Radical SR-9 - Joe Ferreia - Home Racing World & Slot Car Garage

10/15/2011

One day I was looking for an LMP that would offer some tunable performance and came across the Radical. I didn't have any knowledge of ScaleAuto cars at the time or any in my fleet but the new Radical just caught my eye so I thought I would give one a try. The following review is my first. I will try and point out the things about this car that I have found after owning it for a while and are most notable to me and hope they are also important to you. Let's get Started.

When I first agreed to do this review, I had forgotten that I did not have a Radical in it's stock configuration for the review. It's a good thing that I am a pack rat and keep most of my stock parts that I have removed from any given car.

When it comes to slot cars, I need to tell you that I love the prototypes. If it races at Le Mans, Daytona, or Road America, then you can bet that it will be in my collection. Now that is not to say I don't enjoy some of the other classes because I do, especially Trans Am, Can Am, GT, and F1.

CHASSIS: The chassis has some nice features in my opinion, here are the notable ones. The ability to place set screws at all four corners to allow for body adjustment. I haven't used this feature but some may find it useful. The ability to use not only ScaleAuto pods but the Slot.it pods as well. There is even an aluminum motor pod available. An adjustable front axle with the lower set screws is supplied with the model.

MOTOR POD: The motor pod is a two piece design. The main or lower part sits in the chassis and is mounted to the chassis with four screws. The other part excepts the motor. The car comes with two different pods, one for the long can motors and one for the end bell motors. There is also a brace that sits atop the motor and screws to the pod with two screws. The pod has a place for a magnet and a magnet is supplied with the pod. The axle bushings appear to be brass and are held into the pod with a plastic retainer. I wasn't happy with this arrangement when I first saw it. I don't know why other than it was just unusual looking for me at the time. I haven't had any problems with this type of retaining system in a year.

MOTOR: The motor supplied is the ScaleAuto SC-11 long can motor. It is rated at 20,000 rpm and produces 260 gr/cm of torque at 12 volts. I find this motor to be very reliable with a fairly smooth/even power band. I've changed mine out however in favor of an older Slot.it Boxer for the additional torque but staying within the 20K rpm range.

GEARING: It comes with a 3:1 gear ratio. A 9 tooth aluminum pinion, and a two piece crown configuration that allows you to adjust your gear lash. I found this to be a very good set up but opted for a one piece Slot.it 27 tooth crown in the end because I didn't like the plastic used in making the gear, it seemed flimsy to me.

WHEELS AND TIRES: The wheels are plastic and the tires are rubber. The fronts are 15x8 mm with 19x8.8 mm tires and the rears are 15.8x10 mm and have 20x10 mm rubber installed. My wheels were very true on all three of my Radicals. However, I prefer metal wheels with set screws on my race cars when our rules allow, at least in the rear, it's just my preference. The rear rubber tires did not work well on my MDF track. They were too hard for my liking. I am a big fan of rubber tires however. My Radicals all have NSR rubber and work very well on my track. The front rubber supplied with the car is still on the car.

PERFORMANCE: I want my LMP's to tear up the track. That's what they are designed to do in 1:1 and I want mine to do the same. In my opinion, there is just no substitute for a great handling LMP sticking to the track when pushed hard. This car did not let me down. My track is a very technical 53' MDF road course of painted flat latex with no magnetic paint nor primer. A good running Slot.it Group C car will turn a lap, in my fastest lane, in about 5.6 seconds set up in sidewinder configuration.(Toyota 88C) The Radical, in in-line set up, will run a 5.4 second lap and when in it's angle winder configuration with the small Flat 6, will run 5.2 second laps all day long. All of these times are on NSR rubber. I know you can't compare the three configurations or the motor torque differences here, and I'm not trying to. I'm just saying that this car works. That's why I have three. I was once told by a track owner "you can't run that car here, it's too fast"

RELIABILITY: I have owned my Radicals now for almost a year. I have had one chassis failure at the guide when I over drove the car into a corner and broke the chassis at the guide. I had a replacement chassis in less than a week from a west coast online retailer.

SIDE NOTE: ScaleAuto also produces a total of five different liveries ranging in price from $59.99 to $299.99. They also produce two different GT-1 liveries as well. The two bodies are interchangeable between the chassis.

If you're looking for a very adjustable, reliable, and competitive LMP, give this car a good hard look.

Thanks for reading the review. I hope I've given this car it's due.

- Joe F.

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