Thanks. I just picked up a 21.5 Helix rs V1 on sale and haven’t been too impressed so far. It’s replacing a heavily used x-factor that got over 200 degrees at least a few times when the cooling fan went out while racing on hot astroturf in the sun. The helix is pulling about 4.5 amps on the sky RC motor analyzer and still coming off at ~145 degrees after 5 minutes on clay in the winter when ambient temps are pretty cool (60-70) with a cooling fan. I’d like to gear up or increase timing but I’m worried I’ll get too hot.

the V2 is the motor I tested. I’m not too sure on the V1 motors. What has been unimpressive to you so far? What I suspect is the V1 may be rpm based and if you were to increase timing be prepared to drop some teeth on the pinion. The one thing I have done with every motor thats come across my bench is actually run it in race conditions so I can be of better help to racers with gearing and can timing. Here in Northern California for on road I have a decent starting point for people running these motors.

It looks like the v2 comes with the 26mm torque rotor whereas the v1 comes with the 25mm “mid” rotor. I haven’t been impressed with the gearing I’m able to run and general performance of the helix. With the old heavily used and abused x-factor (overheated several times, stator loose and re-glued) I was coming off at ~145 running 32/72 pinion/spur and the car felt fast. With the helix tuned to 4.5 amps (trying to be conservative with my brand new motor) it’s coming off at the same temp with 5 fewer teeth on my pinion (27/72)! And it feels slower/less torquey. Maybe that X-factor was just a rare gem? (it came used in a used b6.1d I bought years ago) or maybe the helix I got is a bit of a dog? I’ve been afraid to try milking more out of it on the can or with my gear ratio because I don’t want to get it too hot but there’s a big race coming up that I’ll be running it in 21.5 and 17.5 classes so I might have to try getting everything I can out of it. Should I try timing or adding teeth first?

add some teeth and see if if starts to come alive. Is there a reason why you went so far down originally? Under gearing can also cause heat buildup.

I guess I was just trying to be careful about not getting it too hot right off the bat. . . Didn’t know under gearing could cause heat buildup too. I’ll try adding teeth and see what happens. Thanks

I haven't testing any of the 21.5 motors, but I did test the Helix V1 17.5. It was an RPM motor and not a torque motor at all. What rotor do you have in your Helix? The one in the 17.5T was a FAN19561. The gauss averaged 1725, which is pretty low. It wasn't able to complete my load tests without me giving it a little bump. The V2 is supposed to be a much torquier motor.

To date, the torquiest motor I have tested is the Surpass V6 Stock Spec. However, that is a 17.5. I have not tested any 21.5 motors. The strongest rotor I have tested is in the HobbyWing G4R. It has a gauss of 1765 and the Surpass was 1763. These are all the ROAR legal motors.

I’m 90% confident that’s the same rotor I have in my 21.5 v1 helix. I’m hoping I can just add some teeth and wake it up though it seems unlikely. . . I guess we’ll see. It’s not really worth protecting from heat damage the way it is so might as well try it?

I believe that motor might be better suited for wide open high speed tracks.

Tested the Hobbywing option G4R rotor 13.5/17.5 version on my gauss meter and got +1814 -1835 on the

That's pretty good!

It's quite odd to see others with such higher gauss strengths than what I have seen. I checked my meter by using other rotors that came with measurements from the factory. My meter is always within a couple gauss from the rotor's manufacture's numbers, so I know my meter is calibrated properly. I have tested over a dozen 17.5 motor rotors and have not measured any rotor to exceed 1800.

Until recently I didn't have a new motor that listed gauss strength to test on my rotor master but my Exalt Gold 17.5 tested, to my surprise, right where Exalt said it would, 1786. The highest gauss rotors I have are almost all Hobbywing: 2 - 13.5 (HUS) G4R rotors, 1785 and 1787, 2 - torque rotors (JUS, which I picked up last year when the G4Rs came out), 1775, 1796, 3 - torque rotors (JUS, just came in over the weekend), 1801, 1807 and 1810). I'm going to re-test the rotors I've been using to see where they are, then play musical rotors to see where they end up (2whl, 4whl or stadium truck)

The one I just tested was the optional HW30820407 rotor. All the others I have tested have been in the 1760-1780 range.

That would make sense for that one to read higher.

some of my greatest hits:


This is from a USED EXALT Gold Carpet that I bought (no idea how much use):






This is a new Hobbywing G4R option rotor:



This is from a Surpass V6 stock spec: