January 14, 2009
 AFX Mega-G ChampCar Review By Shawn Smith Someone, some where, is staring at their monitor thinking 'no way, HRW is reviewing an HO scale slot car?' and the answer to that question is a defiant 'YES!' Seems we here on HRW, and by we I mean Harry, Eric and I, tend to do a whole lot of reviews on 1/32 scale cars as, let's be honest, 1/32 scale happens to be our primary scale of choice. We had a forum member, however, who recently expressed an interest in having other scales, such as HO, better represented and to a degree they had a pretty valid point although it begs the question of do you really want 1/32 scale guys telling you about HO scale cars they don't normally run? Could the review be done fairly and cover all that HO racers would like to know about? I guess we're about to see... Back in the 1980's I used to race HO slot cars all the time. We're not talking super hot motors, independent front wheels or silicone coated foam tire racing yet the group I ran with had a great time pairing up and running anything and everything HO we brought to the track. Since the 1980's though my Tyco track has been boxed up, most of my cars were sold, so you HO guys keep that in mind if I say something silly in this review. I'm not going to claim to be an expert here, then again I really never publicly admit to being an expert in any scale, but lets dust off that old track and plug in the wall wart as it's time to do some HO slot car racing again! Appearance:  Our victim, I mean subject, the new AFX Mega-G ChampCar picked up from my local slot car oasis, CincySlots.com. Good time to point out that while many know Bruce of CincySlots carries a wide variety of larger scales he also has a good selection of HO products, such as this AFX Mega-G, that many in the HO world may not even be aware that they carry.  Back to our AFX test subject again let's let the AFX marketing people earn their money with text taken right from the Mega-G's packaging: The new Mega-G chassis makes it possible to create stunning bodies that take realism to levels never before seen in 1/64th scale. Combine that achievement with superb graphics that use up to 6 colors and you have cars that set new standards for details and accuracy. But it's the driving that will really shake you. With the lightest, lowest chassis ever built, the Mega-G is blindingly fast yet nimble and most importantly... fun to drive! Key features of the Mega-G Up to 30% lighter than any other HO chassis - Way more fun to drive Lowest and narrowest chassis ever made - Much more realistic bodies Lowest center of gravity - Corners better than any other chassis Longest wheelbase available - Better proportioned bodies Fastest production chassis made - Smokes the competition Exclusive extra long tapered guide pin - Car stays in the slot longer Unique Monocoque chassis - Lighter, stronger, out handles the competition Polymer Motor Magnets - Up to 20% more powerful than larger ceramic magnets Level 30 Neodymium ground effect magnets - Car stays glued to the track Nylatron chassis - Super strong and tough Wow, a lot of strong claims there. Pretty much by sound of things I should expect a small rocket that is going to make me never want to race any other type of stock HO car ever again... Oh is that so?  Let's start with the more obvious claim. AFX says thanks to this Mega-G chassis design they can make stunning bodies with all new levels of realism. Ok... right out of the package and so far I can find no fault with the claim. This car is very impressive in the looks department and is a huge improvement over the more 'classic' open wheel HO cars.  The image above tells the story. In the white, an older AFX Indy-style car and side by side the older white car really looks its age. Hardly even close to scale realism in the design of the body while in contrast the new black Mega-G car really looks more the part and just flat out looks more 'real' than anything I remember.  In fact about the only thing not fantastic about the Mega-G ChampCar's looks is the driver head which seems scaled a little too large giving the effect that the driver is a giant and perhaps wearing a welder's mask, or one of those funny looking Star Wars Planet Hoth Storm trooper helmets, rather than a racing helmet.  Up front the high nose supports the wing beneath it by just the two uprights that drop down from either side of the nose itself. It looks painfully fragile however I wrecked it numerous times at very high speeds and knock on wood it remained unbroken at the end of the testing. I also like how the body has simulated suspension details over the front axle.  Out back the rear wing support looks terribly fragile too however the body proved to be more than impact resistent enough for my rusty driving. The rear wing itself is a separately applied piece and is held in its mounts nice and snug.   