In NorCal, we have been running the Big Dog arm in our Retro-Pro Coupe class for the last 10 years or so. This has been with anglewinder chassis and the typical Retro Coupe bodies. We run them on flatter speedways and occasionally on technical flat tracks as well.
I'll echo much that has already been said and particularly the "magnet bound" comment regarding the PD in the P/S setup and the relative merits of the P/S vs. ceramic Hawk setups. I think that the ceramic Hawk is vastly superior to the P/S not necessarily b/c it is faster, but b/c it is much more driveable. (useful power vs. excess power). I still have the original 4 BD arms that I purchased between 7-9 years ago and they are still pretty good although the comms are pretty thin. Over that period I have preached to my other racers, "gear them close to 5:1 and you won't blow 'em up."
The P/S setup has too much magnet for even the BD. You can't get enough brake out of them to be really driveable. OTH with the ceramic Hawk, you can get a little brake out and still be as fast as the chassis/aero package that we have them in can handle. It's probable that the P/S setup has the potential to be ultimately faster in terms of raw power but in a car without much downforce and on flatter tracks, I personally prefer the Hawk.
