NINCO LAMBORGHINI GALLARDO

Review by Taxi

Ninco have released some great models over the last few years and nearly all of them have proved to be extremely popular (you try finding a Supra or NSX!) and I think their latest release, the Lamborghini Gallardo, is going to be a big hit too.

Ninco are the third manufacturer to release a model of the Gallardo but this is the first in a racing livery. AutoArt produced a road car version some time ago which is a nice looking model but not a great performer. Scalextric have recently added the Gallardo to their 'super resistant' range of light, lower detail cars.

Can Ninco's version offer both looks and performance? Let's find out...

The Gallardo certainly looks the part. It's not a long car, but it's low and wide and the overhangs are short. Ninco have chosen an interesting livery and done a good job of it. The paint is smooth and evenly applied, and the tampo printing is first class - crisp, solid and flawless. 

If you look very closely you can see that in some places the separation between black and orange isn't quite as sharp as it could be, but this is a very minor defect and doesn't really detract from the car's appearance.

The interior is a shallow tray but there's enough moulded detail to give the impression of depth and realism. The driver sits in a red bucket seat with a printed digital instrument panel in front of him. If the worst happens the car has a roll cage and fire extinguisher. Looking towards the rear of the car we can see some neatly moulded and painted engine detail visible through a mesh screen.

The chassis with its angle-winder motor placement will be familiar to Ninco fans, but there's an important difference. Most Ninco cars have the 20,000rpm NC5 motor, but the Gallardo gets the NC6, rated at 23,500rpm @14.8v and 20% more torque too.

The rest of the chassis hardware is standard Ninco - the rear axle runs in bronze bushes and is driven via nylon gears, though the bushes are a slightly sloppy fit on the axle. The front axle is solid and runs directly in the chassis without bushes. This arrangement allows the front axle approx 2mm of vertical travel. Both axles are slightly too long, though on my car this is more evident at the front than the rear. A button magnet and sprung guide complete the chassis components.

The chassis itself has two fairly deep stiffening ribs running along its length and these do a pretty good job although there is still some flex at the rear. The motor can also rotate slightly in its mount so you may decide you need to glue the motor in place and add some bracing at the rear of the chassis. Loosening the body screws allows the body to float quite nicely although you'll probably need to lightly sand the edges of the chassis to let the body move freely.

Rough comparisons with two other Ninco favourites - the Nissan 350Z and Ascari KZ1 - show the Gallardo has the shortest wheelbase but the important rear axle to guide length is almost identical to the Ascari and longer than the 350Z. The Gallardo is also the widest of the trio. Sounds promising...

Not so promising on my pint-sized Scalextric Sport test track. The Gallardo is definitely quick and quite smooth, if a little noisy. But the Sport track doesn't give a lot of grip and the small magnet is only helpful until the car starts to slide, then the magnet is moved away from the rails and the car slides even more. It's fun because even when it's almost totally sideways the Gallardo is completely controllable, but it's not the fastest way to get round the track!

To be fair, it's a very small, tight track and doesn't give the car much chance to show off its abilities. I've run Ninco cars on larger Scalextric tracks and they're very capable - a little slower through the corners than Scalextric cars because of the smaller magnets but the powerful motors give a definite advantage on the straights. 

On the larger routed track the Gallardo fares much better. First impressions are speed and noise! Some of the noise is cause by the front axle rattling, easily fixed by trimming it by 1-2mm. The rest is mainly from the gears and this has decreased as the car covered more laps.

But forget the noise, speed is what matters! The Gallardo is definitely very quick on this track, but it's also stable and easy to drive. Acceleration and braking are strong, as you'd expect with this motor. The car feels solidly planted on the track with no hint of nervousness or twitchiness, it just feels like it could happily blast round the track all day no matter what you do!

Of course it will de-slot if you do something silly but you really have to be pushing hard to get this unstuck. I don't think I've had a front end de-slot yet, it's always been the tail coming round and spinning the car out of the slot because I've gone into or out of a corner too fast.

The Gallardo seems durable too. It's covered several hundred laps now, with the inevitable offs and tangles with other cars but it has emerged without any damage at all. I was a little worried about the rigid mirrors but they have survived so far.

Talking of tangles with other cars, the Gallardo has several close competitors from Ninco's own stable - particularly the Ascari KZ1. The Ascari is one of my outright favourite cars and I was keen to see how the Lamborghini shaped up against it. My Ascari is well run-in, smooth and very quick. It also has a more substantial chassis as standard and I've glued the axle bearings and motor in place for extra security. The Gallardo was almost standard except for lightly sanded tyres and the body screws loosened slightly. 

But even in standard form the Gallardo is instantly competitive. Lap after lap the two cars were neck and neck, only driver errors giving an advantage one way or the other.

Running the Gallardo next to the Ascari highlighted a small problem though - when accelerating hard the Ascari gets its power down smoothly but the back of the Gallardo definitely 'hops', especially with the body screws loosened. It's not as noticeable as some of the earlier cars like the Supra and NSX but I think the Gallardo's chassis will need a little bracing for extra strength.

It's very easy to be impressed with the Gallardo. It looks great and performs very well indeed, competitive out of the box with some of the best cars around. Ninco's prices have increased recently but in the UK at least they are still competitive.

I couldn't resist this car, can you?

PS: I wonder if they'll make the Super GT liveries too?