Motor recommendations
 

Looking for some recommendations for a motor. I have a B6.4 and race in the 2wd stock buggy 17.5 class. Small off road course on high grip black carpet. Currently running a Redline G3. Ive adjusted the timing and gearing but still notice a lot of the drivers has more torque and can still pull away a bit on the straight. The top driver there at my track is recommended a Rotor Ron Slot Machine so that’s on my list now. Here is some of the motors I’ve been looking at but open to any other suggestions
Team Powers Actinium V4
Fantom Icon/Helix
Reedy S-Plus
Trinity Slot machine

You can't go wrong with anything RotorRon, in my opinion. Just be sur to follow his directions, which is LEAVE THE TIMING ALONE after he's set it. Just play with gearing after that.

I think all the motors you listed are decent, except the Reedy, was never a fan.

Fastest is kind of a relative thing in 17.5 class usually meaning who drives the smoothest. If you aren't taking a turn as well as the other guys then you are carrying less speed around the corners. Less corner speed means you need to make up for it and use more time to spin up to rpm/torque curve to peak. Thats why some 17.5 guys run slipper eliminators. Try that on a mod motor :P "stock" racing is far from stock parts.

All things being equal some produce a little more power than others IF THEY ARE ROAR APPROVED! The fastest non-roar motor is usually trinity punisher motor. Uses high torque stator and other illegal parts for moar power! Also some ESC have a "turbo" mode where they boost the timing electronically out of corners after a certain RPM, giving the illusion of more power/torque. You can also get more speed from low rotating mass and ceramic bearings throughout. again, all this depends on the class your running. Blinky mode isnt supposed to have turbo mode but theres also 17.5 roar approved motors only and general open 17.5 turn motor class.

Going the fastest usually includes reading all the rules and understanding them so you know what can be bent and what can't.

R1 wurks has some good motors too. I recently put in a volta 17.5 but still have to test it.

Thanks for the input. Just out of curiosity why don’t you like the Reedy? And what would be your guys best suggestion of any motors not on my list? Thanks

I say go with any motor with a high torque rotor because you (mostly) gear high enough that you lose a lot of torque. If you really wanna break it down then you can go with regular adjustable, aligned stator, or hand picked. Adjustable if you want to mess with timing. Go with an aligned stator if you want to just worry about gearing/rotating mass. A hand picked motor is just throwing money for TEH BEST!!! motor. Will this make you faster down a straight, yes and no. Theres slight differences that in a prefect world one would slightly edge out the others, but the average $25-50 difference in tiers would honestly be better of buying track practice time. Slowly working up to a faster pace is what makes you faster. instread of letting off the throttle completely, you let off slightly and work your way less and less until you reach the limit. Landing jumps flat or slightly front wheels down, gives you a little natural boost compared to off slightly.

Thank you very much for great advice. I can definitely use some more track time and try to improve my times with better driving for sure and should probably focus more on that. I just want to make sure that once I’m getting to that point that I’m not getting beat because of better equipment. But I definitely realize that better equipment doesn’t always mean better results or faster times.

Burl is right, you can't go wrong with Rotor Ron. Staiguy is right in that until your consistency numbers are in the high 90s (95% or better, consistently) motor won't make much difference. And I also agree, Jblack, that you never want to feel like you are getting out ran due to your equipment.

With all that being said, pretty much any of the current motors can turn good lap times, you just have to find the sweet spot of gearing and timing for your application (track, vehicle and driving style). If you are looking for torque, it can be a little counterintuitive, but I sometimes run a higher timing and smaller pinion. Some motors really like RPM. I don't have much experience with the Tekin motors. The current crop has had some quality issues at our track, so everyone ditched them. I run Hobbywing motors, and they seem to really like RPMs, so I run a lot smaller pinion then others.

