The evolution of the seemingly ever-lasting Porsche 911 continues unabated with the development of the '997' version. Ninco were first to release the 997 as a slotcar, and hot on its heels comes the latest release from AutoArt.

AutoArt have chosen the promotional model for the GT3 cup as the initial release, although further liveries are apparently in the pipeline.

It's a striking and attractive car, and it would only take the addition of numbers and maybe some additional sponsor logos to turn it into an authentic looking race car.

AutoArt cars are usually modelled to a high standard and the 997 lives up to those standards. The body, paint and tampo-printing are all absolutely flawless and beautifully finished. If you've never had the chance to take a close look at an AutoArt model, it's worth making the effort because they really look superb.

The interiors are always worth a look too. Most of the inside of the Porsche is plain white, but there's a lot of intricately moulded detail, including the complex roll cage. The dashboard also gets a good level of moulded detail and a full set of instrumentation. The driver lets the car down a little, he looks kind of small and skinny and not exactly dynamic! He is unpainted except for his face, and has an open-face helmet which seems odd as in most racing series the drivers seem to wear full-face helmets. 

Three screws hold the body and chassis together, two at the front and one at the rear.  When you remove the body you have to remember to unplug the cable for the lights too. (The car has headlights and tail lights, the LEDs and circuit board are housed in the body shell.)

The chassis is not carried over from the AutoArt 996. The 997 chassis has a flatter underside and allows more ground clearance, especially at the front.

The motor is standard Mabuchi sized, driving the rear axle via nylon gears. Both axles run in metal bushes. Although the bearings are a slightly loose fit on the axles it's not excessive and the car runs quietly. The bearings are a tight snap-fit in the chassis, and further secured with twist-on caps. The motor is securely mounted in the chassis with no unwanted movement or rotation in its mounts.

As usual with AutoArt, the wheels look rather special. The outer rims are chrome plated while the spokes and centres are painted satin aluminium. Brake discs are visible behind the wheels, the front discs are larger than the rears. It's nice to see that level of detail included. Unfortunately all four wheels had small moulding pips on the rims which need to be removed with a knife or file. 

The guide is the wired type, not the 'quick-fit' style supplied with some of their cars. The guide has a small amount of play, but it's not excessive. The guide has quite a deep blade but it is deeply recessed into the chassis, which always seems kind of counter-productive to me. Two spare guides complete with braids and eyelets are clipped to the base of the display box.

The car is fitted with a single magnet, the screw in type first seen on their Shelby Concept car. It's fitted to the underside of the chassis, just ahead of the motor.

The Porsche is nice to drive once you get used to it, though it does need a slightly different driving style. It doesn't seem nervous or twitchy even on such a small track. 

As on the plastic track, the little Porsche is smooth and quiet. But there is more wheel-spin when accelerating as the narrow tyres struggle for grip, so gentle throttle control is needed. Lack of brakes is more noticeable on this type of track, but the car compensates by drifting nicely and at higher speeds than would seem wise!

The biggest problem I found was the front end de-slotting; the car either went straight on in corners or lurched out of the slot. The problem is the way the guide is mounted - it's recessed so far into the chassis that only half the guide blade is in the slot. I found some brass tube of the right diameter and cut a piece 3-4mm long. This fits on the neck of the guide and when the guide is refitted it holds the guide lower - problem solved, well nearly!

With the guide now engaging deeper in the slot the car behaves itself much better. It's still sometimes susceptible to some of the lumps and bumps on my track, I think it's worth seeing if it's possible to give the front axle some vertical travel as I think this is the culprit. 

Although I've been a bit critical of the car's performance/behaviour on my routed track, I think most people, myself included, who own this type of track expect to do some 'tweaking' to get cars running as they want. If cars run well on my track straight from the box it's almost a bonus, and you can almost guarantee I'll tweak it anyway!

But the Porsche is much more predictable now, and while it's not the fastest car around the 997 is a fun and forgiving car to drive and drift round the track.

As mentioned, the AutoArt 997 isn't the best on a routed track, but it does run very well on Scalextric track (I didn't have the de-slotting problem because the centrally mounted magnet keeps the whole car hugging the track). It's a superbly finished model, which looks great on display or on the track. Prices are competitive too.

Definitely worth considering...

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