Dont' get me wrong, your craftmanship is excellent!
My point was that Schuey managed to do this without making the wheelbase longer (correct me if I'm wrong) with their solution. Your car is now longer than most cars, right? (at least you wrote that your prototype was)
And with that you have departed from "standard setup" and are kinda back to square one as to finding good setups. And probably there's a reason why the factories don't make their cars longer. There normally is a "sweet spot" for a given class as to chassis design.
So, great that the battery is now in the center, nobody would argue that this is ideal. Then again, LiPos are lighter than NIMH, and the ESC and receiver also does weigh some.
All in all I think a std. X-6 could be just as good or fast, if you play around with weight distribution using the E-Speed brass weight kit from Rudebitz. And you still have the short wheelbase.
Again, not meaning to criticize your build, the work is VERY impressive! Just trying to clarify my views as to the basic "layout" of the car.
So, unless you've managed to make your car with the same short wheelbase as the Cat... sorry, I then still think their solution is more clever!
It'd be great if someone could do a wheelbase comparison of the current cars!
If OTOH it now turns out that a longer wheelbase is better, I'll bend my head in shame!