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
*Publishers note
Soon Slot Car News will conduct a shoot out of sorts that will have the SCX Audi, MRRC Toyota GT1, the recently released Slot It's, and Spirit's upcoming and recent releases against each other...something that I'm sure is making the slot companies that send SCNews cars cringe now.
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