[woodcote]

   

The Maserati GranTurismo MC GT3 is the first model in the new Slot.it 'Modern GT' range. Up until now, the closest to a Slot.it GT3 car has been a Scalextric body with PCR or Slot.it 3DP chassis and Slot.it mechanicals. An effective combination, but expensive.

The CA43a Maserati MC GT3 No.74 'Salita Del Costo 2017' was the first model in the range - it's RRP (via UK distributor Gaugemaster) is £62.95, but retails for a lot less - it's £49.99 at Top Slots & Trains, £53.95 at Pendles, £54.99 at Jadlams. In other words, closer to the price of a Scalextric GT3 car than an NSR.

As you'd expect from Slot.it, the moulding and decoration are excellent. The big car is to scale and the 2017 hill climb livery is accurate. The white and black is a stylish - if somewhat understated - colour scheme... but that draws the eye to the details. Having said that, my car was missing a roof aerial - I couldn't find one in the bag under the plinth - there is definitely a hole and there's one in the pictures on both the Slot.it and Pendle website listings. The rear wing is accurately modelled, looks robust and is not glued in place. The red wing mirrors are a hard plastic. Replacement wing, mirrors and detailing parts are available as CS43p and clear parts CS43v. The tray interior is not glued, so can be removed and replaced with a lexan alternative - CS43lx. The cockpit is moderately detailed, but not as stunning as I'd expect from Slot.it. However, it does match the minimalist white and black scheme of the car.

The Maserati comes fitted with black plastic hubs all round - but a pair of aluminium hubs (plus an allen key) are included under the plinth. There's also a clip and screws to fit the universal (Carrera, Scalextric & oXigen) Slot.it C-type digital chip in the chassis. The two pairs of rear hubs and the chip fitting kit appear to be standard across the new GT range.

   

Another standard feature is the sidewinder MX16 (23k) S-Can motor. The motor pod is the CH65 1.0mm offset Evo6 version with side arms - hence the six motor pod screws showing on the underside of the chassis. You can also see the standard Slot.it traction magnet - which is relatively weak compared to other brands - and a choice of three pockets. The SP23 tungsten weight (not included) is a direct replacement for the magnet and adds 2.5g of ballast for non-mag racing.

Slot.it have gone for the sidewinder S-Can as they strongly believe it is a better set up than anglewinder long-can - lighter, smoother and more nimble. It's not an uncommon view in various parts of the world. It's certainly going to be an easier drive for home racers more familiar with Scalextric, Policar and Carrera - which is an important consideration for Slot.it. Of course, if you prefer the anglewinder layout - or your club rules demand it - changing the pod, motor and gearing won't be too much of a challenge, although an added expense. NSR produce their GT cars in both anglewinder and sidewinder versions - the likes of Racer Sideways and Scaleauto, only anglewinder.

   

Inside, there's the new SP45 cable and connectors - perfect for a non-solder digital conversion. The Slot.it SP43 Carrera chip has equivalent connectors and the latest version of the SP15B Scalextric chip does too. I suspect they will be added to future production runs of the Type C universal chip. The SP45 cables are available separately and can be soldered to any chip so it can be swapped from car to car.

Two more things of note inside - a CH85 Advance screw-fit racing guide and the front axle is factory fitted with grub screws, which will need adjustment for your track type.

   

I plan to race the car, so plastic wheels needed replacing. They pulled off easily and the inserts were removed by poking a cocktail stick through the axle hole - an easy job. The C1 compound tyres and inserts were swapped to the aluminium hubs. Four plastic axle spacers are fitted, the two on the spur gear side are useful to space the wheels out to the 64mm the wheel arches allow, whilst keeping a good gear mesh. The rear wheels now have an attractive silver ring between tyre and inserts.

The Maserati GranTurismo was a big car in real life and the Slot.it model is a prefectly-to-scale monster. Maurizio Ferrari thinks the original car is one of the most beautiful GT3 cars ever built - but it is also beautiful for a slot car designer as it fills that ideal 64mm rear track without making any compromise on scale accuracy! These are the dimensions...

• Length: 156mm
  
• Height: 39mm
  
• Guide pivot to rear wheels: 103.5mm
  
• Rear track: 64mm
  
• Weight: 74g
  
• Body weight: 22g
  

The livery of this first Slot.it model is of one of only three GT3 cars built Swiss Team, in collaboration with Maserati. One chassis was raced by Swiss Team in 2012 and 2013, a second in 2015 and this third chassis was sold to Tridente Motors in Padova to be developed as a hill climb car - making its debut at the 2017 Salita Del Costo race...

