From my experience i always have a lower front end of the car then the rear.
If the rear is lower then the front you get irratic steering(hope i spelled that one right)
I use the TM springs on my cars with 350cps oil in the shocks at the rear and 400 at the front(i like a harder front end)
For the gears, i use 48 on outdoor tracks because of dirt and small debrees getting between the gear teeth and distroying the 64dp gears.
Indoor i use 64 as it is smoother and not so loud.
I myself still use the standard belt supplied with the kit and last season i ripped just the front belt but that was because a pebble was in my front spool poulie.
As i said before begin with a FDR of 4.5 on a small track as you have.
We have a 135 feet back straight and drive with a FDR of 4.25 tot 4.5 and that is with 10.5 with 5 cells.
If you drive a 17.5 with lipo it is a good starting point at 4.5.
As fas as the ESC, the "new"generation ESC's have a lot of timing that gives the motor a freaky high RPM.
So if you have a "normall" esc with no stock maps in them you loose a lot against the guys who are running them.
This is also why your gearing can be way off.
For example,when running a LRP SPX stock spec ESC with a GM 10.5 motor we gear to a FDR of 4.27.
If i use a GM ESC and the GM motor i can gear up to 4.4 to 4.5 as the GM has kind of a boost in the ESC.
If you use a Tekin ESC with a 10.5 motor you should gear up to 5.0 or even higher as this ESC revs the motor up very high.
I have seen Tekin esc with a 13.5 motor and the new software(v203)going faster then the Tekin with 10.5 and then V200 software.
It all depends on more things then just the gearing,esc or motor.
For traction on low to med tracks you have to find out playing with tires.
You should try the sorex 28 or 24 for the low traction(cold track) and perhaps the sorex 32 for med traction(or if it gets warmer).
Try,try and try even more.
It is the way to get to know the car,how it handles and how it reacts to the changes.
You can always drop me a PB if you want.

cheers Roy