[Swissracer]

QUOTE Swiss managed to crash into the Focus I've been driving as ha had no brakes - and the whole car splitted in 3 parts.

This little accident was one of those perfect proofs that the controllers we had just commented on, did not work

Thomas lost it in a curve and slid acroos my lane, not only did the lack of brakes mean that I had no time to stop, the delay between me releasing the trigger and the power coming off was incredible! Both cars came off and the additional shunt to thomas' car (think action and reaction here

) saved mine and gave his extra speed to take a dive into the pit of doom. One broken rear mount (totally away from the car) later

...

Worst was to come.. after about 5 mins and a hasty super glue job, a lady customer put the car on the track and promptly did exactly the same thing but at higher speed and with NO help from me this time. I happened to be watching from a different angle and saw the disgusted look on the face of the PA woman from Auto Art - NOW - did she give thomas and I that look too? man it was a SCARY look!

 

[jonny s]

Cheers guys I`ve heard enough to make a decision

I`m a Ninco man,always happy to tell you how good their track is

 

[masmojo]

I agree with tropi regarding most of his track comments, Except the connections thing! I think the artin track snaps together fine, but the connections themselves are hideously ugly & very distracting to look at. The carrera is not perfect, but the connections are inconspicuous!

One upside to the rails on the Scaley track is after they turn gray they blend in well with the color of the track and as long as it does not interfer with the connection I think it is O.K.

Wider than Carrera? You have to wonder if Autoart like Exoto & Revell is contemplating 1/24 scale cars & they are covering their bases by making a track that can accomidate the larger scale easily. I like the medium width of old Revell, Ninco or Artin

I would like to see racing line curves as well!

Actually like most of us I already have more track than I know what to do with! So regardless of what they come out with I do not really need it. Of course if it totally rocks I would probably pony up the cash for it anyway!

 

[moped rider]

Autoart track might sell if they bring out a Carrera/Autoart adaptor.

Track that has an even wider lane spacing and an even larger radius curve than Carrera track should have an instant appeal to Carrera fans.

It even has those white lines down the middle.

Maybe the Carrera legal eagles should slap a writ on Autoart as it is clear to me who they are trying to copy.

It does not appear to have any unique selling points however to make it stand out from any other system so why bother?

On the other hand Italians will probably go for it as they do tend to be extremely partisan.

Moped

 

[Mr.M]

QUOTE (moped rider @ 11 Feb 2004, 09:32 AM)On the other hand Italians will probably go for it as they do tend to be extremely partisan.
Eh????

Explain, please. I'm a bit slow this morning!

Mr.M

 

[moped rider]

I thought they were Italian but maybe they are American.

Still, there are a lot of Italians living in America. Not that that has anything to do with it!

Moped

 

[Tropi]

Previous posts make it clear that the slot cars are made in China, but where the parent company is based, I don't know.
Anyone?

QUOTE the artin track snaps together fine, but the connections themselves are hideously ugly & very distracting to look at. The carrera is not perfect, but the connections are inconspicuous!
Nicely summed up!
A solution that addressed both would be a sure-fire winner.

 

[Doug]

The parent company of Auto Art Models is now known as Gateway Global.

Brands: Auto Art / UT / Gate

Gateway Global (USA), Inc.,
01485 NW 28 St.,
Miami, FL 33172-2152
US
Voice: 305-500-9641
Fax: 305-500-9642

Gateway Global, Inc.
1575 Sunflower Ave.
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
US
Voice: 714-557-7793
Fax: 714-557-7799

The domain names: gatewayglobal.com and autoartmodels.com are registered to Smenix Solution Company in Hong Kong.

Smenix Solution Company
Rm 4, 16/F, 12 Wo Yi Hop Road,
Kwai Chung, NA N.T.
HK
Phone: (852) 8208-2962

 

[Biberle]

As I told you before: AutoArt may have big US dependencies, but actually they're an all-chinese brand.

 

[Tropi]

Great detective work from the masters!

 

[Mr.M]

Thank you for the info, guys.

So from this we can deduce that this is not the company Truescale was talking to about slot cars.

So the Japanese could still be along shortly.

The main reason I considered it may be AutoArt was the high proportion of Jap cars in their line up.

Mr.M(I can wait.....I know how to wait)

 

[Biberle]

QUOTE (Mr Material UK @ 12 Feb 2004, 11:30 AM)Thank you for the info, guys.

So from this we can deduce that this is not the company Truescale was talking to about slot cars.

So the Japanese could still be along shortly.

The main reason I considered it may be AutoArt was the high proportion of Jap cars in their line up.

Mr.M(I can wait.....I know how to wait)
Well, with Revell and AutoArt having entered the slot car market, I'm sure, Tamiya is at least spending some thoughts about getting into this business, too.

 

[Mr.M]

Let's hope so Biberle!

If somebody of that ilk joins the fray I feel we will see what slot cars can be and at a sensible price too!

Tamiya, particularly, already have a considerable presence in many aspects of the modelling world. Slots would seem to be a natural development, and ,of course, they have some history there too!

Mr.M

 

[Mecoprop]

I would love to have Tamiya get into bed with us.
But someone would have to fall out to make room.
Size DOES matter!

 

[masmojo]

Looks like my original Hunch was right! (I am right about something every now & then) It seems the additional width of the Autoart track is attributed to their plans to introduce 1/24 scale cars! (As noted on SCW) I am guessing that they heard the musings of this bunch, basically stating that if you run 1/24 on Carrera you HAVE to run Boarders in the corners. Sill the additional width means a very LARGE footprint.

 

[thomas]

...some pictures to add to Swiss's report - just take them from my server Nuro - and my comments:

The very plain chassis of the 1/24 Focus. The motor had absolute weak breaking capabilities! Tires with something close to gripless - they used an opposite compund to silicone

The car had 4WD - as the 1/32 - but no lights!

The controllers have been very small - there might occure a heat problem sooner or later - probably very soon

..the track is wider than Carrera (showed on bottom) but with less grip. The locking system is much better than the one used by Carrera!

..there are just these nice clips necessary - which will be produced in a different colour to the track. The track material is much more flexible than Carrera - and by far not brittle! I've bended the track pieces a couple of times without damaging it!

The track supports are just copies of teh Carrera-stuff - they had no better ideas here...

The track borders are only 5cm wide - even to small for 1/32 cars!

For the straights you might use the Carrera-borders - they've copied dimensions of the holes and track length...
As we gave them a lot of input about necessities we're looking foreward what they will change. Without some major changes there is no big market for this track system - except it's significant cheaper than Carrera!
One further note - they will only produce 3 different curves and no banked curves - and all the other actual systems have 4 curves and even some special rails...

You've missed a huge chance Autoart!

 

[Mecoprop]

Thanks very much for the extra information and pics Thomas!

Interesting that the track has less grip than the Carrera it is modeled on and that it is softer - more like Scalextric. It sounds as though they have used greasy Scalextric type plastic to make larger than Carrera footprint - far from an ideal combination. They need to maintain Carrera grip with just a little extra flex. I feel sure that an ideal plastic must exist.

But if the locking system really is better than Carrera's, then that is a step forwards, because Carrera locking is awful. It works perfectly but it's far too difficult in practical use.

Thomas saysQUOTE You've missed a huge chance Autoart!
It does look that way - let's hope that they can refine it a good deal further before launching because, if they can't, they might be better advised not to pursue track making.