Carrera 1/24 FORD GT40 MKII Review
By Alan Smith

Ordering Carrera's new Exclusiv GT40 was a leap of faith for me. When my order was placed the only product images available depicted the cars as mis-happen caricatures that would become instant slot car “regrets” if they looked like those early images. Within hours of placing my order the “web” came to the rescue with actual photos of the models, and my trepidation turned into anticipation. Thanksgiving Day came and went, and upon my return from a day of largely unsuccessful Black Friday shopping, I spotted the brown box I had hoped would be there. The US Mail comes through once again! Out of the box and onto the track. A smile of approval spreads across my face as I examine each car. They pass the test of first impressions with no regrets.



According to on-line sources, the “40” in GT40 refers to its’ overall height of forty inches. The GT40 MkII is also 70 inches wide and 163 inches long. Compared to many of today's racers, the GT40 is a small car. The Audi R10 Diesel LMP, which is an open cockpit car, also measures 40 inches high, but is wider (78 inches), and longer (183 inches), than the GT40. I prefer models of the smaller prototypes simply because they make smaller models, and smaller models run better through the tighter sections of my routed track. The GT40 is very close in size to Carreras’ Ferrari 330P4 and Porsche Carrera 6, both of which are perfect running mates to the GT40. As it turns out these two GT40 liveries raced at Le Mans in ‘66 and ’67 but neither one finished the race. I do hope Carrera models the GT40s’ that sweep to that proud 1-2-3 Ford finish in the ’66 Le Mans race.







The red #3 was my early favorite, set apart from the blue #57 by rear deck scoops, clear fog lamps, no exterior rear view mirrors, blue-line Goodyear tires and gold wheels. But after seeing them in person, the blue #57 became my favorite. It's just a matter of personal preference; both are nicely finished with smooth glossy paint and crisp opaque markings. And both just look “right” to me. Make no mistake, there are flaws. In particular my red #3 has a poorly fitted rear body panel, and the driver's left arm was unglued and rattling around the interior when the car was received. The car was not attached to the base correctly, and one of the pickup braids was twisted like the tie on a loaf of bread. I untwisted the pickup, extracted the loose driver’s arm, and made plans to refit the rear panel someday. Small quality control problems like these are not show stoppers for me, but others may not feel the same.



Headlights and taillights are featured on most Carrera cars and running fully lit cars around my track with the room lights dimmed is something I enjoy. The GT40 has lights but they are a big disappointment. Instead of aiming the LEDs directly out the headlight and taillight covers, they are angled 90 degrees to the side. Clear plastic elbows are used to “pipe” the light through the lenses. The rear lights work fairly well although the taillights are not a bright as I would like. The front lights are a total disaster. The headlights are mere glowing blue spots. Headlights were not Xenon blue in the 1966 and there are no beams cutting through the night in front of the car. The inside body panels are coated with black paint to prevent light bleed and while this works quite well, there is a distracting U-shaped bat signal shinning on the road under the nose of the car. Carrera needs to switch from the light bulb shaped LEDs they use to the surface mount type used by Scalextric. They are much smaller and can be mounted on logic boards shaped to fit inside the body. Let’s see some of that fabled German engineering please.



Under the body there's not much new to see. The pickup drop arm is a bit slimmer and shorter than the drop arms found on my other Carrera Digital 1/24 models. I don't know if this change is just for the GT40 or will be used all new models. The solid front axle retains the suspension design used on previous models and the motor is the same sidewinder setup with the “CK5K” vent less can motor. A large adjustable magnet is located in the center of the chassis and a smaller one under the rear axle. Under the chassis the directional switch remains along with the LED used for digital lane switching. The cars arrive in digital mode but can be easily changed to analog mode with three full voltage blips of the controller, and a flip of the directional switch. There is some confusion to this process, most likely because it doesn't always work on the first try. But once it takes the directional switch does change car direction in analogue mode.











How to they run? At 12 volts they are smooth and quiet runners with predictable handling. They are perfect competition for the Carrera Ferrari 330P4 and Porsche Carrera 6. Keep in mind that even at the 14.8 volt output of the Carrera transformer, these cars are just not going to be the blurred magnet missiles that many box stock 1/32 cars are. These cars are about large scale detail and solid construction for a reasonable price. They carry around a lot of extra weight in the form of a complex chassis, full lighting, and digital electronics. Analogue racers can reduce weight by removing some of these parts, and Carrera offers high performance motors and gearing for both digital and analogue racers. I enjoy these larger scale cars by switching them to analogue mode, turning down the voltage, and enjoying the ride. While the front lighting system is a disappointment, this is offset by good track manners and nice scale appearance. Overall I am pleased with the GT40 and look forward to additional liveries.





Alan Smith - Asmith
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