Our club always welcomes new members regardless of what they run, as long as it is a stock 27 turn motor and 1:10 scale. We have a huge variety of cars and people are always interested in how well my heavy TB-01 does. We have TC3s HPIs Yokomos, and 2 EVO III. It is true that unless you go high end, the tamiya cars aren't that competive. (at least my TB-01 isn't (yet)) But give it a try, be the underdog with the nicest looking wheels.