Everything I've posted is what I've done so far to my Sport. As many of you know I'm very impatient and when I went to the LHS looking for the 7.5 kit i was told it would have to be ordered. Well since I had the cash burning a hole in my pocket i decided to get what he had in stock which was only the Sport. $500 later I've learned that had I more patience I could have had a K2 with a nice engine and pipe.
The "Sports" version of any RC car/truck/kit/part is always the cheaper, less quality, less durable version. Since getting back into RC a little over a year ago I have learned (well my Wallet has learned) that there are no shortcuts to good quality. This is especially true if you plan on racing.
1/8 scale anything is expensive. Save up a bit more, be patient, research and in the end you will be much much happier.