title_body: Is there a method to wire a brushless motor to an ESC so it spins in the required direction first time? So I know that three phase motors will reverse direction when 2 wires are swapped round, or that the direction can be changed in software (such as BLHeli).
  But is there a method to get it right first time, without doing something hacky like using alligator clips. Are the wires/pads usually in a standard order on the motors/ESC? Can the phases be worked out some other way?
upvoted_answer: Without disassembling the motor, and figuring out how the ESC is designed, there is no other way then simply testing it.
  From my experience, the motors spinning clockwise has usually been the ones that can be wired without crossing any wires and without having to reverse the direction. But that could just be a coincidence, so you should definitely not trust that it will always be like that, even if that might be the most common.
  The simplest and fastest way to get the motors to spin the right way is usually to just solder all the wires so that it looks the best, and then reverse the direction in for example BLHeliSuite as needed.