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 present their latest competition masterpiece The Ford MKIV |
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| We have the winning car from Sebring 12 hours 1967... For those of you into the Historical background of cars in reviews, I found a great history of the GT40 HERE on 'gizmag' and HERE on Wikipedia |
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Other models will be available very soon... |
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This is the first venture into the 'classic' cars era for Noviello Slot Racing so what is it like? A brief summary is that it looks good, not stunning but good. Straight from the box onto the track it is fast, not lighting quick but compared to every other rtr classic car on offer in the slot car world it is the quickest. Let me explain in further detail. |
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| Reviews usually work well when the reader has something known to them with which to compare it, NSR cars are quirky in this area because they are actually in their own space and time. Take the Mosler and the Clio, both cars designed and built for Competition, not plain home racing ( they are too fast and twitchy for most home tracks) but basic and upwards Club racing to enable the owner to race hard and fast in competition. They have no real peers in this area, sure there are other cars available to match type and age wise but none are competitive with these out of the box (*1). So what you get are NSR specific events and race series which is in itself no bad thing and NSR certainly know their market. | |
| However, when writing a meaningful review that isn't just
a jumble of praise and hype, it gets tricky with NSR cars :) So what I have
done further on is give you a simple breakdown of the car as I see it, in
the hand and on the track. Then I have thrown in some popular comparisons
as a point of reference only. These take the form of the resin Ford MKIV
from LMM, the Scalextric Ford GT40 and a Slot.It tuned Fly Carrera 6. |
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When you unpack it the first impression is - "wow, light car!" it weighs a mere 72.6 grams (71.2 grams without the magnet). This is split into a complete body weight of only 18.4 grams (interior is 3.4 grams) and a bare chassis weight of 53.6 grams (52.2 grams without magnet). First visual impressions are that the finish is better than with the Mosler and Clio. The printing is crisp and clear, the laquer a deep gloss, the surface dust free and thick enough to cover the printing and protect the car... |
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| One odd thing that struck me was that I saw production models in Turin this year and the light lens had a black trim round them, this one does not and I personally felt it looked better with. They go a long way to making the front lights appear smaller. With the many comments from toyfair pictures and other shots that have appeared on the net, being about the scale of these units, the front light issue is in the forefront of peoples minds when these finally reach the shops. It was an issue for me, I thought they looked big so when my one arrived I took the opportunity to do some research. I am still not really convinced either way though, I used two books for reference ( 'The Ford that beat Ferrari' by JS Allen & GJ Jones and 'GT40 an individual history and race record' by R Spain) and found some pictures on the net. Take a look yourself and decide, as I jump off the fence and state I think they are not as out as people fear but still feel they 'look wrong'... |
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This leads us nicely into the area of scale. NSR are known for being out of scale slightly but as these are made for competition, if you are looking for a truescale, detail high masterpice then these are not for you anyway. Here is what I have come up with on the scale measurement side of things. Measurements first then some comparison pics for reference. |
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| Measurements of actual car in mm: Height: 1000 Width: 1710 Length: 4430 Wheelbase: 2410 mm | Measurements of NSR MKIV in mm with 1/32 scale measurements in brackets: Height: 30 ( 31.2) Width: 60 (53.4) Length: 137 (138.4) Wheelbase: 75.1 (75.4) |
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Note specially the lights, bonnet area and cockpit screen rake angle differences between the NSR car and the LMM version. Seems a large difference and until now I had assumed the LMM one would be scale correct. Looks wise now I am not so sure, NSR don't look as if they got it that wrong after all!! |
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Now onto the detailing of the car. As I said earlier if you are into detail and scale perfection then this isn't the car for you. It is designed and built to race so detailing is light but functional and what detailing there is looks basic. That said, if you compare NSR cars to the 'racing' versions by other manufacturers where you get a flat, one piece interior tray in lexan, then what you get here is a one piece cast engine and a full interior. With the interior only weighing 3.4 grams INCLUDING the driver, it is going to be basic but it is more than possible to paint and highlight the inside to look the part.The driver looks a little odd but to be fair, most Manufacturers get slated for their driver figures!.. |
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As for the exterior detailing you get wing mirrors and inserts for the metal rims that have colour coded three prong knock offs as in the original car. Again they are stark and basic but more than enough for a race car. With possibly some glue to hold the knock offs on better, they should last years... |
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That brings us finally to performance and the hardest part to give meaningful data for. The chassis holds no suprises, being the same as the tried and tested adjustable floating motor pod style with three body fixing points as in the Mosler chassis. Magnet sits firmly in its mount and there are two alternative positions available. The hole under the front axle is presumably for any Digital fans out there and there is plenty of space for any of the current Digital boards... |
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As for performance, home track owners will be pleased to learn that as sold this one will be fine on your track. It comes with the relatively mild 'Shark 20' which is no where near as fast or twitchy as the motors supplied with the Clio and Mosler. A simple upgrade for the club racers amongst you should see it turn into the speed monster you are looking for as the chassis works well under cornering as well as delivering that power smoothly under acceleration. The 'classic' tyres supplied with this model are a vast improvement on the ones supplied with the Clio. I found no need to true or glue for once and grip levels are more than acceptable, without being tippy, on the two tracks I tested on (44m Nebendahl and 24m Scalextric Sport). Here are some lap time figures, based on the best of 20 laps on each track, both at 12volts with 5 Amps available per lane. Remember that the Mosler and Clio are just too fast for our 'sport' track with its fast changing gadients, sharp turns and relatively short straights. |
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| Results on Nebendahl routed track (copper rails) | Results on Scalextric Sport track (steel rails copper coated) |
| NSR FORD GT MKIV: 10.482 seconds | NSR FORD GT MKIV (magnet in): 7.423 seconds |
| NSR Clio Rally: 9.602 seconds | NSR FORD GT MKIV (magnet out): 8.623 seconds |
| NSR Mosler EVO II : 10.092 seconds | NSR Clio Rally (magnet out): 8.513 seconds. It is impossible to drive this car here and hit full throttle. |
| Scalextric Ford GT40 MKII : 11.992 seconds | NSR Mosler EVO II (magnet in): 6.512 seconds |
| Fly Carrera 6(*2): 10.455 seconds | NSR Mosler EVO II (magnet out): 8.835 seconds |
| Scalextric Ford GT40 MKII (magnet in): 8.598 seconds | |
| Fly Carrera 6(*2): 8.426 seconds | |
As you can see, it holds its own on both the routed track and the Scalextric Sport, this is without any tuning to increase performance. I also wondered if the motor / gear set up on the MKIV would make the Mosler and Clio work better on home tracks? Say you want to run these cars on your home track or you have tried with no success, 'tuning down' in these cases might get you good results. |
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I look forwards to playing with the set up of this car over the coming weeks and will be reading with interest, the findings of others who take the plunge. Especially anyone who gets one for home set use. I leave you with a couple of pics of the car pacing itself on 'Mugello'. Thanks for reading. |
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| *1 - Basic set up issues common to all cars, such as checking wheels are set correctly, tyres are sitting properly or braid set right etc - ignored) | |
| *2 - Slot.It rear axle, bushes, 15x8 wheels, spur gear (same ratio as out of box car) but running on original Fly tyres and no magnet. | |
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SlotForum 2008
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Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 20th May 2013 - 01:41 |
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