not sure what you mean by "small rod". Its not "L" shapped is it?

The plug is to "bind" the reciever to the radio. You can buy additional recievers for like $10 and bind them (make them communicate) with your radio.

The ESC has some settings that will change how the power gets to the motor, but wont increase the power or the speed.

Its called punch control. And I have mine set LOW. Especially since I am running 3s lipo power, I need to set the punch low. This ramps up the power to the motor slowly, reducing the shock to the drivetrain. As you saw in my vid, its still plenty pwoerfull off the line....and Im not even punching full throttle. 1/2 throttle from a standstill is enough to spin all 4 tires.

There is also a "timing" adjustment on the ESC. I have never really been able to get more speed out of the motor by messing with this setting tho.

Best way to get more speed is with a 3s lipo. Note, you will have to change the ESC's fan to be powered off the reciever or a seperate battery. if the fan gets more than "X" voltage it will die. And without a working fan, the ESC wont handle more power.

I wired my motor fan and ESC fan to a 1000mah 2s lipo pack. But you could use a simple 4 "AA" battery holder like nitro rc's use to power their servos.