GMade R1 Rock Racer?

[PNW Offroad]

Howdy folks. I'm new to the rc hobby, so predictably some of the questions will be of the obvious kind. I picked up an ECX Temper and am having a lot of fun modding it and crawling over whatever I can find. Of course it didn't take long to start wondering what my next rig would be. Watched a lot of u-tube stuff and rock racing has really caught my eye. Looks like more fun than a barrel full of monkeys and the rigs are really cool. I saw an R1 at my local hobby shop and thought it was a great looking rig. I know it's marketed as a crawler, but I was wondering what the forum's opinion would be about building it as a rock racer. Looks like the portal axles would be an advantage for clearance, if they'll hold up to some higher speed and jumping. I've already read about the bearing issue and am prepared to deal with that by throwing bearings at it regularly. But what about the rest of it? Suspension design/geometry? Size and weight? Handling? I'd like to build one with the idea of doing some racing, so it'd have to fit into a class within the rules. It'd also be nice if it was reasonably competitive with the competition. Does an R1 sound fun, or am I barking up the wrong tree and need to get an Axial?

[Capucine]

I am finishing also a G made R1 that I am not planning to use as a rock crawler because we have no rocks and mountains here where we live. I am using a brushless hobby Wing quickrun sensered 21.5 turns as a test. I don't want this thing to crawl like a Turtle. For the weight I can tell you that they are heavy and putting a lipo battery will help with the weight. They are built very solid except the bearings that I don't like because of too many are fitting too loose in their inserts. I used a bit of silicone prior installing them so they don't turn in their plastic insert. The ones at the differentials exit at the drive shaft are really bad and are terribly loose. Using silicone is the only way if you want to replace the bearing in the future. Anything else will wreck the axle and will be impossible to remove. I have 2 Sawback running on axial 27 turns motors and I can tell you that you can get a decent speed after replacing these too soft tires that really stop the speed. It is like your car if you drive with your tires too soft your gas millage goes waco. The harder the tire is inflated the faster will be your speed. On the R1 you can get from GMade a set of 2.2 tires that you inflate with air but I have read some issues about tires that don't keep their air and need to be inflated regularly.