First off, NO I have not switched to brushless. I have been playing this game for about 20 years and I am more comfortable with my brushed motors. Will I go with brushless, yes, when I learn more about them, just like lipo batteries.
I know this is about stock brushed motors and my opinion is that, as has been said before, todays motors are 10 times what they were even 10 years ago, that technology. Motors are better, batteries are better and so are the electronics.
The club I race with does not allow lipo and brushless simply due to cost.
I have herd it all before, how using lipo and brushless is cheaper in the long run but the person looking to get started doesn't see that. They see the cost right away, the sticker shock factor. If you tell that perspective new racer he has to spend $200 on a car, $200 on a motor and speed control and then another $100(or more) on a couple batteries just to get going, it will scare him away. I feel a lot of us more experenced racers do not see that.
Can you count how many times you have been asked at the track "that looks like fun, how much does it cost to get started?"
I commend those who are making and doing things that are going to help control the rising cost of all this.