Curious what the gains are with modified motors going from the cheapies to a premium brand?

I'm just getting back into the racing, and started with a 7.5 Turnigy motor.

If this motor provides sufficient power, will a Maclan (or similar) 7.5t be more efficient at similar power levels? Or will an 8.5t premium motor be more similar?

--Alex

It doesn't matter because in mod you are not locked into a set winding. If you want more power you run a lower turn motor. Additionally, a 7.5 from one manufacturer may be slower than another manufacturers 8.5 due to different designs. Only you will be able to tell once you've switched between your old motor and a new one. It is a pretty good rule of thumb that the newest generation motors are going to make more power.

This is mostly true. However a lot (or mostly all) motors go into a different version per efficiency sake or durability reasons like thicker solder tabs which are heavier but then remove metal from where the screws are drilled and tapped or few other areas or updated standard rotor or some sale pitch like that.. second and third generation motors are top notch some gen 4 motors are there in this version designation due to rules like the trinity monster debate and the supposed winding issues..

Mod motors usually have adjustable timing.

This is exactly what drove the question. I had a feeling it would be clear as mud.

Just curious how club racers pick motors with their own dollars.

Granted I'm sure there's some "soft" features in the premium motors, like more usable and accurate can timing. Though I'm not sure that matters a whole lot with ESC timing available, so long as you work in more relative timing numbers and don't worry too much about what the hashes on the can mean.

--Alex

And all of those tiny differences only mean something when there is a turn limit on the motor (spec racing). In mod, if the newest 8.5 is faster than your old 8.5 you can buy an old 6.5 and it will still be faster than the newest 8.5 because the power difference between a 6.5 and 8.5 is enough to overcome the tiny gains made between motor generations. Spec motor development drives the rest of the motor development, while the mod motors get the updates for continuity and ease of parts supply chain infrastructure.

Almost all sensored brushless motors have adjustable timing. Locked timing was something abandoned when stock racing switched from brushed to brushless. Locked timing motors are still used for some spec classes but ROAR rules allows adjustable motor timing on 17.5/13.5 classes.

The difference between a cheap an expensive motor will be a few things.

Like if its vs a Reedy M3 or the brand new M4 VS cheap brands should be efficiency, powerband, and power output for a given wind. Efficiency meaning less power given to the motor is turned to heat. Which most of the time isn't a problem in mod, unless you run mod 4 wheelers.

I've had a few brands of mod motors. Muchmore, Orion and Reedy m3. The Orions were the oldest. They were fast and provided great power, but weren't as smooth as the muchmore and reedy motors I replaced them with.

I'm sure your turnigy motor is fine, but you might like nicer motors better. I switched from the Orion 7.5 to Muchmore 7.5 to a Reedy 7.0. The Reedy is the best motor I've used. Smooth, consistent vs the input you give it and nice to drive. The Muchmore was great as well. I've driven my friends car thats on the AE team and the new M4 motors are even nicer.

The difference between the two is How many pieces you have to pick up after your car crashes.

Efficiency was way more easy to say..

However thanks for the spec racing information.

How do the v3 g10 HW motors compare to the Reedy and other motors?

im running a 7.5 but have nothing to compare it to except a gen1 Tekin redline 10.5 (which is really good even now, slightly less smooth) and a new 17.5 which just feels anemic compared to mod

This is why I've grown to appreciate mod classes over stock... with stock you need to get the latest and greatest to be competitive. With mod you can run virtually any brand of motor without issue. Most budget motors are cheaper than the cost of a replacement rotor from a name brand!

I can't vouch for all the budget brand motors, but I've had really good luck with GoolRC (eBay), Rocket (Banggood) and HobbyStar (RCJuice)

For stock classes I run nothing but Trinity motors/batteries.

Bill is correct.
When it comes to mod class, I believe it doesn't really matter. In my opinion, majority of the non-professional drivers out there don't use the full potential of their modified motors. Full potential is gearing it to the top and cranking the timing up on their motor and ESC.