Again, thanks alot guys. I do have the 7XL on the way. As I said, I made my motor mount, so I know what needs to be done. I ordered some 7075 aluminum sheets cut to 2.5X3". All I'll need to do is drill and tap some holes. Do you guys think it would be better to have the motor off to one side, but mounted toward the front of the buggy, or center mounted with the gear engagement being above the center diff? My intention is to be able to mount two 2S packs. One on each side.

Or...do you think it would be better to just mount the motor in a conventional way (off to one side toward the back) and have all of the "equipment" on one side of the buggy and the battery (single 4S2P pack) on the other? I'd love to be able to use a single pack, but the buggy has to have a good weight distribution for racing purposes.

I just don't know what battery chemistry to go with. I have lipos, but they worry me. They are fine for bashing, but I don't know about racing 1/8 scale buggy. I can recall some crashes that I've had running nitro, and I seriously doubt that a lipo cell would have survived them in tact. Of course, my concern is with the fire that will result from a pack being punctured. I'd hate to think that I could looose my whole buggy (not to mention other buggies and corner marshalls) because a battery was damaged in a crash.

I believe that I have three other altenatives. The first is the A123s. Considering the ability of these cells to deliver current, I might be completely happy running a pair of 2S2P packs. Assuming a 10A charge rate, I figure that a pack will charge in 30-40 minutes. Of course, it would be expensive considering that I'd need to buy two pack and two chargers; or, more ideally, four packs and two chargers. How do you guys think the 7XL will run on the A123s? Will I be giving up much by going with 4S A123 rather than 4S Lipo?

My second consideration is lithium manganese. These also have the ability to charge at a 2C rate, but I don't think that they deliver as much current as the A123s, although they do have the voltage of the Lipos. At $75 a pack, it would only run me $300 for two sets of 2S2P packs. Of course, I understand that there have been problems with the 3.8Ah packs. I can find them, but don't know if I'll get the bad ones. I could move up to the 5.8Ah packs, but the price doubles and so does the weight (just about).

My last alternative is good ole nimh. I can get IB4200 cells for under $6 each and just load them up into the solderless tubes. For the price of the other chemistries, I could get a butt load of nimh cells and just run two 6 cell packs.

Again...comments please.

Thanks,
Tony