Slot car enthusiasts have been crying out for a model of the Pagani Zonda for quite some time, and the announcement that MB Slot were to produce the Zonda created a lot of interest. MB are well known for their high quality spares but this is their first complete car.

The initial release comes as an unpainted 'kit'. The car is 90% assembled and can be used straight from the box, but the detail parts - mirrors, wing, light lenses, exhaust detail etc - are packaged in plastic bags attached to the underside of the display box.

This is probably the best compromise for an unpainted model; those who want to paint their car don't have much disassembly work to do, but it's also possible to take the car out of the box and race it straight away. 

The body is neatly moulded with no obvious lines or flaws. The overall shape looks very representative of the original and its dimensions are accurate. The level of detail is impressive, everything looks very neat and crisp and well-defined.

The interior is a shallow tray with minimal detail. The driver is present from mid-chest up, and is plain white and waiting for some paint. But we get a nice little bonus - some well-sculpted engine detail visible through the rear screen. 

Sorry, but I couldn't leave it plain white!! So most of the photos show the car with a coat of black paint and some home-made decals.

The chassis is of course all-new, and bound to raise some interest. When you first turn the car over you're faced with no less than 10 screws! Fortunately they're not all employed to hold body and chassis together - 4 screws attach the front axle carrier, three hold the motor pod and 3 are for the body.

Let's start at the front. The guide is attached to the chassis with a single screw. It's fairly long (18mm) with a chamfered tip. The sides of the guide are profiled, presumably to reduce drag. Part of the guide extends forward of the pivot.

As mentioned earlier the front axle is mounted in a carrier which is attached to the main chassis with 4 screws. The screws can be loosened to allow the axle to float, or you could insert spacers to set the axle height. The axle itself is solid and appears to be hardened, and runs in two metal bushes. The wheels are plastic with separate inserts including photo-etched brake discs and callipers (which turn with the wheels). Tyres are low profile.

The rest of the chassis is basically dominated by the motor/transmission pod. The motor is a 'SongNa' rated at 21,000 rpm, and attached firmly to its mount with two screws. It drives the rear axle via 9:26 gearing. The contrate gear consists of two parts, the gear itself and a centring ring to align the axle and motor shaft. Both the gear and centring ring are fixed with grub screws. 

The axle again appears to be hardened steel and runs in two metal bushes. The bushes are free to rotate in their mounts and (depending on the spacing of the wheels) can also move along the axle so it's a good idea to glue them in place. The rear wheels are also plastic with inserts, brake discs and callipers. The tyres are rubber and fairly soft, but mine were quite a loose fit and needed to be glued to the wheels.

The motor pod is attached to the chassis with three screws and three sprung suspension units. Each suspension unit is made up of a metal pin, with a spring and washer secured with a circlip. The pins have seven grooves cut in them - alternative fitting points for the circlip - so quite a wide range of suspension adjustment is possible. Obviously you can also adjust the suspension by loosening or tightening the screws.

The car is supplied with two small button magnets, mounted either side of the centreline of the car just ahead of the motor. The motor pod and chassis have a total of seven (!!) pairs of alternative mounting points for the magnets. 

As usual the first runs with the Zonda were done on my small Scalextric track. First impressions are that it's quiet and smooth, and fairly quick. The magnets are small and in their mid-mounted position still allows the car to slither and slide. Moving them to the rear instantly boosts grip. I tried some chassis adjustments but the track is too small to show the effect of any changes.

I found the Zonda very easy to drive quickly. It's smooth and predictable, and throws itself around the track at a very good pace. The tail slides out if pushed too hard into or out of a corner, but it's easy to control and the car sorts itself out rapidly. The Zonda feels solidly planted on the track, well-balanced and nimble. It's quick, and has got noticeably faster with some running time, but it doesn't feel like it has quite as much 'punch' as the current Slot.It cars. 

Time to try some adjustments. The body screws were backed off a little, and I loosened the motor pod screws by about 1.5 turns to give the suspension some freedom to work. I also loosened the front axle carrier screws by about 1 turn, just to introduce a little movement there.

The difference wasn't huge, more a case of making a good car feel a little better. The tail feels a little more stuck down and the whole driving experience feels just that little bit smoother. I'm really impressed, although it's running a 21k rpm motor the chassis feels so sorted that I think it would easily handle more power. 

So, an impressive debut model from MB Slot. It's a very nice scale model with a well-sorted chassis (though I would have preferred alloy wheels, at least at the back). It's nice to see good scale appearance even on a model obviously aimed at the racer, I'm glad MB decide to follow Slot.It's lead rather than go down the NSR Mosler route.

In the UK at least, prices are reasonable - comparable to Slot.It and Avant Slot. In fact, with the price increases recently announced by several manufacturers, the price is about average for a slotcar these days. 

If the 'kit' version doesn't appeal to you, painted/liveried cars are promised in the not-too-distant future. It's a super car, well worth considering.

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