ORIGINAL: mkruse
how can the motor draw more than what is available, I would assume that the motor just wouldnt work up to maximum performance and that the esc would just give all its got and the motor would just have to do. </span></font></div>
No. The motor WILL pull whats it needs. If it goes over what the ESC can handle, the ESC will burn up. You prop your motor to pull less amps than the motor and ESC can output.
So if you have a 50 amp motor and 60 amp ESC (20% over motor rating), you will want to prop the motor to pull LESS than 50 amp wide open with a fresh battery. I like to prop a motor at least 10% UNDER the motor rating.