Thoughts On New Cars

 Over the weekend I had setup and started running a race between all cars on a fast track. I wanted to see how the new cars performed, so I set them up and ran laps with them. Then a malfunction in my controller caused me to stop the race and work on that. But I did get a good amount of time with the two new cars before that happened, as well as got to compare them a bit with some others, so I thought I would talk about that a little bit.

My third Porsche 908/3 from NSR

While the model itself might be new, this isn't the first 908 I've had. But like all other slot cars, the three that I have all run differently from each other. I love that about slot cars. 

The Gulf 908 is extremely planted, rips through curves, and has enough to keep itself going down long straights. That's not the norm with most of the short-body cars that I have; they tend to be a little slower down the straights than the longer model cars [917, Matra, 962, etc]. But this one doesn't have that problem. The tires sanded nicely and the car has a good, solid structure. It doesn't feel too light or dainty, and there's no tightness out of the turns like the shorter cars tend to have. It almost has a little heft to it. Definitely different than the other 908 cars I own.

In the big picture, this is a highly competitive model that pushes all the right buttons. Not only does it look great, but it IS great. In its current state, it's more than capable of competing against the Thunderslot and Slot.it cars in my collection. 

But that's what makes a good slot car. You should start out with something that's well-built and built for racing, meaning: not a 150 gram clunker [I'm looking at you, Carrera]. And that's the difference. You can't, or probably shouldn't, go into it thinking you can take any ol' slot car off the shelf and it'll be competitive. There are lots of slot cars that can really only run against their own model/brand or there wouldn't be a place for them on race day. That would be like me buying the Scalextric Batmobile. As much as I love that car, I would inevitably try to race it against what I have now, be severely and soundly trounced by the competition, and ultimately let down by the car. I could never just put it up on the shelf and look at it. I'd have to race it. And that would mean either trying it and failing to get good results, or buying more models in that range that it can race against, effectively forming another class of cars in my collection. 

Today's track layout. Fast with a few 90° turns. Inside lane only.

As it stands now, with a couple of exceptions, I have mostly what would be considered LeMans Classics. Or just Classics. Mid-60's to mid-70's or so. Targa Florio. Can Am. And even if it wasn't the Batmobile. Let's say it was a Scalextric or Carrera Classic. It would still be the same result; cars not fast enough to compete against my Big 3 of Thunderslot, NSR and Slot.it. 

So it matters what you start with, and it matters which car in the class you start with as well. The Gulf 908 will be great on short and medium tracks, especially those with technical sections. All three 908s should do well at that stuff, as will the M6A and the Alfa Romeo, and to a certain extent the Chaparral. 

Now, about the Elva:

Beauty

This has the distinction of being my first black slot car. I was on the fence at first, as I wasn't sure the car would look like a shapeless, formless blob running around on the track. But this car has enough detail and color to highlight it nicely. The light gray underside gives definition to the wheels, and since that gray closely matches the gray of my race track, it also gives off a feeling of speed, in a weird way. 

Since all the Thunderslot cars are essentially the same, with a few chassis differences due to body shape, they theoretically should set similar lap times, and they do. This car falls right in with the others as far as performance and potential. It's such a good platform that any Thunderslot car is going to start off with the advantage over other brands. NSR cars are proving to be highly competitive with them, but in my experience so far, not all of the NSR cars are that way. But tweaking and tuning will continue, so I'll likely change my opinion there. But out of the gate, you definitely can't go wrong with Thunderslot.

This Elva's performance against the other Elva: the other one is a tad quieter, but I expect most of that is in the brushes, as it makes some contact noise while running. It's very fast, so it's not in the axles. Just has that new brushes sound. That'll go away after a couple hundred laps. Otherwise this Elva is every bit as fast as the red one.

This Elva's performance against other brand cars: I would say it's definitely at the top, but it could be beaten by an NSR like the Gulf 908 if the conditions were right. One of the Slot.it cars like the Matra could give it a run for its money, or the Alfa if the track was tight. 

I'm not a reviewer. I'm an end-user. I don't do any promotion or advertising here. I'm the guy reviewers do reviews for. And if I like a particular thing, I'll talk about it. I may not go into the detail that many reviewers will, but that's not my purpose. As an end-user, I want to get the most out of what I bought. And if that's something where results would show some kind of...well....results, then maybe I should talk about that too. Of course, many reviewers wouldn't want to badmouth a brand or car, so they often don't. But end-users can pretty much do or say what they want about it. I mean, as much as I love the track, I think anybody reading this can guess my opinion on Carrera slot cars. But that's not what this post is about. 

If you're a shopper on the fence, wondering if an upgrade like this is worth the money, I believe it is. Both cars are prime examples of great racing platforms.