I run the CF brace but havn't had any failures on my e- or nitro storms except for a few a-arms, a bent titanium hinge pin, two bulkheads and one differential (ESC fires not included). The bulkhead breaking is pretty random and you have to push pretty hard to snap it. My last bulkhead break was at the hobby show last year.
Final run with the novak was tonight, I am going to put the castle 4-pole back in. The sensored motor is much more sure-footed but painfully weak.
The ESC I am running with the 2-pole is going to be put back in the blitz when the SCT motor arrives and the only other ESC I have is as SV1. It will be interesting to compare its performance to the mamba max pro directly on the same motor and battery.