New Carrera Petty 'cars

The King has returned! The new Richard Petty edition cars (the Ford Torino model #27187 and the Plymouth Superbird model #27186) are here finally. These are certainly the most obvious liveries that simply had to be released when these bodies where first shown. And I don't know if it was intentional but the driver does bear more than a passing resemblance to Richard himself.

So now a good long look at them...
To say the paint on these cars is good is an understatement. They're done very, very well, and the few sponsor logos on the car are perfect as well.



Just in case you were thinking that the only new thing here was the paint job you'd be wrong. The chassis under the car is the same that has been used for previous releases of the Superbird and Torino. The body is quite a tight fit on top of the chassis.
Inside we see what does appear to be a new motor. The E500 has been tested by Rob Livingston of Slot Car News and was found to be identical in the RPM to the E200.
On track these cars steady and solid performing slot cars. With 100 laps of testing on my Carrera track, they got a fastest time of around 3.0 seconds. They tended to slide out if you corner too fast and I must admit to having unintentionally done a 1/32 version of one of Petty's more spectacular accidents. I flipped the car and due to the ultra-smooth paint the car slide down the entire length of the straight....DOH!!!!!!
I know that some slotters have made their own Petty cars using various aftermarket decals but now Carrera has finally released the car that will define these bodies.

These cars are important for another reason as well. They are excellent cross over slot cars that might find their way into the collections of non slot car collectors...let's hope they attract more attention to our hobby!

Spy case or soap opera...the McLaren case dragging along

F1ferrariMcLaren

New Ninco Ascari set

Thanks to MRC/Ninco for the news!

Diecast Mustang review

Frank has been busy again, another diecast review to show. This time a 1967 Mustang from Motor Mint!

Check out the Motor Mint site at this link...

diecasthobbies

More Ninco News for September!

10312-Trackmap Plus Software-$13.98 MSRP
40207-N-Digital Double Lane Change Track Piece-$54.98 MSRP

Carrera E200 "E500" Motor Tested

Here is a brand new Carrera E200 motor, factory fresh, as shipped to Wings'n'Wheels Hobbies in Clinton, CT, USA. But, it is clearly printed "E500" on the motor. Is this a new type of motor?

A quick test at 12.00 volts on the tachometer block shows an average of 19,320 RPM, after a 5 minute run up to operating temperature. The tach shines a red light on the spinning black disc, and is actually seeing, and counting, how many times a small piece of reflective tape passes through the light beam.

Since many E200's have been measured at 18k to 21k RPM on test, it looks like this is a run of the mill E200, in spite of the "E500" printed on the case. Must be a factory mis-print, not a new type of motor.

SCX Nascar review...Harvick Pennzoil

When there is a new release of a new livery of a slot car, you might wonder to yourself, "well is it really worth it to buy this one too?" Well in the case of the new Kevin Harvick Pennzoil Nascar you maybe want to check out this car at your local hobby shop.

This livery of the car is strikingly done by SCX. Yellow is always a color that raises a red flag with some slotters...it's tough to get that color opaque, well SCX have given us a nice thick coat of yellow paint over a yellow body... no issues here, it's a nice solid yellow.


The tail detail on this body is just as nicely done as the previous models. There are a few spots in the paint on this car, but it's more evident frankly in this photo than when you look at the car with your eye.
One issue with this car is that the wheels still stick outside the body a bit more than they should. It would be great to see SCX make a bit of an adjustment to the axle length here.
I wasn't expecting a change on the chassis treatment but here you have it. A nice flat black look to the chassis! I'm not sure if the material is different than the previous Nascars (and other recent SCX releases for that matter). But the flat black appearance of the chassis I think has a more pleasing look than a glossy paint job. After all real cars have dirty undersides that are seldom shiney.
So is the difference in this car only cosmetic? An emphatic NO! There is more motor pod movement than ANY previous SCX car I've seen...with only the exception of the Pro Audi! The pod has plenty of movement right out of the box. A nice rocking motion allows the pod to move easily. This is a very nice suprise indeed!

I did notice that the chassis fits quite tightly inside the body, it would be good to cut or sand around the edges of the chassis to make free up the stress on the body.
Here we see the RX-42B motor which will rev up to about 20k rpm according to the Slot Car News motor list.

How does this car perform? All testing was done on the my Carrera test track (photo inset here for reference).

I did 50 laps with the car in stock form. I didn't do anything other than put a drop of oil on the bushings at the corners and a drop on each end of the motor.

I got a fastest lap time of 3.0 with about 3.1 being the average.

Then I gave the magnet holder 2 full turns out to drop the magnet down lower to the track. I sanded the stock tires to make sure they had some scuffed rubber to use.

I now had a fastest lap time of 2.6 seconds! Which for reference is what the Scalextric Trans Am Jaguar will do with the stock magnet and Sloter tires in place. The Harvick car is certainly no slouch around the track!

A recommended buy...

Thanks to Distributoys for the car for review!

DaveK
Publisher, Slot Car News

Nascarnextel cupchevroletHarvickmotorsports

1/32 diecast review-Motor Mint trash truck

Frank has another review of a new Motor Mint 1/32 die cast...a Freightliner trash truck!

Check out the Motor Mint site at this link...

Ferrari unsatisfied with FIA decision

f1ferrariMcLaren

Canadian Proxy Race...details and links

CPR HQ, Toronto, Ontario

DrVanski Racing has concluded talks with some of Canada's premier slot racing facilities and is pleased to announce the official 2008 Canadian Proxy Race (CPR) schedule.

