Avant Slot Peugeot 207 S2000 IRC Test Car

Review by Mike Rust (Abarth Mike)

First Impressions

This is car is a very pretty car even if you are not a rally fan.

The proportions look right, not a blemish on the paintwork and the printing is excellent, zero blurring or running. The mirrors are the only disappointment both visually and structurally. They are very flimsy and just in the place where one would pick up the car. They didn't survive this review and the rear wing does not look like it would survive a trip to the floor. On my example there was a flaw/hole in the body moulding where the passenger (other) side mirror attaches but it is very, very small.

The wheels have visible brake disks and callipers but the callipers are attached to the disk so rotate with the wheels. There was some minor flashing on the inside of one the front wheels but it cleaned off very easily and the same wheel strangely is slightly wider on the outside than the other 3 by 0.3 mm but one has to look closely and it doesn't affect the overall appearance. The wheels measured at nominal 16.0mm OD x 9.0 and the tires are 19 x 9 mounted. The car weighed in at a lightweight 78 gms.

The interior is detailed enough but not overtly so as the rear deck is a simple black sheet. The co-driver could have been seated a bit lower for 100% realism but he does have readable pace notes.

Underneath

Not the first thing that one notices but this car has no magnet and no intentional provision for installing one. There is also not a lot of obvious room for adding weights. The chassis will be familiar to anyone with a Spirit 205 /Renault R5. It looks a bit old fashion for those used to full length floor pans. This leaves everything exposed and one can see the mesh glued over the front grill openings. There is no separate motor pod but there is space cut out ready for an inline drive but it would need a widget to support the rear of the motor (not supplied). It is however a light weight solution.



Out With The Screwdriver

The body is attached with two screws at the front and one at the rear. The body is very thin and light at 22 gms. but does not feel flimsy. The interior is only fixed at the front as the rear rides in a slit in the mounting post. This means the body is very flexible. With the body removed this car starts to really impress. For those into statistics this car has 14 adjustments screws.

The Hunter motor is secured with a screw in a single sided motor support. In theory it shouldn't move but the rear of the chassis is very flexible. The motor drives a 9:27 gear set brass pinion, aluminium spur gear. I did run them with some Brasso as I do that with all my cars but it made minimal difference as the mesh is very nice but it does have a metal-to-metal sidewinder-like whine to it, just like a thoroughbred which it obviously is. The car came with some side to side play but that was easily eliminated using the supplied Allen wrench. The tires are ribbed but are very soft they grip well but my limited running shows they will wear. Thoroughbred again!

The rear axle runs in counter-bored bushings that are in a slot rather than the normal snap-in supports. It is height adjustable up and down. I didn't explore the amount of travel but measured there is just over 2mm of upward travel available to lower the car until it scrapes the track. Downward movement is about the same for you "gravel" guys but it will require some minor surgery to achieve. At first I was a bit disappointed with the wheels as they are simply flat on the inside and not recessed and detailed like real ones. I then realized that this means that the hubs are stronger and less likely to crack. The wheels are nice and true and made of very hard plastic. I went through the motions of truing them but it took a while and didn't yield much improvement other than to remove the paint.

The front axle has flangeless bushings I have not seen before and they also ride up and down in a slot. Not quite so much upward adjustment is available but enough to scrap the track. Downward adjustment will not require surgery. The drop arm has a double offset to allow for future front spur gear and is adjustable for both downward limit and for upward ride height. The ride height adjustment screw was strangely installed backwards meaning it could not be reached easily with a screwdriver.

The front drive pulley (sorry on the other side) is smaller than the rear OD 12mm:9mm. meaning that the front wheels rotate faster than the rear. This is supposed to give "turn-in" in the corners. I can't drive well enough to tell you if it works.

I ran the motor on my test bench and discovered the screw on the axle spacer was hitting on the bar which houses the rear axle adjustment. A small touch up with a needle file and it was gone.

On the Tamiya Speed Checker the 207 clocked 26kph (21,700rpm calc) ) with belt and 28 kph (23400) without. This puts it between the Spirit 205 24kph with belts (20,200), Ninco Megane 27 kph (18100) and Revell Galaxie 29 kph (25700) For Reference Spirit Silhoutte, Slot.it R390 and Fly March all clock 30kph. All these at 12.5v.

The drive belt rubbed slightly on the chassis at the rear but I made a small groove again with a needle file and all was well. I lubricated everything, reversed the drop arm adjustment screw and set the ride height so that there was about a business card gap under the front wheels. I didn't want the front wheels to "drag" on the straight only to work in the corners.

On The Track

As my test track is not finished yet I took the car to our bi-weekly Scaley Sport 24ft x 6ft temporary pub track. The longest straights are about 20-ish feet. (6.15m). This is the track being set up in my neighbour's shop prior to "Pub Night"

The 207 out of the box is an absolute joy to drive. It accelerates well, brakes well, has power in reserve for controlled drifting but grips well enough to not do so if you don't want to. The front doesn't lift on acceleration and it has no tendency to tip in the corners. It is a very well balanced car. I allowed others to race it against my Spirit 205 Pike's Peak T16 in a "proxy" race with the voltage was set at +/- 15v.

In the hands of average drivers who had not driven them before these cars were fairly evenly matched in the corners and on short straights. The Spirit was set up with two grippy drive belts so may suffer more friction loss and does have weight added to keep the front from lifting on acceleration so is 15 gms heavier (car 87 plus 6gms of lead). Overall the 207 was quicker than the Spirit and the 207 is faster both out of the corners and on the long straights, the Hunter being a bit more motor than the Spirit SX03 at 15v. 23,000 vs 25,000. Again the Avant tires are soft and grip well but are overpowered a bit by the motor as they came off the track after 20 laps with the grooves between the ribs filled with rubber and inside the car splattered with stick black stuff not just the usual dust. It is a very light car so maybe with some lead in the rear and the right controller or a bit more control the 207 it would accelerate even faster and be a lot quicker. The front is well planted so I don't think anything is need there.
(My apologies for lack of comparative lap times or more definitive handling info but in truth I can't string two laps the same together)

Conclusion:

A very well made pretty car with impressive running gear. To paraphrase a road test on a 1:1 Maserati Quattroporte, "It looks good and goes even better than it looks"

I am not sure what the heck can I do to make this car better? But I'll try. Thank you Avant Slot for what may prove to be a benchmark car, at least for me.

Crass Commercialism

"Thanks to Evotech Shop for excellent communication and prompt delivery"