The featherweights used to be touted as the best way to start up in the hobby, then the beetleweights were. Both classes have been taken to the extremes. There is no way that you can stop others from entering a weight class with more experience.

lets go with all woods with option on metal or plastic baseplate / chassis
IMO it would look rather stupid if all its tough metal or plastic under armour was revealed intact after all the wood was ripped-off
Contradiction much?

I'm not trying to be difficult, I'm playing devils advocate here to try and weed out the issues with the ruleset that has yet to be agreed. If you make wood the only build material then it's very easy to govern whereas if you specify that part of the robot can be metal then where does that stop? If you want to protect your motors and speed controllers then model RC cars might be a better hobby.