the standard motor is i believe either a 27 or 35t johnson/mabuchi type motor. basically it will get you going, its not going to have a lot of power and once it goes bad its done. The sport tuned motor i believe is a similar motor with a slightly higher rpm so u will get a lil more power. A better motor choice would be the tamiya type rz 23t motor. that will give u a good amount of power so that you can throw grip tires on your car and have a good time and will also give u the required power to hit long sweepers. for starters the standard motor will be ok but u will want more power pretty quickly.