Expensive?....do the maths, one radio and enough sets of crystals to race at any meeting or one spektrum / 2.4 Ghz conversion - and don't forget the up side of no glitching, interference, no waiting for a peg - no pillock who didn't wait for 'your' peg and you stuff your car into a wall due to frequency clash - and the parts cost to repair - and the pillock won't pay. Suddenly doesn't seem that expensive anymore.....but you are right about the steering wheel tranny - sticks are better
Theres been alot of clashes with crystals recently,like you say grasshopper could cost a fortune for parts,luckily enough no serious damage was done when these guys was racing.
if you want spectum on sticks it works out at around £300-£400 that is because you have to buy a stick handset that is module based then you have to buy the spectrum module to fit in to the hand set