Raffel- On the car selection everyone has there favorites for different reasons. I have actually seen people be able to tune, maintenance or drive a particular car simply better than another style. So in all fairness all of the cars can win and it may be more of an issue of getting the help you need with a particular car in order to get the best out of it.
As for me I would get the Trinity car like your buddy Trips. I would also venture to say that for 12th mod racing a T-bar car is best overall regardless of track design(tight-open). In fact the tighter the track and the higher the traction the better T-bar cars seem to be and they have distinct advantages in low grip situations.
Link cars seem to have an advantage in stock where you are trying to free the car up due to the limited h.p. However, when you run mod (as I am sure you remember) your ability to put the power down off of the corners and to have max stability is paramount to good times. This is why T-bar cars in mod almost always work well.
With all of this said in my opinion I would choose the Trinity car. I think it has three distinct advantages.
1. The front end is more tuneable regarding Roll Center, Camber Gain, and Reactive Caster.
2. The car is very consistent so that once you find a base setup it seems to stay that way with a minimum of fuss and maintenance. This seems due from items such as the stiffer front suspension, the larger front suspension pivot balls (so they wear less), no "caster blocks" to throw off caster from side to side, thicker chassis (really shines in high grip conditions like big races), stiffer rear pod (helps car to lay the power down and seems to add to directional stability and axle alignment).
3. The car has awesome corner speed. I can actually run through corners now under a set amount of throttle and just steer the car and it doesn't scrub speed. This is incredibly efficient and requires less h.p. for similar lap times it seems. My other cars were much more of a point and shoot type (but this is could be due to me, LOL!).
Now this doesn't mean that a link car can't or doesn't work in mod or that they aren't low in maintenance. Dave Chester kicked butt with his knife in mod I heard and E. Deroseirs kicks butt with his Rev 3 so the definately work. I am just speaking from what appears to be the average case scenario. I have also heard many guys talk about how maintenance free their link cars are.
Hopefully now you see why I said that "everyone has their favorites for different reasons" and what works for one may not work for another. Getting help with build tips, setups, and maintenance tips is critical in any form of motor sports including RC so I would look at that issue first and go from there.