CARRERA AUDI R10

 
     
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2007 seems to be the year of the Audi R10, with at least four manufacturers adding the Audi to their catalogues - Carrera, Avant Slot, SCX and Scalextric. 

The Carrera cars are first to arrive in the shops, with both the number 7 and number 8 cars from Le Mans 06. The Audi R10 is one of the nicest Carrera models I've seen. The body is crisp and clean, no visible moulding line and very nicely detailed. The paintwork and finish are really good, with sharp solid colours and very clear tampo print. Thankfully the body isn't anywhere near as heavy as some of their older models.

Five screws hold body and chassis together. Carrera chassis usually look rather busy, and this is busier than most! A reversing switch, the motor, front and rear lights and the guide all connect to a large circuit board. This time Carrera have added plugs so the motor, lights and guide can all be disconnected. It's a tight fit, and you need to be careful of the position of wires and especially plugs when re-fitting the body.

The important bits are a nice sturdy chassis, solid axles with front and rear brass bearings, standard Mabuchi type motor with 9:27 plastic gearing. Two magnets are fitted - the sliding magnet fitted to many Carrera cars is gone, replaced with a large bar magnet in the middle of the car. A smaller bar magnet is fitted at the rear. 

Both magnets can be adjusted with shims. Both are fitted to the underside of the car and can be adjusted or removed (2 screws hold each magnet in place) without taking the body off. 

Some clever thinking on the chassis too, though it's still fairly heavy. The motor pod is held in place with just one screw and is quick and easy to remove. 

I had problems with my car, the guide kept sticking in the track. The guide blade is very long at 25mm - yup, a whole inch! - which seems excessive. The guide blade is also quite thick and nearly 8mm deep. 

The other problem is that the guide rotation is quite limited - the photo below shows the guide at full travel - even a moderate slide is going to tip the car out of the slot.

I thought about replacing the guide with a Ninco guide, as I have with other Carrera cars. But that didn't turn out to be as simple as I thought! The front end is quite complicated - you need to pop the axle out and then remove the four screws to access the guide assembly...

...which looks like this. That return spring is rather strong too.

With the guide assembly removed you're left with - well, a big hole in the chassis! No way of mounting an alternative guide without major modifications.

I would guess that these issues won't matter so much if the car is running on magnetic track. It has plenty of magnetic grip, so it's not going to slide much and the guide rotation (or lack of) isn't going to be so much of an issue. For some track systems, especially Sport track with its narrower slot and tighter radii, you'll probably need to trim and narrow the guide blade a bit but that should be all. But for routed track / non-magnet use, the car is going to be a struggle.

I'm quite disappointed! It's such a nice-looking car, but I couldn't get it to complete a lap on my routed track. It seems a shame, because they're obviously developing the cars and making a lot of improvements, but if this guide system is going to be standard from now on then I'm going to have to look elsewhere. But then Avant Slot, SCX and Scalextric are all making the R10 this year, so I'll have to buy one of them instead

PS: I know some people will probably get very annoyed with me now, and say it's unfair to criticise the car when it's more than adequate for the job it's designed to do - running with magnets on Carrera track. Fair enough, I won't disagree with that. But non-mag racing and routed tracks seem to be gaining popularity, and I just think it's a shame that the car is so compromised for that environment. Seems like a missed opportunity to me...