well we took it apart, and fiddled around inside, ran the motor without a rear axel, took the band off, all sorts couldnt find the source of any noise, put it back on the track, and the car is quiet as a whisper? it now runs faster and smoother and requires less presure on the trigger to get it moving (it used to require almost half throttle just to pull away). we didnt do anything but the noise has gone? ive niticed something else tho. has anyone noticed this car deslots in a different way to any other slot cars (at least toaly different to any car ive got). it doesnt fly off in a straite line, or roll over, it does a nice little piroette (spin) when it comes off. i dunno of this is cos of the 4x4 drive, or its short wheelbase, but it looks cool. it just spins about 360 degrees and ends up almost back where it started. saves on damage to cos the car stays on its wheels (unlike my battered DTM cars).