Porsches have always been popular with slotcar manufacturers and buyers, and that popularity shows no sign of diminishing. This year has seen several makers release models of the latest evolution of the venerable 911, the 997. So far we have only seen Porsche Cup cars, but now Carrera brings us the wide-bodied race car - the GT3 RSR.

The car arrives in the usual, huge, Carrera display box. I'm sorry, but I'm going to whinge now! There really is no need for such a large box for a 1/32 scale car. These boxes take up too much space, they're heavy so they cost more to transport and probably use twice as much material to produce as, for example, the small neat boxes used by Fly or Slot.It. It just seems needlessly wasteful.

OK, rant over! Back to the car...

The interior is a shallow tray, but it still includes enough detail to look convincing. The driver is present from the arms up, but compensates for his lack of stature with a detailed crash helmet and HANS device. The interior has quite a lot of moulded detail and some nice 'extras' like printed instruments, painted fire extinguisher and complex roll cage. 

Forgive me for repeating myself, but it's a very nice looking car.

Three screws hold body and chassis together, two at the front and one at the rear. Two words usually sum up Carrera chassis - 'chunky' and 'complicated' - and the Porsche chassis is no exception. The wiring looks complex because the motor, guide, front and rear lights all connect to the large circuit board in the centre of the car. All of the wires are fitted with plugs, presumably so the circuit board can be disconnected and replaced with one for the Carrera '132' digital system. This is guesswork though, I don't have any information about Carrera digital or whether 'standard' cars can be converted to digital.

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. As seems to be standard on Carrera cars, the Porsche has two magnets - a large bar magnet in the middle of the car and a smaller bar magnet at the rear. Both can be adjusted or removed without removing the car body. Shims for both magnets are supplied.

The motor on my car was slightly loose in its mount so I glued it in place for extra security.

Initially the Porsche didn't want to run on either of my tracks! The guide is very long and wide and just kept sticking in the slot, especially on the tighter curves, on both my Scalextric and routed track.

The guide blade clips into place, so it's easy to remove. I cut the guide to roughly the same length as a Fly or Ninco, and filed it to make it narrower, then clipped it back into place. Only a few minutes work, but it allows you to use the car on other brands of track. But the question is - how many people will bother? I can't help thinking that Carrera are doing themselves a disservice by not making their cars compatible with a wider range of tracks.

With the guide modified, the car ran well on my small Scalextric Sport test track. The 997 is quiet and smooth, and of course the double-magnet set up gives it huge amounts of grip. Carrera cars aren't the fastest around but the RSR is quick enough to be fun. 

On my little figure of eight track the Scalextric Boxster and Audi TT are about the quickest cars, usually lapping in 1.8 - 2.0 seconds. The 997 was doing consistent 2.0 sec laps, with less crashes! 

On the larger routed track the RSR doesn't do quite as well. It handles well and carries good speed through the corners, but its speed is limited by the heavy chassis and less-than-powerful motor. 

The tyres needed a light sanding and regular cleaning for the first 20-30 laps, but when they hooked up the Porsche could be pushed quite hard. Braking is fairly mild, so I soon found out that the car can carry a lot more speed through corners than I first expected - or intended!! 

The RSR loses in straight line speed but gains through the corners. It's a smooth, forgiving car to drive and with practise you can soon put in some deceptively fast laps. If you push to hard the tail will slide but it's controllable and the car corrects itself quickly. Sometimes it will slide wide enough to hit the limit of the guide's travel, but this isn't as often or dramatic as I thought it could be. The guide return spring is fairly strong but can be removed in a couple of minutes, which is worth considering if you're running the car with little or no magnet.

Overall I'm pleased with this car. It looks really good, the fit and finish are as good as anyone could reasonably expect. Performance is adequate, but I don't think Slot.It or NSR are going to worry! Yes, it took a little effort to get the car to work on my tracks, but nothing complex. But it's a nice car to drive - smooth, predictable and fun. 

Worth considering...

PS: If you like the car but want more performance it looks like the Ninco 997 chassis should fit with some modification. The RSR could also be a good candidate for the new Slot.It HRS2 chassis, due soon...

Bigger pics in the Gallery