Monday September 04, 2006

NINCO Renault Megane Trophy

The NINCO ProDriver Series is a new line of kits directed mainly toward the advanced enthusiast who want increased performance over the standard ready to run offering of models. There have been several versions of these kits recently and the latest to join the action is the Renault Megane Trophy. Our kit arrived safe & sound from MRC and it was time to see if I could build a hot rod of my own that could stack up against the competition.

We basically covered what these new kits have to offer in our first review of the ProRace Rally offering. This kit is basically the same coming in a very nice plastic storage case with all the parts to build your car tucked neatly inside. I have heard comments from other enthusiasts about this series and it seems many like the concept. Also, some like having a race case such as this to keep all the parts they use separate from their other models.

Our kit includes the following:

2 Different Sizes of Aluminum Wheels

2 Different Sizes of Tires

2 Different Styles Of Wheel Inserts

2 Assortments Of Brake Rotor Detail

2 Axles

3 Different Angle-Winder Gears (Red = 31 tooth, Silver = 32 tooth, Blue = 33 tooth)

3 Different Pinions (11, 12 & 13 tooth)

4 Pro-Race Body mount Screws

10 Allen Head Screws (Wrench Included)

2 Rear Axle Brass Bushings

1 Rear Axle Bushing For Gear Distance Adjustment

1 Guide With Braid

Assorted Body Parts For Unpainted Body.

1 NC-6 23,500 RPM (rated at 14.8volts) Crusher Motor

2 Megane Bodies, 1 Painted, 1 Unpainted.

1 Megane Chassis With Magnet

1 Instruction Booklet.

Assembly

I began assembly of my car following the instructions and I soon had my hot rod together. Again, we covered the finer points of assembly in our prior review, so I won't repeat it all here. I chose the 33 tooth spur gear with a 12 tooth pinion to start things out. The reason I geared this car like this is that it will see a large layout soon at a local hobby shop in St. Louis. I can always change things quickly so I thought this was a good start.

Since you have 2 bodies to choose from, you certainly get a chance to create a pair of cars just the way you want them. The painted version is easily re-painted over if you do not care for the base color. About the only thing that is stopping many modelers from re-creating these cars after the 1:1 prototypes are the decals needed. Another item I liked is that smaller details such as the fire bottle, driver and roll bar are already painted. This just makes assembly of your car that much faster and those like myself who are not that skilled in the paint department should appreciate this. I chose to just use the base colored model for the review as I want to try and attain decals to make a specific car at a later date.

Let's Race!

With all these great components, you might expect higher performance from this little Renault. All I can say it is that this little Renault delivers all of that and more. Not only do the soft compound tires hook up nicely, the overall control of the car was very pleasing to me. Even with the gearing I chose, this car felt just fine on my smaller road course. Braking and acceleration are very crisp and slicing and dicing through my smaller turns was great fun. Lap times were at the 3.7 second average which is very good for a car such as this with no modifications.

Another Twist

If you have not heard about it yet, NINCO is sponsoring a World Cup Race in which this model, along with a few others are allowed to participate. This is pretty exciting as racers from all over the country will compete to see who gets to go to Verona, Italy for the final championship event. I mention this race event because a kit like this one is simply ideal. Everything you need is right inside this case to compete for a World Championship and that is just what NINCO intended.

Conclusions

In the spirit of the rules, I removed the magnet from my Megane and left everything else the same. My lap times were now in the 4.3 second range but I still enjoyed how the model responded. It ran smoothly and as my time with the model increased, my lap times decreased. I soon had the model in the 4.1 second range which was very impressive for me.

This is one great slot car kit in my opinion. If you enjoy the building and tuning aspects of this hobby I can only advise that you take a closer look at what these line of kits have to offer. From the quality components inside, to the performance it provides should satisfy most any enthusiast.

- Harry

As always feel free to contact me about this article or just the hobby in general at harry@homeracingworld.com, or better yet drop into our Message Forum and share your thoughts with other enthusiasts!

Thanks Go To MRC For Providing Us With This Sample!