For the last few months I (and some others) have been running the Novak 13.5 brushless in standard rotor form in the Stock class.  Here’s my view on the current state of play for the brushless “stock” scenario….
Mostly I’ve been running the 13.5 at club level events.  I also ran it at Hobby Station in the clubman class for the Indoor Titles event where they were allowed. That was the first Trophy meet in Qld – probably Australia where they were officially allowed. The event was won by a brushed motor. Two other trophy meets since then (Summer Nats and Logan Summer Cup ) have also allowed the 13.5 and have both been won by a brushed motor.
After these months of trial I can honestly make this statement. “Using the 13.5 I am not beating anyone that I wasn’t beating before and no one is beating me now that wasn’t beating me before” To me that means all the comments about it being unfair etc can be discounted. It doesn’t have a performance advantage when using the standard rotor. The comment that people using the brushless have the unfair advantage of being able to spend more time on their set-up etc because they have no motor work to do does carry some merit.
As fairly as I can say it – the motor is good enough to be competitive against a good stock motor but not quite as good as a very good stock motor. The difference is right there I think. The 13.5 will give the guys who can’t or don’t want to do all the work on a brushed motor the chance to be almost competitive but obviously still won’t overcome preparation skills and driving deficiencies. The guys who whinge that they are using “poorly tuned” stock motors against brushless have to realise that it’s no different to using poorly tuned stock motors against well tuned stock motors. The major difference really between stock motors and brushless is in the variation. A huge variation between brushed stock and very little variation between brushless motors.
The other concern for some is the cost. Sure a new speedy is expensive irrespective of whether you want a good brushed type or a brushless type. If you are in the market for a speedy though or if you have a good brushed one you can sell then it’s not that bad. The motor cost $175 which sounds expensive. I have used one motor since August 2006 and can honestly say that in that time I would have had at least 3 if not 4 tuned stock motors ($70 each) with all that goes with keeping them up to scratch – retrues, brushes etc not to mention the workload (which some would no doubt enjoy). I’ll concede for this argument it’s expensive to get in but not expensive to stay in brushless stock.
Finally , with the numbers of people making the move of late we certainly have enough people to start our own brushless stock class – if that happened – and please I am definitely not in favour of it – would there be enough brushed drivers left behind to have their own meaningful class?
So what happens at big meets – well it’s been approved for the Interclub events and most of the major clubs will allow it at their trophy meets so that leaves the Qld Titles as the stand out brushed stock event. Well if I want to race that weekend I’ll be taking it as an opportunity to try myself out in mod. Just like the “over 16″  540 drivers should be taking their exclusion from 540 that weekend, as an opportunity to try themselves out in stock.
Just my written opinion which is sometimes limited so feel free to have the face to face discussion with me any time you like.
heavy