Since a lot of indoor race tracks around the country have closed, garage racing makes a great alternative. The problem is the current cars are too expensive or not designed to be race friendly. Below is my wish list for what I think would make the perfect garage racer. If someone makes a car based on this list I think they will sell a lot of them.

Must Have
$100 or less rtr so I can convince my non-hobbyist friends to buy them
2.4ghz and glitch free so >6 can race
Battery swaps in ~1 minute, NO MORE SCREW ON BATTERY COVERS!
coreless motor (no drag to break the wheels loose on concrete)
scale 1/43 to 1/32. IMHO 1/24 is too big to make complex tracks in a 2 car garage
closed wheel design so it doesn't flip over when it hits lane barriers such as 1/2" pvc pipe
1s 3.7V lipo powered to keep the cost down and chargers cheap
Included charger must charge 2 or more batteries at a time to provide continuous racing, 1 in car, 2 on charger
Charger must have at least an AC adapter port if it doesn't include an ac adapter
>10 minute run time
2 wheel drive to keep price and maintenance down
multiple gear ratios
transmitter with at least steering rate control and the usual basic adjustments
adjustable suspension: different springs, spring preload
full ball bearings or at least a full ball bearing upgrade

Nice to Have
Tires of various grip available for concrete, carpet, rcp, dirt
easy to add lap counter
3 wire servo
adjustable diff or better yet a ball diff
decent looking extra bodies
ride height adjustment
bling, cf, graphite, fiberglass parts

Does anyone have anything to add?

I think you are very limited once you go smaller than 1/24th scale stuff. Still, that's only 6" long.

Small space and technical, may not be fun if you are trying to bring new people to RC.

I think your best bet is the 1/24th Losi stuff. You have 5 different models to choose from.

http://www.amainhobbies.com/advanced...1%2F24&x=0&y=0

I own a micro desert truck from Losi and I love it although it is small.

Edit: sorry it is 1/36 scale.

You can make a fantastic 1/18 scale track inside a 2 car garage. If the grip is low (compared to normal RC standards) but more realistic with more realistic scale speeds the cars are very drivable and easy to race close with. It makes for some very exciting racing that almost any skill lever driver can get a decent handle on.

It doesn't fit the $100 criteria but anything sub 1/18 scale gets pretty quirky to drive and can be damn near impossible on smooth concrete.

This would make for a nice garage:

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1555277

i have something losi sitting on my shelf for in the house and the garage

Xmods. You can get them used dirt cheap, and there are tons of factory and aftermarket upgrades available. A bit out of the required specs, but for the price...

Glitch-mods were our first garage racer. The cars were decent and we had a lot of enjoyable race nights with them (up to 8 at once!) but the radios are too glitchy when you have more than two drivers standing together. I tried longer antennas on the cars and tuning the receivers on the cars, the mods helped but nothing solved the problem. The glitches were the worst when drivers would put their antenna over the track, so we had an antennas up rule. But people would get excited and forget and glitch a car, usually my car. eeeeehhhhhhh...... Then rad-shack came out with v2 but kept the same krappy radio system! We're currently running modded micro-t's that fit most of my list. Since the video was taken we've switched to the wedge body which keeps the cars from flipping as much.

Losi Micro-T race (1 min 52 sec)

xmods are pretty cool i have one that i could sell you. or trade.

xmods are cool to look at and fun to drive i would love them if i didnt have to basicly remod the entire radio servo esc . but after owning a couple and trying to make them stop glitching and having range issues i found that for the same money and far less time a losi runs circles around xmods but do not have the scale look . also the micro t is around 89 dollers usd.