* January - Ferrari 1950's The Autodrome - Oakville, Ontario
* February - Super Rat's The 'Ring - Mississauga, Ontario
* March - Cgingras' Circuit du Grand Rocher II - Quebec City, Quebec
* April - TR3's Bent Birch Raceway - Montreal, Quebec
* May - Slotbutton's Suzuka West - Victoria, British Columbia
* June - Oldslotracer's Targa Florio - Vancouver, British Columbia
* July - Double Naught's Idle Time Raceway - Edmonton, Alberta
* August - Giddyup's Tanglewood - Calgary, Alberta
* September - DrVanski's AVUS - Toronto, Ontario

With three seperate classes racing at nine different venues across Canada, the CPR has the potential to offer up some proxy slot racing action virtually every other weekend in 2008 from January until September. For detailed track information, be sure to download the official CPR 2008 Track Details here. Don't forget to browse the CPR 2008 track gallery here.

DrVanski Racing would like to thank the track hosts for opening their raceways and assembling their best drivers for what should be one of the most exciting proxy races of the 2008 season. We would also like to thank Slot Car News for sponsoring the CPR GTU class and providing the CPR with their comprehensive motor list for reference. A hearty round of thanks as well to the builders who so quickly swelled the ranks of pre-registered entries.

Look for an announcement soon regarding the official entry procedure, and the adjudication panel for the CPR Concours d'Elegance which may include a surprise celebrity judge.

Spirit Silhouette Peugeot Esso-review

The Spirit Silhouette Peugeot Elis/Esso car is a new livery and the second in a series of releases of this body. The fenders are fat, the stance low...and the livery really shows off the body lines.
It strikes me that this would be a super proxy racing car. The light weight body, perfect fit of the chassis on top of the body...
Everything fits perfectly on this car, the wheels especially stand out as being true and they spin easily on the axles.
The same front axle adjustment is present as it is on all recent Spirit releases. The motor pod design is carried over to this car too from the previous Silhouette release. The chassis has temendous flex, which is fine, but the pod also has a great deal of flex. And since this pod does not have those holes in the gear end for screws, you can't hold the motor down very well. All that torque twist the pod and creates the "high torque hop" that many companies cars have. The Spirit motor especially has this problem because of the bucket loads of power it has.
The gears on this car, as with the other recent Spirit Peugeot releases, meshes very, very well. Those angle winder gears are darn thin, but also, darn smooth. There is very little gear noise. Along with the bucket loads of torque is also tons of braking ability.

Testing notes from the Bay Bridge Carrera test track:
1. Fastest lap time was 3.2 seconds with a 3.3 average over 100 laps of testing.
2. I sanded the tires a bit just to make sure they were round and to get a bit of fresh rubber contacting the track. The tires don't really sand that well, not as well as the BMW tires. They are round so they've got that in their favor.
3. There's very little grip with the tires.
4. The magnet feels very light and doesn't hold the car very well in the corners.
5. Very easy to spin the tires whenever you want. A bit too much throttle and the car will easy spin out.

With some replacement tires I'd expect this car to be quite fast. It's got a lot of things going for it, but on my track, the tires aren't one of them.

For comparison times I did a number of laps with the Scalex Trans Am that I reviewed a few months ago (thanks again to Fantasy World Hobbies for that) and I got a fastest lap time of 2.6 seconds! But in fairness the tires are the super sticky Sloter tires, and the magnet on the Jaguar Trans Am is super strong.


Spirit has a good, solid GT type car on their hands here. The finish on the car is wonderful, the yellow is solid and the printing is good. Issues with tire stick aside this is a fast, well build car that has got lots of potential.

A recommended buy...

DaveK
Slot Car News

McLaren cleared in spy case...

...and there was much rejoicing!
Photo and news used from McLaren.com, no reuse
Following an appearance by McLaren today at the FIA World Motor Sport Council in Paris, a unanimous decision has been taken by the FIA which in McLaren’s opinion is very balanced and fair. McLaren accepts the that the FIA World Motor Sport Council had no alternative other than to find that there was a purely technical breach by reason of the possession of certain information by one individual at his home, without McLaren’s knowledge or authority. McLaren is delighted that the World Motor Sport Council determined that this information was not used and accordingly imposed no sanction whatsoever on the team. McLaren looks forward to continuing its fight in what is the most exciting Drivers’ and Constructors’ World Championship in many years.

RON DENNIS, CHAIRMAN AND CEO, McLAREN GROUP: “There is no doubt that the past 24 days have been challenging and the tremendous support we have received from our sponsor partners and the public has been much appreciated. Moving forward McLaren wants to re-affirm our long-standing commitment to honesty and integrity and re-state that we believe we have acted correctly throughout. Now, we have Formula 1 World Championships to win. As a result we intend to move on, so as to maintain the focus and commitment required to do exactly that.”

FERNANDO ALONSO: “Having only been part of McLaren for a few months I know how important today’s decision will be for everybody. I am looking forward to an exciting second half of the season and to continue our battle for both World Championships.”

LEWIS HAMILTON: “Whilst it’s only my first season in Formula 1 with the team, I already know and appreciate the commitment and dedication of the people there. As a result I am pleased with today’s decision and can’t wait for the rest of the season.”

And this from AFP....

f1mclarenferrari