Gas cars: Shaft drive vs. Belt drive

[seaheck]

I'm new and getting ready to buy for the first time. I am doing alot of research but it's hard to find genuine opinions. What are the benefits or disadvantages of belt driven and shaft driven and whats your preference and why?
Thanks guys.

[ToyTundra]

I perfer shaft because it doesn't strech out leaving you with a busted car. It also seems like it (shaft) delivers more power, but i've never driven a gas belt 4WD, only an electric so i may be wrong.

[lc boi]

in the past, shafts sucked a LOT of power. but since the tc3 gasser came out, there ahs been very little between shaft and belt drive. basically there are a lot more belts driven cars out there, so you ahve a bigger choice, but there isn't that much difference. and about the durability, i've seen a shaft twist, thus shortening it and it dropped out of the hubs. mind this was a 1/10 tourer with a 60 plane engine in it......

[ProSStreet]

i own 2 Gas 4wd cars that are belt driven, sometimes small pebbles get suck in the pullies, and burn up/ rip the belts. Or cause the belt to come off. Other than that, they're fine

[Big Block Bob]

Yeah, those belts are a pain in my $&%*!! I got an HPI RS4 last summer and I replaced the belts twice...they seem like magnets for pebbles. That was the only problem with them. This summer I got a TT01, which is a Tamiya on road sedan with shaft drive, put in a strong motor and got a $6.00 alluminum center drive shaft, thrashed it all summer long and nothing broke. As for speed I really didn't notice much difference.

Simple formula shafts bend/belts stretch

Personally i preffer belt drive for my electric cars because of its simple design, and it keeps the weight down by limiting the numbers of gears in your drive train, its also quieter and i feel smoother as far as power delivery, ive had belt driven gas cars as well but the belts tend to stretch a bit more than it would on electric, i guess nitro engines have a lot more low down torque which is enough to ocasionally make the belt skip, so for gas i would say shaft drive just because when im running belt driven cars i seem to collect a lot more little pebbles in my drive train.

[Psman32@af]

Another thing that i dont think that was mentioned, is as your belts wear, you need to keep changing teh tension on tehm so they wont skip. a shaft driven 4wd is less hassle. For the most part, it is just a prefernce, but the TC3 has made a big impression on teh racing world this past year if i remember correctly. also, snk33y, you mistaken when you say that nitro engines have more low down torque than electric motors, it is teh oppisite as long as the two motors are about equivelent to each other.