   

The original 2012 Swiss Team livery will be released very soon as CA43b - and there's a SlotRacer preview of that model here. It's also worth saying that the Slot.it Maserati GrandTurismo MC GT4 model is a different mould - both body and chassis - and designated CA48. The GT4s were reworked from the GrandTurismo MCs built for the one-make Maserati Trofeo series. There's a SlotRacer preview of the GT4 here.

Next up, a home racer's track test and a run on my hillclimb...

[woodcote]

   

The Maserati was tested on my usual rug-racing layout - an ARC Air Jadlam SL6 set. It's what I use to test and compare new cars - mostly Scalextric models - for the Jadlam blog and for Slot Car Magazine. Of all the Jadlam SL layouts, I think  it works well as a test track for home racing - it fits on the living room floor of a small UK home, has a combination of left and right Radius 2 corners, a four-and-a-half-foot straight, a flyover and a single radius 1 90-degree right-hander. The total length is 10.6 metres, or a smidgeon under 35 feet...

   

It is tight and twisty, so ideal to judge how a car fitted with magnets will perform on a small home track. Non-mag racing is more of a challenge, but the layout is a great test of non-mag handling. Of course, it says very little about how a car will perform on a big club track.

The first test was with the magnet as fitted at the factory - just in front of the motor - plus the aluminium hubs and C1 compound tyres. The magnet is puny, measuring 13g in situ on my DIY magnet scale - compared to 30-45g for a Scalextric car and nearly 60g for an NSR Porsche 997 GT3. As a result, the Maserati was much more fun, but a bit of a challenge to drive on the tight and twisty track.

The car was quick and - when I kept it neat - I banged in some very satisfactory sub-4-second laps. However, when the rear stepped out and the meagre magnet moved off the rails the fun started... The tail slides were perfectly controllable most of the time, although once or twice there was a 'pendulum' effect when the front de-slotted as the rear came back. I really enjoyed it as the grip went off, but I'm not sure how the average home magnet racer would have coped!

   

My two-minute timed run with the magnet gave me 28 laps, a best of 3.90 seconds and an average of 4.20 -  no offs, but the lack of grip meant I was slowing a lot by the end. Other times for comparison include...

• 3.30 seconds - NSR Porsche 997 GT3 (32 laps)
  
• 3.64 seconds - NSR Porsche 908/3 (28 laps)
  
• 3.77 seconds - Scalextric Pagani Huayra (30 laps)
  
• 3.90 seconds - Slot.it Maserati MC GT3 (28 laps)
  
• 3.97 seconds - Scalextric Camaro Z28 (28 laps)
  
• 4.00 seconds - Slot.it Porsche 956 (28 laps)
  
• 4.01 seconds - Scalextric BMW 330i BTCC (28 laps)
  
• 4.15 seconds - Scalextric Aston Martin GT3 (26 laps)
  

I've never been convinced that the C1 tyres are ideal for Scalextric Sport - Classic, yes. The grip isn't stunning to begin with and traction slips away horribly when the tyres pick up any dust or dirt. There's simply no comparison with NSR Supergrips, which are standard on their GT3 cars. Sport isn't too dissimilar to Carrera - and P6 is designated the compound of choice for Carrera. The PT24 tyre would be a direct swap for the C1s on the Maserati. I think I'll have them handy - with a SP23 tungsten weight for the non-mag test...

[rallyhub]

I don't think it will be easy to be really fast with the big Maserati on your twisty home track, but I wouldn't be surprised if he can take advantage of his massive size as a club racer.

Hub

[woodcote]

   

I know Slot.it - and to some degree other 'performance' or 'hobbyist' brands - feel they need to fit traction magnets to appeal to a wider market. However, as soon as I removed the weak magnet from the Maserati, I had a better handling car. I could drive it more precisely or - if I prefered - I could powerslide the car without any risk of the 'pendulum' de-slots I'd experienced with the magnet fitted. All I'd done was fit the SP23 tungsten weight to the pocket in front of the motor. Right at the start, I had loosened the body and pod screws slightly. This was my first timed non-mag run...

   

That's the equal best score (with an NSR Audi R8) and fastest best lap of any non-mag run on the SL6 test track. But the grip disappeared after just a few laps with the C1 compound tyres. I didn't have a pair of Slot.it PT24 P6 tyres to hand, so fitted some NSR Supergrips for a like-for-like run with an NSR Porsche 997...

       

The first screen is the Maserati and the second the Porsche. Apart from being far easier to drive than the anglewinder long-canned Porsche, the Maserati maintained excellent grip with the NSR tyres. Before, the fast time came in the first couple of laps, but with the Supergrips I was setting new fastest laps right the way through the first 90 seconds. The interesting stat is the average lap - 4.65 with the Supergrips and 4.89 with the C1s. That's a significant difference.

