In my experience, they are different animals. No matter how much after market CNC bling you add, a scale model will never beat a racing model in a race. And racing models tend to be much more durable and easier to service. I once had an RC10 that pretty much didn’t have a single stock part left on it—including the chassis. Honestly, stock was better. There are always a few upgrades that improve performance or durability (e.g., the aluminum hubs for the UDR seem like a good idea), but 90% of them do not, or create other problems.