5th-Feb-22, 11:26 AM
The McLaren F1 GTR really needs no introduction. Very successful in its day with a Le Mans win in 1995 (plus 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 13th) it raced in various categories over a ten year period. There are a multitude of 1:1 liveries available which is manna from heaven for slot car companies so the world and his mother have produced various versions. This MR Slotcar incarnation was released a few years ago but is still widely available and a couple of them are currently on offer at a reduced price from Pendles so time to give it a try I thought.
I purchased the Andy Wallace/Derek/Justin Bell, Harrods sponsored one in bright yellow for the simple reason that I have red and yellow lanes on my track and already have the red Revoslot car so potentially a matched pair for racing.
Quality control
I don't know if I am Mr Unlucky but almost every car I have bought in recent times, regardless of make, has something wrong with it and this one is no exception. They are usually small things which are easily corrected but it is annoying never the less. With the ever increasing cost of slot cars it really is time that manufacturers paid more attention to quality control.
On this one the front axle had too much up and down movement which meant the wheels jammed in the arches and refused to rotate. This is easily adjustable but, although the relevant holes are provided, no screws are fitted and the average buyer is unlikely to have a ready supply of M2 grub screws to do the job. Would it really add that much to the overall cost of the product to fit a couple as standard?
Once I had sorted that out, oiled the relevant parts and run it in for a bit, I gave it a quick initial blast and was treated to the worst case of the dreaded 'Ninco hop' I have experienced in many a day. Anything approaching full throttle and the rear end bounced so hard the whole car lifted out of the slot! A full strip down revealed the culprit to be a loose motor fixing screw so it was wobbling about and twisting the chassis when any power was applied. Soon tightened up so back on the track we go, at which point two of the wheel inserts fell out and had to be glued back in!
Performance
Apart from changing the rear tyres for ones more suitable for my wooden track and loosening the body screws I left it completely box stock. Unlike more recent issues which have Slot.It motors this is fitted with a Scaleauto 21,500 rev one which is not one of my favourites. It is a bit of a flat out or nothing motor and this one was worse than most so it took a lot of fiddling with the controller knobs to tame the thing down. Even so, the slightest over ambition with the trigger finger on corner exit meant a violent sideways lurch or a quick trip to the scenery and performance was therefore somewhat erratic.
Ultimate lap speed, on the rare occasions I got everything right, was extremely good. Fastest lap on my 50ft track was a fraction over 5 seconds which is not far off Thunderslot times and 3/10ths quicker than the Revoslot but I couldn't do it with any consistency and lap times varied wildly by over a second. The Revoslot would undoubtedly win a race between the two as it is much more predictable.
Summary
The above does look somewhat negative but I think a change of motor would transform it into a real flyer so I will have a rummage in the spares box for something suitable. It was a wise move to ditch the Scaleauto motor in favour of a Slot.It one for the current Jaguars which are better performers straight out of the box. The price was very much in its favour though, £5 cheaper than the current Scalextric/SCX/Carrera RRP for an upmarket car is not at all bad. Even adding in the price of a replacement motor it is still a good buy.
I purchased the Andy Wallace/Derek/Justin Bell, Harrods sponsored one in bright yellow for the simple reason that I have red and yellow lanes on my track and already have the red Revoslot car so potentially a matched pair for racing.
Scale accurate?
Nowhere near it actually. Of all the different manufacturers it has the widest divergence from true scale being too long and way too wide. Not quite a 'pancake' but veering towards it so, If such things worry you unduly, then this one is probably best avoided. It doesn't look that bad on its own but the Revoslot version is much closer to the real thing so here is a comparison of the two:
Quality control
I don't know if I am Mr Unlucky but almost every car I have bought in recent times, regardless of make, has something wrong with it and this one is no exception. They are usually small things which are easily corrected but it is annoying never the less. With the ever increasing cost of slot cars it really is time that manufacturers paid more attention to quality control.
On this one the front axle had too much up and down movement which meant the wheels jammed in the arches and refused to rotate. This is easily adjustable but, although the relevant holes are provided, no screws are fitted and the average buyer is unlikely to have a ready supply of M2 grub screws to do the job. Would it really add that much to the overall cost of the product to fit a couple as standard?
Once I had sorted that out, oiled the relevant parts and run it in for a bit, I gave it a quick initial blast and was treated to the worst case of the dreaded 'Ninco hop' I have experienced in many a day. Anything approaching full throttle and the rear end bounced so hard the whole car lifted out of the slot! A full strip down revealed the culprit to be a loose motor fixing screw so it was wobbling about and twisting the chassis when any power was applied. Soon tightened up so back on the track we go, at which point two of the wheel inserts fell out and had to be glued back in!
Performance
Apart from changing the rear tyres for ones more suitable for my wooden track and loosening the body screws I left it completely box stock. Unlike more recent issues which have Slot.It motors this is fitted with a Scaleauto 21,500 rev one which is not one of my favourites. It is a bit of a flat out or nothing motor and this one was worse than most so it took a lot of fiddling with the controller knobs to tame the thing down. Even so, the slightest over ambition with the trigger finger on corner exit meant a violent sideways lurch or a quick trip to the scenery and performance was therefore somewhat erratic.
Ultimate lap speed, on the rare occasions I got everything right, was extremely good. Fastest lap on my 50ft track was a fraction over 5 seconds which is not far off Thunderslot times and 3/10ths quicker than the Revoslot but I couldn't do it with any consistency and lap times varied wildly by over a second. The Revoslot would undoubtedly win a race between the two as it is much more predictable.
Summary
The above does look somewhat negative but I think a change of motor would transform it into a real flyer so I will have a rummage in the spares box for something suitable. It was a wise move to ditch the Scaleauto motor in favour of a Slot.It one for the current Jaguars which are better performers straight out of the box. The price was very much in its favour though, £5 cheaper than the current Scalextric/SCX/Carrera RRP for an upmarket car is not at all bad. Even adding in the price of a replacement motor it is still a good buy.
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