Tuesday October 04, 2005

AUTOart 2005 Mustang GT

By Shawn Smith

& Harry Wise

Introducing the all new 2005 Mustang GT from AUTOart. This car has been heavily anticipated since the first word of its release and for good reason. Obviously knowing AUTOart’s accomplishments in the ‘scale car’ industry this new Mustang was certain to be a slot racing work of ‘art’. Interestingly enough this car was also anticipated with some curiosity mixed in as to how this new Mustang GT would perform on the track. Will this new AUTOart offering be worth the wait?

Appearance:

Ok, so the question of how the car would look wasn’t much of a question at all. After all we’re talking about AUTOart, a company long famous for their level of detail in die cast models and in the last couple of years for their great looking 1/32 scale slot cars. As expected this new 2005 Mustang looks every bit as nice as I hoped it would and happily removes one more car sitting on my slot car ‘wish list’.

Ever since the very first AUTOart Subaru, they made it very clear they were looking for scale accuracy. Although nothing in our hobby is perfect, they seem to still take the time to make models as accurate as possible. There is no mistaking what this car is and it should catch the eye of anyone passing by in the local hobby store.

Beginning at the front of the car AUTOart has effectively modeled the tell-tale grill lights that give away the GT trim level of the 2005 V8 Mustang. A nice chrome galloping Mustang emblem graces the upper grill opening and the covered headlamp buckets look as good as they do on the real thing.

Of course headlight lenses seem so much more realistic when they have working lights behind them and this Mustang GT gets very bright Xenon blue colored LEDs that perform well although they will turn off as soon as power is removed.

It seems more and more enthusiasts are wanting their models fully lighted and I can't blame them. There is just something about a slot car that has good lighting and allows not only a more realistic feel to it, but gives you the bonus of night racing. Make no mistake, once you try turning off the lights around your layout and drive this model, you will appreciate the addition of lights and fun it brings.

In the rear of the AUTOart Mustang chrome dual exhaust tips peak out from under the rear bumper and a round chrome GT emblem prototypically graces the rear panel between the Mustang’s functional rear taillights.

Much like the headlights though these brake lights turn off as power is taken away from the lane. When initially testing the car I had some difficulty sorting out the braid contact and it was funny to watch the red taillights flicker off and on as the car picked up then lost power. In the ‘performance’ part of the review I’ll discuss the ‘contact’ issues in a bit more depth.

I am wondering when AUTOart will get around to a new lighting system that has a battery back up system and working brakes. It seems only natural that this will eventually happen. Having the battery system would allow the model to look even more realistic, and once charged would nullify the flickering effect in the event of bad contact.

A subject that has been the topic of many message board discussions, drivers are now in place inside of AUTOart cars and in the Mustang you not only get a driver but a co-driver as well. Interestingly enough this co-driver is of the female persuasion and is reasonably well modeled appearing both smaller in total size than the male driver figure and possessing longer hair and a modeled short skirt.

The addition of a driver figure in street versions by AUTOart does prove to me they listen to enthusiasts. All previous street versions were void of any drivers and it did take away from the scale accuracy for many. I was very happy to see them make the effort here and hopefully continue in the future.

Other notable interior details include a painted dash board with silver accented trim rings painted around the dash gauges, a detailed steering wheel and a slightly broken hand of our Mustang driver. Ouch!

More interior features include a two-toned interior, the seats being painted in a lighter beige/camel color in contract to the darker surfaces used in the rest of the interior, and small accents like the simulated rear window defroster lines in the glass.

Tires and rims are also nicely done, the wheels being the standard rim offered on the 2005 Mustang and I’ll be curious to see if AUTOart offers a version of their Mustang GT with Ford’s optional torque-thrust rims. The tires are of course molded with a treaded directional pattern but they feel to have decent grip to the touch.

The tires do provide decent enough grip on the Artin and Carrera tracks we have here. Of course a good sanding always seem to help matters with just about any tire on the market, and such is the case with this model. I am staying with original tires more and more these days as companies keep upgrading the compounds of their tires. These work well enough to make me stay with them.

 Performance:

Time to take the AUTOart Mustang apart and get a closer look at the go fast parts. To do this three different screws must be removed, one placed between the mufflers in the rear of the chassis and two in the front placed on either side of the guide. Before you go yanking the body off though….

