I had the 8 port race engine in my first 1/8 buggy back in 2006, (Hyper PCR), brother had same car & engine as well, was a good engine & always went well without any problems even though I flogged the crap out of it & never used anything like ARO.
RC Willpower on Ebay sell a few different Hobao engines & have the 8 port with & without the pullstart.