After racing Off-road for many years, i recently decided to give On-road a try. I bought a used TC3, 27turn, and used an Apogee 3800 limn. i was expecting to be blown away on the first race, which i was to a degree. i decided to run in rookie class, since i had almost no experience.
but after a few races, i was suprised to find that i didnt need to switch to BL, my brushed motor and xl-5 esc stayed up with those 13.5 guys. maybe i had a little better driving experience than the others carried over from off-road, but i felt the racing was very close. lap times were very close, but were inconsistent because we didnt know how to pass each other very well... lots of crashing and crunching...
on the rookie main, after i used my 13.5 for offroad, i put it in my TC3 just to see how it'd hold up. and to my suprise, i didnt feel a difference. i placed just the same as my qualifier. I honestly couldnt feel a difference. my lap times were close to the others, i guess it just came down to dodging the trafic...
In the end, i had tons of fun, and i dont think anyone could watch the race, and point out who was running brushed or brushless.
although after the race, i heard that the winner was running a sintered rotor, not bonded like i was. i guess it does make a difference. That make me think maybe we dont have to go to 17.5, but rather keep BONDED rotors in our 13.5's. i honestly couldnt tell the difference between bondedBL and brushed performance. Maybe you guys can see it, but thats because you can run consistently, and you dont rear-end other racers!
So i seriously think just keeping 13.5, but making sure to run BONDED rotors will keep things even. perhaps the only people who are experiencing problems are those who have been racing in the same class for an immesurable amount of time. Changing everyone to run 17.5 just so those who are already well established in the hobby, IMO, is a bad idea.
cheers!
