Martyn,

You said no load is useless. You may be right. Or not.
I had a severe lack of speed last Friday night. I was very consistent at 27 laps in 509,510,511. Excellent handlingbut speed was not there.
Spent 4 hours playng with my APS on 3 mototrs and got some shocking improvements in RPM and Amp draw after fresh cuts.
When I started best RPM 19400 with 8.2A. Finished with 23100 at 10A. A big increase to be sure.
Now to the track, same gearing, running with some of the guys who who were blowing my doors off Friday. Almost the same straight speed. Very close. This with a deficit on batteries of over .01 volts.
Feeling a bit better on my chances now against my slower times earlier.

BTW the new layout has some real speed killers built in. Watch it.