Hello guys and gals! It's NINCO new releases time once again and that means a look at some of the latest and greatest new cars in their line up. While some are brand new some, like this 997 Rallye 'Entrecanales', is the latest version of an already released car. From a performance standpoint I'll refer you later on to a previous review of the 997 we've done here at HomeRacingWorld.com rather than re-write the book. I do, however, have something new up my sleeve for testing and one performance update from our previous 997 test subject so stay tuned! For now... let's have a look at the newest 997!

Appearance:

 

I'm two for two in liking the liveries I've gotten to review with these 997's. The green and white Vallejo version got mixed comments from forum members but I happened to like the colors a lot. Same goes for this silver, black and yellow 'Entrecanales' edition as the color combination just 'pops' for me and the car looks great speeding around the track.

 

Checking out the car from the front I love how low the car sits on the track and I also like the details worked in like the mesh lower grill sections and the headlight buckets that just scream out for a light kit installation.

 

Being a 'Rallye' 997 the car of course comes with both a driver and a navigator and NINCO has always done a great job with the little details in the interior like the double sided clip board of driving instructions.

 

Out back the low rear end sports minimal details although it does have a dual exhaust opening, an image found on the internet of the car in competition actually showed a single pipe rear exhaust, and the car of course has that giant rear wing that surprisingly is lacking in graphic details but here again online images have confirmed both decorated and non- decorated versions used in real world racing.

 

I wasn't able to find proof that the Entrecanales 997 carried this giant roof painted Porsche graphic but in my search it did show the car commonly was fitted with a roof scoop to bring cool air in to the driver's compartment. No roof scoop here but the Porsche logo is cool and the roof is mirror-like in its finish.

 

While I'm not a giant fan of white rims the 1:1 images of the car verified NINCO got this right too. The multi- spoke design hides a lot of the modeled brake rotor details but they are there if you look for it.

 

And have I mentioned how low the 997 sits? I love the low, wide stance of these cars. The tires tuck just inside of the bulging fenders and thankfully none of the tires touch during operation.

 

Having taken this car apart once already I'll again refer you back to the review we did on the Vallejo 997 but for those wanting the 'short story' the 997 comes standard with NINCO's NC-5 motor, angle winder gearing and NINCO's infamous cylindrical button-style magnet mounted almost perfectly centered in the chassis. The magnet does not offer much in the way of downforce for plastic tracks but on wood it doesn't matter anyway. Here is where I add to the 'Vallejo' review as when I covered that car I only had plastic to run on.

 

Making the transition from plastic to wood was easy for this 997. On my plastic test track the 997 has tons of wheel spinning power and the same applies to wood. The good news is that this 997 thankfully showed up without the out of round wheels I had problems with on the Vallejo test car and it drove very smoothly on the wood track and I quickly found the car's sweet spot in the throttle range and had it sliding through the corners and powering down the straights. A little 'hop' wasn't uncommon if giving it too much gas before the sliding stopped and the punch down the straights began, a problem than can be minimized with some weight tuning and change of throttle control.

The Final Verdict:

 

Having liked the first NINCO 997 I looked at it should be no surprise I like this 997 too. I actually like this one better as it ran perfectly smooth out of the box and just a small amount of tire sanding was done to take the edge off of the NINCO rear tires. The finish on this car was super glossy, the decorations all well applied and matched with strong RPM motor you have a great looking 997 that runs great! I have a ton of fun with these cars and find them to be good matches with other NINCO products like their Supra, 350Z, NSX and others.



Thanks to Model Rectifier (MRC) for providing the NINCO Porsche 997 N-GT 'Entrecanales' for review. Please stop by the HRW/SCG Message Board to talk about this and all other models of slot cars. Happy Slotting!

Shawn Smith - SJSlots
sjslots@hotmail.com

 

Thanks Go To MRC For Sponsoring This Review!

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