[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.