Food for thought too:
What about shaft with sattle pack for even distribution. Just make the connnecting wire a little longer. I like belt cars, but there are plenty who like shaft. Heh, Tamiya makes both, why not X Ray. It doesn't have to be one or the other, it can be both. The M18 is shaft, I know that's a different scenerio, but HPI's 1/18th is belt, so why did XRay go shaft if its so bad. I see pros and cons for both. Why not have 2 cars with the best fit and machining that XRay is known for?