Fair comment xr400 ..I agree all with what you said.I think it is good to use the stock motor with the kit due to new people comming into the hobbie from anther hobbie and they can race straight away.We were just trying to give the trucks a bit more edge as we have large jumps at or track.
Just from my angle...we are a electric off road club,and in any of the tool boxs around the pits you will find a 540 motor,stockmotor and a mod motor due to people being in the club and trying all forms of racing untill they settle into one they like.When a person comes to the club they start off with a 540 and then move up to a 27 stockie , just to give the racing a bit more edge.I know with on road you will find a big number of guys running 540 as this motor pulls a onroad car around well,where a silver can doesn't have the low down grunt to lift over jumps.
Now talking about silver cans, the Traxxas kit motor is not like a 540 silver can motor where they almost last for years. It has a lot more 'pull' and we feel it will wear out and not be a easy item to come across , and when we did compare it to a rb 27 stockie it was not that much slower.Which leads me to think a person could be faster with a slower motor [ lot less burn outs ]
We have a guy in the club who did more laps in a timed race than most rb 27 stockies and he used a 540 silver can.It was due to he was driving the car around the track , not loosing power in wheel spin and crashing.
I've got 4 silver cans as I flip from 540 to stock through out the year,as 540 racing is a lot easier on tyres than rb stock and we have fun too.
Back to slash..the idea is to keep people in the hobbie so keeping the slash as standed as possible is a good thing...and I'll be running the kit motor this week end .
I'll talk to the guys in the club and see if we can come up for a race meet weekend sometime.
timmey