I know last year when we did the 24 hour event we were getting 15-20 minutes from a 5000 LiPo before it needed changing, however we were running at a more moderate pace using a silvercan based motor & a basic speedo rather than a top spec low turn brushless & ESC.
Personally i think though as the tech has improved from brushed motors, the battery tech has equally improved, for instance a 1600 mah nicad in the late 80's was probably only lasting as long as a modern day LiPo does with modern tech strapped to it because the tech in the 80's car was more basic & not demanding as much from the battery as todays technology so run times are generally the same from a fully charged pack.
I know with 1:12th scale we are running 8 minutes in nationals & competition, however the cars are running on the flat & are running single-cell liPo so the current drain is a lot less.
Plus with the on-road classes it's a level surface so the amount you use in a battery during in a race is fairly consistent wherever you go to race a 12th, but with off-road i find battery use to be very inconsistent from track-to-track using anything from 900mah to 1900mah during a 5 min run because the car is running on a more 3 dimensional circuit that 12th's or tourers etc & no 2 circuits are the same. Likewise wet weather or warm weather affects the performance & the battery life so although it may be the same track, the going may be a lot harder if it rains, where with 12th, all the races are held indoors, so the track conditions are generally the same & not affected by sunlight or weather conditions which can affect the performance. Granted 12th's have the same problems with grip levels & finding the right tyres etc, but the 12ths always run on carpet, buggies run on any surface, astro, carpet, grass, dirt etc which affect the performance & the weather or heat can affect how that surface reacts on the tyres.
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