Mr Slot Car Mazda, A review Options

[Number 27]

I thought I would write this here, rather than on the facebook page for a change.

After much deliberation, I finally succumbed to my complete lack of willpower and purchased a Mr. Slot Car Mazda 787b.
Obviously the Slot.it version of this car has been with us for some time now and has become somewhat of a legend at Molesey and has won several rounds of Slot.it challenge, so the Mr. Slotcar effort has an awful lot to live up to. However I'm reviewing the standard car without any tune up parts applied, so a comparison to a fully tuned Slot.it challenge spec. Mazda would be rather pointless.

So, first impression of the car. On removing it from the box, my first thought was that it looked much smaller than the Slot.it version but this appears to be an optical illusion. Probably as a result of the matt Black paintwork...or something .
The body moulding is very crisp and well detailed. The paintwork is very smooth and even and in the Black "test car" livery looks very aggressive. The wheel trims are well moulded but in my opinion could be improved with a touch of chrome plating to the outer silver rims for a really authentic look. White "dustbin lid" trims are provided in a separate bag for the front wheels as an option.
One of the nicest touches and something that other manufacturers should take note of, is the rubberised rear spoiler mount, which you can bend to some really extreme angles without damage. If in the unlikely event of a breakage, the whole assembly is replaceable.

The Chassis is a two piece design with a separate mount for motor/rear axle assembly. The standard car is supplied with a short can in an inline configuration. But sidewinder and anglewinder options will be available later.
The standard motor revs to 22k and is fitted with a nine tooth Bronze pinion running through a 27 tooth Bronze bossed crown wheel.
Axles are hardened steel and all wheels and gear are secured using the usual grub screw fixings. I have a slight criticism here in that the grub screws supplied appear to be an odd size. This is possibly a translation problem between metric and imperial and is easily resolved by replacing with Slot.it ones. This is provided you can extract the original ones first
The front axle is adjustable, both in ride height and travel, by means of grub screw holes top and bottom (grub screws not supplied).
Standard tyres are predictably like solid Granite, but I stuck with them and after a quick glue and true and copious quantities of "Blue "*izz" they actually work surprisingly well. Front tyres are mahoosive, so rather than covering myself in most of them I just replaced them with Slot.it PT19's, job done.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that both body and chassis were very straight so I put the kettle and the magnets away and put the car back together.

At this point I have to say I wasn't expecting too much and to be honest I think a lot of us are blinkered into thinking that standard=poo, but in this case, that just aint true.
We at Molesey ran a standard Slot.it group C class a while ago. The rules allowed the use of any Slot.it tyre, so inevitably we all ended up on F15's. The Mazda was "the" car to have and at it's best was lapping in 7.7 seconds. The Mr. Slot Car Mazda I'm amazed to say is already doing 7.6's on its standard "rock" tyres and feels like it's got a lot more to come.
It handles superbly with not even a hint of tipping even if you drive it like you hate it. It actually drives like an anglewinder with a very well behaved back end, but with the more even weight distribution of an inline.
The standard motor is very capable and feels a lot gruntier than the equivalent Slot.it V12. On paper it also gives you a handful more revs. In reality it feels like a lot more than a handful.

I think, for a first car this an excellent effort and whilst the price tag is relatively high, I still believe it represents good value for money. As it goes like stink without any further expenditure. Not something than can be said of many "standard" cars.

Hopefully we'll see more group C's from this exciting new manufacturer in the future. I can't wait for the Le mans winning version to come out, looks awesome.

Love it

[Ian B]

Thanks Julian,
I was beginning to believe this car was not quite hitting the mark, which is a real shame as I’ve an insight into just how much effort has gone into the launch of the new product.
It’s really good to get your review from the racers perspective, now I think I may just have to get one and give it a blast.

Thank You

[andybob]

I have one and out of the box with no tuning it's a good car and with a little work should be up there with some of the best.

[f1rem0uth]

The standard motor revs to 22k and is fitted with a nine tooth Bronze pinion running through a 27 tooth Bronze bossed crown wheel.

I'm certain this car comes with a 28t crown, at least mine did, it is black coloured, maybe you are getting confused with the Slot.it crown, as the Slot.it black crown is 27t.

[Number 27]

I'm certain this car comes with a 28t crown, at least mine did, it is black coloured, maybe you are getting confused with the Slot.it crown, as the Slot.it black crown is 27t.

Well done! Give yourself a pat on the back you clever old sausage.

[Guest_Slick Josh_*]

i could swear it comes with a brown 30t crown gear with bronze boss, or am i getting confused with slot.it?