Which is exactly why we're testing them, to try and establish benchmarks for performance of the brushed versus brushless.

Certainly if there's an advantage, then its an open and shut case - No you can't run them. So far, I'm not sure that there is an advantage. The lap times didn't show any significant difference at all. In fact they were SLOWER than our best with Sport-tuneds.

As for the cost factor, that's not as cut and dried as it might seem. Most people will spend at least $100 (Aus) on an ESC anyway so that's neither here nor there. And I know from my own experience that I would buy at least 6 Sport tuneds each year to compete at a fairly high level.
Which would actually make brushless cheaper for me!

It's good to look at new things once in a while. But the trick is to make an educated decision based on sound data.