How do those non-mag times compare with other cars from previous tests?

• 4.44 seconds - Slot.it Maserati MC GT3 (25 laps)
  
• 4.67 seconds - NSR Audi R8 LMS (24 laps)
  
• 4.94 seconds - NSR Porsche 997 GT3 (23 laps)
  
• 5.07 seconds - Slot.it Porsche 956 (23 laps)
  
• 5.20 seconds - Scalextric Pagani Huayra (22 laps)
  
• 5.24 seconds - NSR Porsche 908/3 (22 laps)
  
• 5.28 seconds - Policar Lotus 72 (21 laps)
  

Apart from the Lotus 72, all cars had 2.5g of weight added in front of the motor.

   

In conclusion, the Slot.it Maserati MC GT3 proved to be  a superb non-mag racer on my twisty home track. Its two-minute score and best lap time without magnets was equivalent to a Carrera GT car - and only slightly slower than the latest Scalextric GT cars - both with magnets fitted and tyres scuffed up. And that's on a twisty home track...

The 23k S-Can motor gave a fast, but smooth car - I could push, control slides and carry speed through the corners, even with a standard Scalextric ARC set controller. The NSR Porsche - with its 21.4k long-can - was much more tricky to drive smoothly, even when I changed to a softer throttle curve profile in the ARC app software.

The change of tyres made a difference to non-mag performance of the Maserati and gave consistent grip over a relatively short two-minute test run - unlike the Slot.it C1 tyres the car came with. I'm sure the standard C1 tyres will be great for home racers using Policar, Ninco or SCX track - but a change to Slot.it P6, NSR Supergrips or soft urethanes (eg Paul Gage XPG) is recommended for low-grip Scalextric Sport and Carrera track.

None of this tells us much about performance on big club tracks... but from what I can see on social media and the forums, the Slot.it Maserati is performing well at clubs around the world. I can't wait to give mine a go.

[woodcote]

   

This model is of a hill climb racer - competing in the 2017 Trofeo Italiano Velocità Montagna - so it's only right it gets a crack at the track record on my office hillclimb. Still a work in progress, there's little run off around the single-lane course - and a few sections where caution is definitely the safer part of valour.

   

I expected the long wheelbase not to be ideal on the three tight hairpins - particular on the cambered turn at the bottom of the hill, considering the car's low ground clearance... but the 23k motor and relative light weight were definitely going to be a help. I kept the NSR Supergrips and the tungsten weight...

   

So how did it go? It was probably a little too fast at 11 volts and with my Parma 45 ohm controller. However, the Maserati handled beautifully and had amazing grunt out of the corners...

   

That compared with the winning time in the TR7 proxy of 37.83 seconds, which was - before today - the quickest run on the current version of the hill climb. I think we can safely say the Slot.it Maserati MC GT3 No.74 'Salita Del Costo 2017' is a thoroughbred hillclimber.

[woodcote]

I hope that was a useful look at the first car in the new Slot.it 'Modern GT' range. As usual, the Slot.it team are sticking to what they believe in - beautiful scale models with track performance to match. And they've not stuck to the GT orthodoxies either, choosing a sidewinder S-Can as the only RTR motor option.

There will be three models available by the end of 2021...

   

That's a second Maserati GrandTurismo MC GT3 - available any day - you can read a preview post here.

   

There's also the GT4 version of the GrandTurismo MC released in July, which is previewed here.

   

Finally, there's the Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3. This is scheduled for a Q3 release and is previewed here.

[Johnno]

I don't think it will be easy to be really fast with the big Maserati on your twisty home track, but I wouldn't be surprised if he can take advantage of his massive size as a club racer.

Hub

Have to agree with Hub here on the small track and the large Maserati, I've run this on two smaller wood tracks, yes it races well, grips great, when it is given a larger wood track with 10 metre straight this car thrives and is quite at home, it handles great.

 I've removed all magnets and installed the upgrades that came in the box.

[CMOTD]

Now that's what I call a comprehensive review, well done Andy.

One question: how solid is that rear wing? Would it survive my usual barrel rolling incidents?

[woodcote]

I have the wing and some scales to hand, so I can tell you it weighs in at 1.2g. The posts aren't as chunky as an NSR or Scalextric GT, but certainly not as flimsy as a Scaleauto or Sideways. A high-speed barrel-roll into some solid scenery... I'd give it a 50:50 chance of survival. If the lugs into the body were loosened a little, that might go up to 65:35. I haven't crash tested it yet.

The CS43p spare parts pack contains two wings - the GT3 and the smaller GT4 versions - so that should keep you going.