WL Toys 144001/124018/124019 Upgrade: Brushless Speed Run Build and setup full Guide

The WL Toys 144001 is a small 1/14 scale 4wd buggy with a massively oversized brushed motor that can reach well over 30mph. When this massive brushed motor is replaced with a massive brushless motor the top speed can become over triple that with the right setup. The below guide goes into detail the build components I used for such a build, the build process and setup to optimise handling.

By now you've probably seen some wild speed run builds based on the WL toys 144001 of up to and over 100mph. At the top end of the scale these are highly customised with expensive race-oriented gear and outboard twin-battery power supply. The objective of my build was stealth: to retain the stock look, making everything fit (somewhat tightly) under the stock bodyshell and be bolt-on without the need for machining or fabrication i.e. as simple to replicate as possible. For this reason I have specifically chosen to run my car with stock gearing on 2-3s only. To that end here are the parts I chose and why,

Parts used for build:
I've separated this into power system for the key components...

Flycolor Lightning 80A Partial Waterproof Brushless ESC For 1/10 RC Car This was my favourite component. For those unaware Flycolor is an ESC brand with a strong heritage in quadcopter ESCs and I trust them. This ESC is very reasonably priced at $40-45 and had excellent build quality with support for sensored or sensorless motors and full programming by way of the power key. It supports 2-3s @ 80A continuous which is ideal for my build. You will need to solder power and motor wires (included) which allows you to keep short wire runs - crucial in this build

Sadly this ESC is no longer available, I recommend the Hobbywing 10BL120 ESC instead which is very similar with a little more currentt (120A)

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