You’ll find it helpful to first unplug and wiring that’s attached to the underside of the Mustangs body and the wires of the chassis. Thankfully AUTOart has made that a simple matter although the plug is small so those of you with large fingers may have some difficulty getting this plug apart.

This quick disconnect feature is one I feel all lighted cars should have, in fact, many companies are doing just that. AUTOart did a good job in the routing of the wires too, making a clean chassis area to work with.

Once the wiring is unplugged we’re left with a look at the full interior pan and wiring of the Mustang’s body as well as the front-motored in-line drive configuration of the chassis. From here there are several interesting things to look at including…

Three brass bushings can be found in the rear of the AUTOart Mustang, one holding in the drive shaft and two more to keep the rear axle in the chassis. Dual magnets are placed under the rear axle and on either side of the large white plastic crown gear and while I’ve seen this modification preformed by racers at my local club AUTOart is the first manufacturer I’ve seen to set up a car in this manner. While some might feel two magnets side by side is overkill it really doesn’t give the car the feeling of being ‘too stuck down’ although I can tell you the Mustang will be quicker to roll over on its top rather than slide through any turn. Gearing in the Mustang allows for nice top speed although the car does break a little softer than I like.

The gearing of a 10 tooth pinion and 28 tooth crown gear is the standard for these models and gives it acceptable acceleration, but as Shawn has mentioned, gives the braking a little light. As with the models before it, I found the drive-shaft bushing spinning in its mount. Just a quick drop of your favorite adhesive will fix that right up, so it really isn't a major issue.

Up front the Mustang GT has the motor placed about as far forward as possible while still leaving room for the guide mount and wiring in the front of the car. Because the motor is so far forward AUTOart has opted to use metal stub axles to hold the front wheels and out of the box these created a ‘chattering’ sound as the car negotiated the track. A bit of grease calmed the noise down a bit but it didn’t get rid of it all together.

If there has to be a ‘dark spot’ on an otherwise wonderful car it would have to be in the area of the front guide. Not only does this AUTOart guide have a large amount of up and down free play it also has a strange amount of front to back and side to side play as well. The end result is a guide that is very sloppy and difficult to set up and it caused all sorts of problems with the braid contact on my Carrera track rails.

My model arrived here with the same problem. The amount of free-play is more than I have seen on any model in quite awhile. it seems to be a simply matter of them making the hole for the guide to big. Hopefully AUTOart looks closer at this design in the future. Given that they have made guide changes at the request of enthusiasts, I would think we will see an improvement on future models.

I tried taking off the guide shaft spring but even without the spring in place the natural bend in the guide wires provided enough spring on their own. I tried making the braids as fat as possible, frayed the ends of the braids, turned the braid ends up and turned them down and still the guide was problematic. About the only thing I would suggest if you find your guide to be as sloppy as mine would be to shim the guide shaft to your liking with spacers containing a large enough hole in them for the shaft to fit through or possibly even add a bit of styrene tubing over the guide shaft to help get rid of the large amount of guide travel permitted.

Revisiting the rims and tires on the AUTOart Mustang GT I am happy to report that the tires seem to provide better grip than the tires on a few previous AUTOart cars I’ve driven. Of course many will still opt for a silicone replacement slick but stock, and with the dual magnets in the chassis, rear grip did not seem to be a problem.

The Final Verdict:

This new 2005 Mustang GT from AUTOart is certainly a winner in the looks and ‘scale appearance’ categories although that should be no shock coming from AUTOart. Performance wise the car has a lot to like as well although the complications caused by the guide design may leave a few owners scratching their heads trying to come up with a fix. Testing completed the new AUTOart 2005 Mustang is a nice car with some unique features that many enthusiasts have been patiently waiting for and the guide aside will make a nice addition to any slot car collection.

Not everyone likes street cars in our hobby, but for those that do, I can't see any reason to pass on this American hot rod. Sleek lines and good performance make it a fun runner right out of the box and fun is what the hobby is all about. I will certainly add the red version to my collection for a matched pair.

Special thanks go to Slot Car World for providing the new AUTOart 2005 Mustang GT for review. As always, please feel free to email me with any comments or questions about this or any other review and I’ll be happy to answer any questions that I can. Happy slotting!

Shawn Smith

13051 Ford Mustang GT 2005 $39.95
13052 Ford Mustang GT 2005 $39.95