This kind of power REALLY takes the hobby to another level.

Brushless motors are much more powerful than traditional brushed motors. There are no contacting parts, so there's nothing to "wear out" like on the regular motor. Brushless Controllers are different from the traditional ESC as well, they convert the DC power to 3-phase AC power which the brushless motor runs off of.

I purchased my Hacker C40 8s and Hacker Master Car Sport controller from HackerBrushless USA. This is one of the more expensive setups out there at about $375 Shipped, but the controller has a better design than most, IMO. It actually looks like it belongs on an R/C. Many of the existing controllers out there were designed for use in a spacious airplane chassis. You can also get good brushless systems from Lehner, Novak, and others.

Edit: The Master Car line of controllers has been discontinued until their version 2.0 comes out. Currently, the Schulze 18.61k (61 amps) is the controller of choice for the Rustler/Pede, both for its current handling, and price. The big boy for these trucks would be the Schulze 18.97k (97 amps). However, if I was buying, I would get the Schulze U-Force 75. It has a case (like a regular ESC) which is way better for car/trucks, and includes a heat sink. Plus it has a built-in adjustable amp-limiter, and it has a computer interface, and its priced well.

The C40 is super fast, and maintenance free. Motor maintenance was taking up most of my R/C bench time before this purchase. That's life with a fasted brushed system.

Its hard to relate how much fun I am having using this. Its a total blast. The thing is scary fast, and I am never want for power. With the Stampede, you can bring the front wheels up whenever you want, even at over 30mph. Since using the Hacker, I've coined a new term, PermaWheelie. Using it with the Rustler, wheelies are less apparent.

Geared 12/87 on 6 cells, I was able to get over 30mph with my rather heavy Stampede. On 8-cells with the same gearing, things get a lot more interesting up in the 40mph range. 10 cells is a little silly in terms of control, its also over the limit according to personnel at HackerBrushless. I've settled on nine cells as the perfect amount of power as long as you have enough room to use it. I still use 6-cells in my little backyard. Geared 12/87, it can hit around 45mph. With a flat road and higher gearing it can do 50mph.

I did not notice significant runtime increases over the P-94 13x2 I had been running. At full tilt, on 7 RC3300HV cells I am estimating runtime at just under 10 minutes. Something to consider is that you will often NOT be at full tilt with this much power on hand.

The Hacker Master Car Sport Controller is rated for 12 cells. When I talked to some guys at Hacker on the phone, they said they would not recommend using more than 9 cells on the C40 8s motor.

When I first got the Hacker, I wanted to push it to the max. I hooked up 12 cells and geared it 18/90. That took my truck up to 61.3mph, which was for a time, the world speed record for the Electric Rustler. This event was chronicled in "The Speed Trials I and II" on the Videos Page. I later was able to bring it up to 63.5mph. Others with other setups have pushed to 66 and even 70mph.

In order to reach that speed, I disabled the current limiter which was a big mistake. After the run, I tried to just finish out the pack in some rough patches. That ruined the controller. Hacker replaced it at a cost of $150. Oh well, I know better now. The limiter can be set for 30, 60 or 66 amps. I am not sure why it has settings for 30 and 60 unless its to increase runtime. I run the limiter at 66amps of course. With it set to 30amps, acceleration is very poor and there are no wheelies.

Below are some speeds results I've obtained at various times, using all kinds of different equipment. These represent single run, completely optimized results. Fresh packs, new transmissions, brand new cells, that kind of thing. So for "real-world" take them with a grain of salt. Its safe to say that with a good 7-cell and modest gearing, you would always be close to the 40mph range.

Good cells are CRITICAL to obtaining good results with a powerful BL motor. Any stick pack, except the extremely well constructed Ballistics packs, should probably be disassembled and rebuilt using battery bars (Side X Side configuration). Or better yet, just build your own packs from loose cells. The cheap tin strips used to connect cells in stick packs will really hold you back. They may even melt the end caps on your packs!

Semi-Scientific Results

Results obtained using Garmin eTrex GPS on Traxxas Rustler using Hacker C40 8s Brushless, Hacker Master Car Sport, various tires, various batteries, numerous aluminum (heavy) upgrades, and different bodies. All these factors can add a lot of variables to the final speed results. Some speeds results are done with the 1st minute of brand new NiCd cells, which discharge at a very, very high rate.

Installation took some time. The wires on the controller are pretty short, and the motors wires are pitifully short. The end result is you, the consumer, lengthening all three wires. That's six solder joints instead of three if they had just put some longer wires on one part of the system. This page chronicles installation.

Programming was easy, you can program Brakes/No Brakes, 4 timing modes, 4 amp limit settings, and frequency, which is used if you are running another manufacturers motor on the controller.

Another part of "installation" is a massive drivetrain upgrade. Aluminum Idler gear mandatory. After that you can choose between steel output yokes + steel axles or CVDs. I still haven't found the perfect drivetrain yet, and I have frequent breakages. Heres what happened recently to my steel axles. Hopefully someone will soon create a truly bulletproof axle. My opinion (several months later now) is that plastic axles are fine, just make sure you have spares on hand.

Edit: One year later, I am convinced that the stock drivetrain is the way to go. The steel axles, and outputs have their own problems, and cost 3 or 4 times the plastic parts. CVDs are rather fragile as well, when you compare the pricetags.

You may want to move over to Steel Diff Balls and HPI Spur Gears, instead of using slipper pegs. Slipper pegs will wear out pretty fast, and for some reason, they are pretty expensive. The only downside to the steel balls, is that as they wear, they get flatspots that create MORE friction (less slip). So they need periodic re-adjustment to prevent a locked slipper. They also have a kind of nasty sound about them when they slip.

See the complete HopUp List to see my entire list of upgrades.

The only bad thing I have to say about this controller is that the BEC circuit (that drives the receiver and servo) doesn't work well past 8-cells. The instructions say that it will operate at up to 10-cells, but I have found that not to be the case on the TWO Hacker Car Sport Controllers that I have owned. If you want to run over 8-cells, you'll need to get an RX pack. I picked up a 4-cell AAA Holder from Radio Shack that worked well until I melted it charging at too high a rate. 4-5 cells of any kind will work. You can get anywhere from micro 160mah batts to 2100mah AA batts. The BEC works fine on 6-8 cells.

Edit: www.cheapbatterypacks.com is one of the best places to get an inexpensive RX pack. You can get 20-30 runs off of 300mah cells, so you do not need to get anything huge. Use their custom pack builder.

I don't like cogging, but from what I understand Hacker is no worse than the other sensorless brushless systems out there. Cogging is a kind of studdering that the motor will do when you are easing into the throttle from a standstill. It makes rock-crawling pretty much impossible. It doesn't like to go slow, it likes to go REALLY, REALLY fast. Using more cells reduces the cogging as available torque increases.

After having my speed record wrested away by Aken77, I became interested in the Lehner Basic 5300. I found one on ebay, and scooped it up for a mere $70. This was a good purchase. Let it be known, that the Lehner Basic 5300 is superior to the Hacker C40 8s in every respect when used in the Stampede or Rustler. It can be geared higher, runs cooler, goes faster, and costs less.

If there is a downside to Lehner, its that it can be difficult to deal with Germany for repairs. While Hacker is also a German company, that have a US office, that is very easy (and fast) to deal with.