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Slotcar
reviews - Fly, Scalextric, SCX, Ninco, Slot It, TeamSlot,
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Scalextric
recently released the budget 'low detail' version of the F430 in
plain colours, but now we have the full spec car, complete with
interior, lights and a 'proper' racing paintjob in Scuderia
Ecosse colours.
So how
does it perform and is it worth the extra money?
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Compared
to the 'plain jane' road car, the Scuderia Ecosse car is very
striking. The finish is very good, great paint and the tampo
printing is solid, crisp and even the driver names are legible.
The separation between colours is very crisp except at the front
where there are some tiny smudges, but these are invisible from
more than a couple of inches away.
Scalextric
usually fit flexible aerials and wing mirrors, but the Ferrari
also has a flexible rear wing so it should be able to survive
those 'racing incidents' better than most.
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to the striking appearance is the view through the rear
windscreen - a nicely detailed engine bay. The detailing isn't
over the top but it's enough to be convincing.
The
engine bay forms part of the interior tub, which includes the
usual Scalextric driver figure, roll cage, extinguisher and
some crisply-moulded detail on the centre console and
dashboard. I'm pretty sure the Scuderia Ecosse drivers don't
wear white overalls though!
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The chassis
is similar to the road car, but not the same and the two are not
interchangeable. The rear mounting screw locations are
different, the race car chassis has two additional screws and
the rear diffuser is different.
The race
car also gets Scalextric's usual light system and additional
detail parts such as front and rear grills, exhaust detail etc.
Wheels and tyres are new, with wider rear tyres. The rest of the
running gear is standard, including the plug to make it easy to
convert to digital. As with many slotcars, especially Scalextric
cars, the rear bearings are a rather loose fit on the axles and
may benefit from some attention.
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Running on
my small Scalextric Sport track the new F430 is very quick and
has plenty of grip from those wide tyres and big magnet. It's
slightly heavier than the road car but any difference in
performance seems pretty marginal.
The
Ferrari is wide and low so if you get a little over-enthusiastic
the result is usually a spin unless it's doing silly speeds -
then, as with any car, you risk flipping it over, but the
flexible parts should hopefully reduce the risk of damage.
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my routed track the Scuderia Ecosse car is a better option
than the lightweight road car. The small amount of extra
weight seems to help, the car feels much more secure and more
able to put the power down without so much wheel-spin. The
tyres work quite well on my track and the car corners well,
nicely balanced and smoothly drifting through the corners.
The
only problem I found was that the front end seemed to bounce,
especially on any uneven parts of the track (you would not
describe the surface of my track as glass-smooth!!). The nose
of the car is quite light so I added 5 grams of weight and
that pretty much solved it.
This
didn't happen on my Scalextric track, which is also less than
smooth - the magnet keeps the whole car pinned to the track.
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I think
Scalextric are producing some of the best-finished cars
currently available, and this new Ferrari is no exception. The
move towards flexible materials for mirrors and wings seems
like a good idea, something that will keep our cars looking
pretty for longer. Performance straight out of the box is very
good, sadly not always the case with slotcars.
If
you're a fan of modern GT cars this will make a fine addition
to any collection.
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