[Tropi]

Grmph!!!

My club's new racing season starts this Sunday and I've just discovered that two of the four classes that will be run every meeting will be box standard Scalextric Minis and Indy cars which will be in every meeting for the whole season.
Neither of these have ever attracted me enough to be in my stable.
Hence the Grrrmph!

So, I have to grab one of each, just as fast as possible and I'm not sure it can be done in time for this Sunday's meeting but I guess I'd better do some fast phone calling and sweet talking first thing tomorrow, Friday.

I can't imagine there is anything to choose between Scaley's BMW Minis, but I note that there are two distinct price ranges for the Indy cars - one lot at £15 and the others at around £20-£22, depending where purchased.

So my question is, what is the difference between these Indy cars?
Is it just a question of more ornate livery or is there more to it than that?
There has to be something to justify that £5-£7 price differential (or does there?)and does anyone think it's worth it or should I just grab the cheapest one I can find?

 

[Coopdevil]

I think the more expensive ones are more expensive merely because of the licensing costs of them being 'real' liveries. Whether that really does cost £5 more is anyones guess, perhaps this is just a figure that matches a 'perceived value'!

Coop

 

[GRAH1]

we ran the indy cars at pendle theres no difference between the expensive one and the cheap one in terms of performance ,they go quite well but the plastic is quite brittle and the axle lugs snap off easily in a shunt , if you can get away with it scrap the self centreing spring if you run tight bends we had problems on the hairpin on our black lane but removal of the spring sorted it

 

[Larsson]

Hello Tropi...

Well I bought one Indy Pennzoil and one Gulf a while ago. And I have not found anything that differs between the cars, except the livery and price of course. And since you are going to race I would suggest that you buy the less pricy one, since one tend to..Hmm..."Trash" the cars when competing. I also think that you will be very pleased with the Indy car; it is in fact very fast and a lot of fun to drive.

Good luck with the competition

Eric

Edit: was to slow in typing so my post ended "last" !

 

[astro]

Hugs has 2 of the cheaper ones and I have 2 of the more detailed ones, they seem the same apart from the livery and an etched metal fuel cap. For club use, go for the cheaper. I think its impressive that scalex have managed to put out nice cars with a rrp of around £15, especially as they drive nicely and even some of the cheapest range look good too.

 

[jonny s]

They are good,fast runners. They do not stand up to a big off on a large club circuit though, the front axle arrangement is easily broken which allows the metal axle to shift sideways...I`ve got a box of broken club cars all suffered the same fate. I much prefer the Ninco version, which also run nicely without mag and do not break.

 

[Harry Porsche]

I checked into this question several months ago and yes, the licensing is what drives the price up. I the car has the "IRL" logo on it then it will cost more. The cars are all identical otherwise. (Other than the usual motor variability.) They are delicate in the front end as mentioned. I have replaced the axle sets on both of mine at least twice in the last six months. At least they aren't too expensive. The Minis are nice models but very tough to run fast through the turns mag or no mag. They tumble in enternaining ways however!

The lights don't hurt their looks either....

Fret not, race on!!

 

[fouldsc]

Mine got wiped out after a heavy flying off at the end of the main straight at Wokings
club track (I deslotted , but ended up in someones lane - ooops!)

They do break VERY easy , the rear axel lugs snap with the slightest rear impact.
Also the front wing snaps without much effort and of course the rear wing comes
out if you blow on the car to hard.

However they are good to drive and can easily handle a hotter motor (Slot.it 25k works
nice).

Chris

 

[Tropi]

Many thanks for the helpful and informed feedback, gentlemen, much appreciated, not least for confirmation of what I thought - no difference! I have no intention of spending an extra £5-£7 on a pretty pretty paint job that will have the crap unmercifully driven out of it, especially not on a car that I really have little interest in anyway. That's what the grmph! was for - already owning a grossly excessively number of cars and STILL finding I have to buy another two to enter the club competitions - I know, I know, I am a miserable old bathtub!

I guess my two parameters of choice boil down to , who can actually get them to me inside 24 hours and, if there IS a colour choice, pick the LEAST popular livery on the basis that it's less likely to be owned by other entrants because I always find it quite helpful to know which is my own car in a hard fought race! The same applies to the Minis I guess.
Right - where's my blasted phone?

 

[fouldsc]

QUOTE (Tropi @ 26 Nov 2004, 09:26)Many thanks for the helpful and informed feedback, gentlemen, much appreciated, not least for confirmation of what I thought - no difference! I have no intention of spending an extra £5-£7 on a pretty pretty paint job that will have the crap unmercifully driven out of it, especially not on a car that I really have little interest in anyway. That's what the grmph! was for - already owning a grossly excessively number of cars and STILL finding I have to buy another two to enter the club competitions - I know, I know, I am a miserable old bathtub!

I guess my two parameters of choice boil down to , who can actually get them to me inside 24 hours and, if there IS a colour choice, pick the LEAST popular livery on the basis that it's less likely to be owned by other entrants because I always find it quite helpful to know which is my own car in a hard fought race! The same applies to the Minis I guess.
Right - where's my blasted phone?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

local toy 'r' us is jammed full of them , as are local hobby stores - so put down you phone and go in a shop

 

[Tropi]

Thanks for the tip, Chris.

Unfortunately, my only local shop doesn't stock these cars, as they are 'not very popular' and I can empathise with that in a one-horse town like mine.
Next problem - my nearest TRU is 60 miles away = well more than a tenner in petrol costs!

So here we have a typical customer who buys nearly 100% of everything mail order - one short phone call at minimum cost and the job is done.
However . . .
If they don't arrive by lunch time tomorrow (Saturday), I will have to bite the bullet and make the trip to TRU, thus ending up with TWO each of cars that I didn't want in the first place - what a very silly #[email protected]# I am!

AND I ruined my reputation as a tasteless utilitarian racer by going the extra few quid on the Corteco livery - because it looked so damned PRETTY !!!!

AND, if I make that trip, I might well end up buying a digital camcorder in my wanderings, if I see what I want. I can see this might well turn into a slightly expensive opening race day!
Am I ever going to live this one down?

 

[Da Vols]

Tropi - You mentioned the price difference in "Indy" cars - Scalextric offers 2 very different Indy cars - the IRL cars based on the Dallara that comes in "fantasy" liveries such as Gulf & Coca-Cola as well as plain white which are priced at around $17-20USD - the "real" liveries are priced at $30USD...there is NO difference outside of the paint schemes.

However, they also make "fantasy" liveried "fantasy" Indy cars - similar to the F3000's except they have those small button magnets - they come in Firestone, Rapid Fit, and (I believe) Minolta sponsorships and usually are priced at $14USD - they are altogether different then the IRL offereings in chassis design.

If you're running stock out of the box with magnets, the IRL version is the way to go...however, if you're running non-magnet you might find the even cheaper Indy cars would be competetitive.

An aside, I've found those cheap F3000/Indy cars are perfect "donor" cars for clear/resin/plastic bodies - they're easily cut down to fit most any car body size and with a little tuning they make great runners...especially when a solid front axle is made for them.