LiPo Battery life cycle

[HOTSHOT III]

I race an HPI Vorza on astro with a 150A speedo and 2700kv motor. Last Sunday one set of my Turnigy 65-130C 2S2P Nano-Techs dumped on the last lap of heat 2 (the 2nd 5 min heat i'd used that particular set in that day), it's the 1st time this has happened in the 12 months i've owned the batteries.

At a rough guess i'd say i've been at the track once a week for a year, and in that time each set has done 2 charge cycles a week meaning none of them could have done more than 104 cycles from new. Many other local drivers are already familiar with my rather OCD storage charging behaviour and I balance the packs every time I charge them. The ESC cutoff is set at 3.2v per cell.

Lots of you have been using Lipo/Brushless for longer than me, how many charge cycles have your batteries done and have you noticed any significant deterioration in performance?

I'm only asking the question because i'm not sure if this is a sign of battery deterioration or not, I did quite a few practice laps before each heat which bumps up the runtime and I was using my non-grippy tyres which meant the car was wheelspinning a lot which could be a contributing factor.

Also on Wednesday I tested all 3 sets at race pace, one did 19 mins, the next did 18 mins (both on grippy tyres on a dry track) and the 3rd set did 16 mins but this was at about 8pm after the dew had come down so again it was wheelspinning a lot more.

I'd be grateful to hear everyone's opinions on this, I don't want to get new batteries unless absolutely necessary because more batteries equals more maintenence, more strain on the charger etc.

[dodgydiy]

the harder you push them, the less number of cycles they will last. they will take a real hammering in an 1/8 so wont have a huge lifespan especially in what i assume you are using which is a 4 cell setup. 2000kv or 2200kv motor would probably put a lot less strain on the whole system, 2700 is a bit much on 4 cell really, my 1/8 has 1400kv on 6 cell which is plenty quick enough. do you balance charge every time?? this can help the cells lifespan as well. not had a problem myself with cells failing but the ones i use at club in 1/10 have lost performance, with some packs showing it much more than others, they are however nearly five years old and have had a lot of fairly gentle action as in 10.5 in a 2wd buggy and 13.5 in a tourer, neither of which ever draw more than 2ah out of a 3.6ah battery in a five min race.