I just got all set up with my novak ballistic and mamba max pro. I hope i dont experience some of the issues it seems like some of you guys have had with the Castle products.

If you had to go Castle, you at least picked the right Castle. The Mamba Max Pro is a much better choice than any of the sensorless sidewinder variants IMO. Nothing wrong with the Novak Ballistics either except that I don't much care for the hard wired sensor wire..

The ez run systems are great to get started with. But for the serious racer more of the expensive systems are a better choice.

Nooooooooo noooooooooo nooooooooooo I have had both several novak motors and novak esc's. They have all crapped out on me. There was a guy that worked for novak at my local track when my motor and esc died on me and he couldnt even fix it. Team Icon motors are by far the best motors out there. Best performance you can get out of a motor and they have several national championships to back it up.

Just my four cents

I cant take your comment seriously since youre a yankee fan...

But I would stay from castle stuff now, they used to be very good. Now theyre ok.

I would spend the extra money and find a used tekin rs or a Lrp esc, and then run what ever motor you want.

The Ballistic motors don't have the sensor wire hard wired.

Ah, cool. I had an older silver can 10.5 with a hard wired sensor wire in my B4.1 a while back. Never gave me any troubles.

What is the difference between sensor and sensorless motors?

As I understand it..

Sensored motors have a "sensor board" on one end of the motor. This board senses where the rotor is in relation to the magnetic field of the motor. What this means is that the motor "knows" where the rotor is as it's energizing each magnetic field. This allows smoother throttle response and eliminates cogging.

Cogging happens when the rotor "bounces" or "stutters" between two magnetic fields. It makes the vehicle seem like it's chugging along a bit.

Supposedly the newer sensorless motors are much better than previous models and cogging is reduced.

Personally, to me as it's my opinion, sensorless motors feel like a lightswitch as they are heavy power on or power off whereas sensored give me a much smoother feel and are much easier to drive. That is just my opinion and I can honestly say that plenty of sensorless motors smoke me on the track as the driver is what makes it work. It all comes down to what you want, can afford, and fits your driving style.

thanks dude, that was a great explanation, but also raises a few questions for me. Why would people still use a sensorless motor if it can cause cogging? There must be some other benifits to them that the sensored ones don't have(other than the on/off power).

since I don't use them much and only get to "borrow" one around the track it's tough to say.

I've heard they offer more power when compared to similar kv rated sensored motors. I've also been told they run cooler. I don't know if that means you can gear them higher perhaps? They made my lap times go up but barely, it was more the "feel" that I didn't like and I think with time I could be equally as fast or slow with them, depending on how you see my driving... lol.. some think fast, some think slow.

Keep in mind I'm not trying to say one is better than the other, more of try both and see what you think. Generally sensorless have a cost advantage/savings as well.

Because they're cheaper...

I would be hard-pressed to find anyone who goes faster with a sensorless motor compared to the equivalent sensored one; doubly so if the class in question is a 2wd one.

Well it looks like I have been using sensorless, and can't say i have noticed anything strange, but now that i have had this conversation, i think it will stay in the back of my head for when i am driving. Have to say i am curious to see how a sensored motor would run.