Appropriately following hot on the heels of the recently-released Peugeot 908HDI we now have Avant Slot's newest car, the Pescarolo C60 Judd.

It's almost a departure for Avant Slot. Their first two models, the Audi R10 and Peugeot 908, are both produced by several other manufacturers (although Avant Slot offer the widest range of liveries) but the Pescarolo is unique. 

The body itself is very nicely done, crisply moulded and free of flaws or mould lines. It's a flowing yet surprisingly intricate shape and very nicely detailed, especially the vent work on top of the front wheel arches. Fitment of minor parts is generally very good, the headlights are neatly faired in and even the tiny rear lights are fitted perfectly. The aerial is flexible but the mirrors aren't, so they could be vulnerable. The rear wing will flex to some degree. I hope Avant Slot will make these parts available as spares.

There are a couple of minor issues; the roll hoops don't fit quite as neatly as they could and compared to the rest of the car they look a little clumsy. The driver figure isn't great, particularly his crash helmet which is poorly defined. But overall this is a superb-looking car.

The body is secured with two screws which are threaded for about half their length. The body only touches the chassis at the body posts so there's nothing to inhibit body movement if required.

The motor is a bright orange 'Hurricane' rated at 27,000rpm (though the voltage necessary to achieve this isn't stated) mounted inline and secured with two screws. It drives the rear axle via a 10z brass pinion and 27z alloy boss contrate gear. The gear is attached to the axle with a grub screw, while the axle runs in nylon bushes with a hole at the top of the bush for lubrication. The whole set up is very precise and there is no slop in any direction. A small bar magnet is fitted just ahead of the motor.

The magnet, motor and axle are all housed in a separate pod. The front of the pod clips to the chassis and the rear is secured by two screws. The screws are half-threaded and can be adjusted to limit or increase the movement of the pod. There isn't much clearance between the screw mounts and the sides of the pod so you may need to lightly sand this area to allow the pod to move freely. Flat steel springs are fitted either side of the motor, the ends of which connect to the pod and limit or dampen its movement, creating a basic suspension system. The springs are secured with a single grub screw each. The grub screws have three possible attachment points. By changing the location and/or tightness of the grub screws, and/or adjusting the pod's rear retaining screws, quite a range of adjustment and fine-tuning is possible.

The front axle features a stub-axle set up. The stub axles are steel, with no less than three grub screws to enable adjustment. It's a neat arrangement; two grub screws are fitted above the axle, one at each end and one underneath, roughly in the centre of the stub axle. In practise it means you can set the axle height, vertical travel and even the wheel camber! (You can set the axle at an angle so the wheels aren't vertical.) If you look at the front tyres in the photo above you can see that only the inside edges of the tyres have touched the track.

Even if you set the front and/or rear axles so they have large amounts of vertical travel the tyres are unlikely to rub against the bodywork. The wheels are plastic and appear nicely round and true. Brake discs and callipers are fitted. The tyres are soft and needed little truing.

The guide screws into place and has virtually no slop. The braids are connected to the motor with conventional eyelets and wire. 

On my small Scalextric track the Pescarolo is similar to the Avant Slot Peugeot and Audi - almost too fast! The car has a lot of power and a fairly weak magnet so traction is rather limited. With care and control the car will circulate the track quite quickly but it's really better suited to a larger track.

So let's try it on the larger track...

Here the Pescarolo is completely at home. It's fast, quiet, fast, smooth, fast and predictable. And did I mention fast?

It's a great car to drive on this type of track. It's very quick but the power delivery is smooth and controllable. The chassis deals with any unevenness in the track (or driver!) delivering consistent performance. It is fast, but it doesn't feel fast, at least it doesn't feel nervous or twitchy the way some cars do when you're pushing hard. The Pescarolo just deals with it, encouraging you to try that little bit harder, brake a little later, accelerate a little earlier, take that corner a little faster....

Great fun!

I'm having a lot of fun with these new Avant Slot cars, the revised Audi, the Peugeot and of course this Pescarolo. They really are superb cars; well made, beautifully detailed and great performers. They're probably not the best choice for a small track, but on a larger track where you have room to explore their capabilities they are very good indeed.

PS: The #16 car featured here is currently only available as part of the Le Mans 07 Finish Line set, which also includes the #8 Peugeot and the #1 Audi R10.

Bigger pics in the Gallery