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I was at the United Toy and Hobby convention yesterday, and had a long talk with the HTUSA and Kyosho people who were conveniently set up next to each other.
The HTUSA people do have the exclusive distribution, that is correct. They will start selling the Dnano sometime in mid november. The cars are very impressive if you haven't seen them run. They are fast, look cool and will have many hop-ups. The price is going to be about $130 for just the cars, and another $130 for the starter pack including the battery, controller, etc. Yep, your looking at $250 for a 4" car, but seriously after seeing them run, I might be willing to take the jump.
All of the cars have a built in transponder, and you will be able to race each week, twice a week, on a preset track configuration that will be run all over the US. So essentially, you will be running your times against racers from all over the US. According to the Kyosho guys, they plan on pushing the heck out of it with a monthly magazine, and the ability to get your lap times and other car stats online at any time, really making it a national competition. There will also be run-offs, series, etc.
Now for the not-so-good news. The tracks you are seeing in the Kyosho concept stores and online are NOT the tracks you will be racing on. The actual tracks in the stores will be something close to 3' x 8'. They will have movable barriers that are the same as all of the other tracks in the US, so they can set up the exact same track as everyone else with ease. The track looks NOTHING like what you are seeing in the Kyosho stores. Its is wayyy SMALLER.
It's an amazing concept, but the problem, with getting HTUSA involved is that unless it takes off immediately, they will drop it like a hot potato and those of us who bought the equipment expecting to race every week will be left out in the cold. They need to open it up to private hobby shops as well, as they are the bread and butter of our sport.
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