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So let me ask you, what do you think you know about SCX? Well the Pro
Audi may... just may change what you think SCX is all about.
As you all have seen by now the latest SCX release,
the Pro Audi, comes in a great display box and includes a book that has
tips for performance and maintenance. Also included are a handful of
extra screws for the chassis and front axle adjustment.
And a small wrench to do adjustments to set up the
car to your liking. There is extra braid, guide, and a replacement
motor pod. The pod is interesting because it's not for an SCX motor,
it's for the long can Mabuchi (most commonly called a Boxer or NC-style
motor). On the end of the pod there are holes to screw down the motor,
something which, if you're able to find the 2mm screws, you should take
advantage of. I applaud SCX for taking this car so seriously to include
the extras. It's great to see them acknowledge that someone might want
to modify a car to their own taste.
The body is a light weight injection molded clear body painted white.
There are a few bits of flash on the details on the body but this is
maybe a bit of nit-picking on my part.
The parts all fit perfectly on this car. The body sits flat on top of
the chassis pan, and screws down easily with no warping or flexing
across mis-aligned internal parts.
The gears mesh perfectly, the wheels/axles/bearings are quality parts
that you'd be happy to have on any and every car you own. Mechanically
this car is on a par with the cars by Slot.It, and firmly puts SCX into
the realm of the "serious racer slot car".
The Audi, like many of the SCX releases, is a car that's not long on
RPM, but that DOES NOT mean it's not fast. This car can be driven at
more than partial throttle around even my small 21' wood track. Because
of the driveable motor you can "look for the speed" rather than have to
hold back the throttle and just give it little blips of full throttle
now and then. Because of this you can easily control the car more than
cars with much faster motors. It may be overtaken on the straight but
if you're on your game you can overtake in the corners.
A lot is made of a car's out of the box performance; well,
this car just leaped to the top the charts on that account. I lubed the
car where appropriate, screwed the body and chassis together, and
replaced the stock SCX tires (which never seem to work on my track)
with "Yellow Dog" #1410 SuperTires and proceeded to race for 1 hour
non-stop. In the over 500 laps of driving I was amazed at the
performance of this car. It felt as if it had been tuned for days.
The pod was nice and
rattly out of the box, which you'd expect since there's more clearance
around the pod on this car than ANY other slot car out of the box.
To adjust the pod
there are 3 small screws, 1 in front and 2 behind the pod. With the pod
loose, the pod can not only rattle but has generous side to side play
as well. And then there's the brake... well frankly SCX is just about
the last slot company that needs MORE braking on their cars. If you
feel you need just a bit more of that stop-on-a-dime feel it's an easy
adjustment to make the small white dog bone shaped bit of plastic to
contact the crown gear and slow down the car. One of the things I like
best about SCX motors is that they have great brakes...more IMO is
maybe too much of a good thing.
There is one "issue" that I have with the car, and it's obvious to
anyone familiar with the real Audi...the wheels on this car are too
small. They should fill the wheel wells more than they do. As the car
is, the small wheels don't hamper performance, but rather it's an
aesthetic issue that might make some not want to purchase the car for
that reason. Well, I can't make your mind up for you on that one. This
car is a fast racer, a well made slot car, and does perform like every
other car in this type of class of racer (ie, Slot.It, Spirit, Fly
Racing, etc.) and with a bit more tuning should be able to hold it's
own against cars with much higher RPM motors.
Thanks to the new US distributor for SCX, Distributoys, for the car for
review.
DaveK
Publisher, Slot Car News
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| This article was published on Tuesday June 05, 2007. |
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