Another thing to think about is your driving style. Do you like to point and shoot, or do you like to sweep through the corners in a wider arc and keep the corner speed high? Point and shoot demands a smaller pinion. Keep going down until your lap times get slower. A lot of people say to gear to temp, but that isn't always the right spot for a motor. The only thing that matters is the number on the clock and how it feels for you to drive it. Everything else is just noise. As long as the temp stays below 160-170, temp doesn't really matter, amp draw doesn't matter. If the lap time is faster and drivability is good, that's all that matters.

Spot on advice 0010. Everyone has given some great input. As far as driving style I am more of a point and shoot type of driver at least for now. I’ve only been racing since late January so I still need more experience. I’m also just now learning the whole gearing and timing side of things so that will help tremendously once I know exactly how to tweak those to get the sweet spot and the most out of my motor based on my track and driving style. Which is maybe another reason to consider a Rotor Ron motor for now because from what I understand he tunes it and sets the timing and does a pretty good job of it so all I have to do is adjust the gearing like Burl mentioned.

Highly recommend Rotor Ron for just the reason you mentioned. It will be a good motor, timed to a great power/efficiency ratio and you can pretty much ignore the timing. Follow his instructions for finding the proper gearing - run a short while, check temp and adjust pinion to keep the temps down. From there, adjust the pinion to your liking. A bigger pinion does not always equate to a faster lap time. Don't be afraid to keep going down until your lap times get slower. Once you find the sweet spot, you can adjust a tooth or two in each direction when the layout changes, but you probably won't stray more then a couple teeth either direction. But repeat after me, BIGGER ISN'T ALWAY BETTER. (ps, I tell my wife that too....:ha:)

I was in your shoes this past week. Just got back into the hobby after a few year hiatus and was running a previous gen 17.5 Tekin from like, 2019, which eventually started to crap out cuz after all its a 4 year old motor. I ended up picking up a Fantom helix Team Edition as it was a common motor selection at my track (Both in 17.5 and 21.5 flavors. Some guys even run the 21.5 motors in the 17.5 class and do really well). Just got home from my first race day with it. A note I am running on a bigger clay track. To make a long story short, motor feels really good. Good top and bottom end. Definitely was not left wanting for power at all.

Your best bet is to probably pickup a brand that is common at your track that some quick guys run, that way you arent totally out in the weeds if you need help. The gap between 17.5s seems really close these days.

For example a buddy ran the Desert Classic where they had a spec class limited to a handout Fixed Timing Justock 17.5 with fixed gearing. He ran that buggy pretty much as is and he did not seem to be lacking power at all. Track currently has 2 triples that only a few 17.5 guys can really hit, and he did it with that fixed timing motor on several occasions. Was honestly quite impressed by it.

Honestly, that fixed timing motor spins up a hell of a lot faster than a typical 17.5 motor. Its got pretty weak magnets, so it doesnt produce gobs of torque. But with the gearing they specified, it has tons of punch at lower speeds. You can hit the big gaps no problem with that motor.

One guy actually geared one up, and added a little boost timing, and ran it competitively in the A main in 2WD mod. Motor got obscenely hot though.

We have a guy at our track who runs one car, one motor, three classes. It’s a Trinity Punisher (outlaw) that he runs 21.5, 17.5, and Mod. He knows all the guys in 21.5 and they have a gearing combo that he runs to bring his power down to their level. In 17.5, we don’t “enforce” ROAR stuff, our track is pretty small so skill is what gets you to the podium, can’t use all the power anyway. And for Mod, he throws boost at it and can hang on our straight with 9-10.5’s.

I think there has been a couple of times that Brent Thielke has run a 13.5 or 17.5 in 2WD 40+ Mod, with boost and timing, and won.

Drivability >>>>>>>> Ultimate Power

On our track, the difference between stock and mod is mostly visible on our long straight - on the rest of the lap, there's hardly any difference in speed at all (mod being harder to drive though, since you have to really watch that throttle finger of yours carefully)

Opted for the Rotor Ron Fantom Helix 17.5. Thanks again for all the great advice!