Good points made all round. I would have to buy a 21.5T to race because 1 cell just doesn't make sense, but I'll not go over that again. Regarding so called 'soft' LiPos, here's the way I see it:
Hard case packs are harder to puncture. The BRCA views this as making them safer. However, LiPo batteries almost never fail via this method. They fail by internal shorting while discharging or over charging, which has NOTHING to do with encasing them in plastic. The problem is, when they DO fail, a lot of hot gas is produced. Personally testing the release of this gas I can confirm that it is spectacular in soft cells. Containing the gas in a hard case though, creates a bomb and that's not something I am keen to play with. The best compromise is a hard cased shell with gas vents, and that's exactly what I use in my Mardave - and lots of other club members are using the same thing.
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