one life saving thing you can/will buy is a failsafe, if theres any interferance or lost of radio communication or your batterys get low beyond a point it will kick in to failsafe mode and this is normally set to full brakes thus saving a £££££ worth of damage
for starters i would recommend this:
http://www.modelsinmotion.co.uk/product.asp?productid=1446&catCode=172&tamiya=268
^ thats the cheapest ive seen one thats not on ebay
with this:
http://www.modelsinmotion.co.uk/product.asp?productid=2271&catCode=&tamiya=268
^ some people say the fuel isnt all that but its good for beginners to break in the engine and run a few tanks though with, but when its gone i recommend you use tornado fuel and re-set up the engine with the new fuel
and also this is a must get:
http://www.modelsinmotion.co.uk/product.asp?productid=1206&catCode=386&tamiya=258
and i recommend a temp gun of some kind as this will help to set the engine up
The above is what i call a starter kit for nitro cars/trucks as the truck is well built and hardly goes wrong and if it does go wrong its so easy to fix, you also will learn how to break a engine in, tuning them by the needles, and over all experience with nitro cars, you also get a dvd on how to start them, run them, tune them and maintance from the maker of the truck HPI