well, there might be a difference since stick packs use think welded strips, side by side packs use thick copper bars. You can also equalize a side-by-side pack of cells, which you can't do on a shotgun style stickpack.

Ok, so for my Durga, sticks are as good as any in that respect :)

And in my XXX-4 G it wouldn't make much difference in terms of layout since the batteries all run down one side anyway.

You won't notice a difference in handling. The only thing you can't do with a stick pack is discharge each cell individually on dischargers which have contacts for each cell, which helps keep all cells in a pack healthier longer. That becomes interesting if you are racing and start spending a lot on batteries. Otherwise stick packs will do you just fine.

Yeah, I think for getting started in racing at club level that doesn't matter too much I guess. If I got good enough for regionals/nationals or wotnot, then what Jimmy and you say is going to be more important for sure.

Cheers!

you can now :p

New from Much More the Pack Equalizer for Stick battery