, you might be interested in this follow-up post.