Agreed, good equipment makes flying easier and saves planes BUT.. and this is a sad story... at the IMAC las vegas quailfier in basic class 2013, a buddy had an issue with his motor. Wouldn't fire, i thought, sadly, YES, easy place for me, he was the competition for third place. So, he breaks out an eflite carbon z yak from the trailer, slaps it in the runway, its Basic, run what ya brung, and properly procedes to beat me with it all weekend long. So in that case, a 400.00 foamie beat out a 6000.00 comp arf, lol. Was a long ride home.
Worse, I get one after that to practice with, looking for a" happy gilmore" moment and still flew like crap. That guy was GOOD with it.
Moral of the story.. dont let the plane you have keep you from coming to the party, a skilled pilot can fly anything and compete.. and win !