Fasttrak

Not sure which shorties you are speaking of but the better ones have much better discharge amperage than those Gens Ace saddle packs you posted. Plus, the Gens Ace are nearly 300 grams which is pretty heavy for a sub four pound buggy. You would be much better off buying the Turnigy batteries from Hobby King in a shorty configuration, lower weight better discharge rating.

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...Approved_.html

This is a great battery, tons of these being used at my local track and they are not lacking in either stock or mod. Had I known of Hobby King when I got back into the sport a couple months ago I would have bought two of these for every single Orion 4500 I bought. I did buy a new 1/8th scale buggy and got two of the larger version of this battery and they perform well in high amperage applications. Buy a quality balance charger, set your ESC to a proper discharge level and they will last you a long time.

One of the local racers uses Hobby King ESC, Motors and batteries almost exclusively. The local track recently had a two day race called, Top Gun. He raced both 1/10th buggy and 1/8th scale light (uses 550 brushless Short Course motors and 2S lipos). He was doing well in 1/10th scale and broke something in the main but with his Hobby King equipped 1/8th scale he took second place against a sea of Tekin based buggies who's equipment cost three times more.

Unless you have quite a bit of time running a 2WD buggy, I would highly suggest running a 17.5 for a while or you'll just be braking it with that 8.5 turn motor. Trackstar has a 17.5 which a few folks run at our track with good results in stock class racing.

Here is a ESC and motor combo for a great price, good one to start off on in stock racing or just playing around.

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...bo_17_5T_.html

One trick to shopping at Hobby King is open the window to the item you want to buy, than leave that window open for five minutes or so. Hobby King will lower the price with a popup window and you'll save a few dollars for each item you purchase. Good luck with what ever you decide to do..