HV application is better for larger scale vehicles. For 1/10th scale 3S should be good and that's what I run some of my cars. I don't have time to race, but you could see a huge benefit from going up to 3S lipos. One of those benefits would be less AMP draw. As you know AMP causes heat and heat makes any set up less efficient. You could makes a much power with your 13.5 with 3S lipos as the guy using a lower turn motor (8.5), but you would be using less AMPs and your motor and ESC would be creating less heat. You might even be able to run a 20 to 30 minute main. It's just simple math.