Originally Posted by MonsterSummit

First concern is why you put the timing on the can to 0?
Also, 80% of the time I run a 12t pinion with 40t spur(stock). The only time I go up to 13 is if the track if fairly wide open.
I have also always ran about 20 degrees of timing on the can. You have to remember, 2-pole motors like timing. From past experience, you can go from feeling your car is "slow" to incredibly quick by adding some timing.
My personal advice is to put the can to 20 degrees and and try it or put a 12t pinion on to try.
I run mine with an Orion R10pro, which has a "boost"(low end) and "turbo"(top end, realize when I say what these settings do, it is by what I "feel" when I change them.) settings which I realize are different from the RX8. I generally run a decent amount of boost and turbo in the esc.
I know maddog and BCSFlash both have experience trying to make the 4.5t thunder power work with the RX8, and from what I had seen, struggled to do so. They may have found some settings comparable to running the r10pro, but not sure if they ever got it to where the r10pro is.