Great looking wheels... if well detailed wheels aren't enough how cool is it to have white lettering on the tires? The lettering, like the body itself, has proven itself to be pretty sturdy, not easily rubbing off even after a plethora of brushes with guardrails and walls. In fact, looking at the car as I type this not a single letter is rubbed off... seems AFX could teach some of the larger scale companies some new tricks. Performance:  So the AFX claims about their making a better looking and more detailed body seem to be true... is it going to prove the AFX claims in the performance department though?  Body lifted off and there is no denying it's a slick narrow chassis that no doubt gives AFX the freedom they claim it does to create that more realistic body. It looks long and lean and maybe a little mean but the track test will tell the tale.  Those rectangular box openings on the side are the body connection points. The chassis, while narrow, also has what is in my opinion a very short side profile with the overall chassis height being roughly half the height of the cars rear tires.  Notice the snap in points for all of the cars go-fast parts. To that point the motor parts were very snug in the chassis and I feared breaking something trying to get the motor out. I eventually decided I could see everything I needed to see without pulling it out of the chassis and I left well enough alone.  'Made in China' stamped on the side, AFX stamped on the bottom and 'Hot Do Not Touch' on the plastic heat sheild. Here you get a look at the guide pin, pick up shoes and traction magnets.  Gearing and the rear axle have just the slightest amount of side to side movement yet the gear stays mostly clear of contacting any surface of the actual chassis. The closest point, the plastic on the inside of the traction magnet on the right side of the gear in the image above, does appear to make contact on the back side of the crown yet from the looks of it that contact might be intentional as it restricts lateral movement of the axle as a whole. If it supposed to be this way I don't know but I'm going to keep a little grease on it just to help reduce possible friction and wear.   The front axle is not positionable like some HO cars I've owned in the past. It also doesn't snap in and out so removing a front wheel is the way to get the axle out if need be. Should you need to remove the axle? In my case the answer is maybe as spinning the front wheels and watching them and the axle rotate I noticed one slightly wobbly rim as well as a slightly 'less than straight' axle. I removed the tire on the wobbly wheel just to make certain I wasn't being fooled by an out of round tire yet with the rubber off the rim wobbled all the same.  Speaking of wheels the rears are the single lipped versions and I'm told by a couple local HO racers that they prefer this rim design. The rear tires were snug on the rims and did not spin freely on the rims as I tried just to turn the tires by themselves.  Giving the car some throttle before sending it off on it's maiden voyage the motor certainly feels like an angry beast wanting to tear up some plastic snap-together track. Having set up a small Tyco road course on my basement floor I gave it about 15 or so laps at roughly half trigger pull and quickly gave it more and more speed until soon it was a black blur. Didn't take me too long and I was already thinking 'man! I need a track with some longer straight to open this baby up!' This is where I had to turn to others and thankfully local HO racer Steve Nemoff stepped up with an offer to run at his place.  And boy oh boy, what a track! Wait, let me rephrase that, what tracks!! Steve has both a killer 2 lane HO track to race on but if you're daring enough you can try driving around the track dodging three or fout separate railroad lines that cross right in front of you at different points of the table thanks to those cool intersection pieces that combine Steve's love for two different hobbies. Here is where I was able to really open things up although before I gave this Mega-G a try Steve allowed me to run a couple of his 'specially prepared' cars to get a feel for his layout as well as see how fast more race prepared cars are around his track and with another local HO racer Pete Palm looking on I soon hit the road with the new Mega-G and as expected it was quick making AFX look like they know what they might be talking about. This doesn't mean that the car didn't make you question at least a couple of the claims however. The comment of 'corners better than any other chassis' was questioned first as my speeds got faster and faster the car seemed more determined to off at the same turns on Steve's track. Thinking it might be just my rusty driving skills I asked Steve to take it for a run and even with his knowledge of his tracks little tricks it was interesting that he too was having offs at the same turns I was having problems with. Running some of Steve's other HO cars we didn't have the same issues in the same places so something about this Mega-G didn't like several specific spots on Steve's track. We worked with it though and a slight throttle adjustment to the 'less trigger' side had the car making its way perhaps a little slower in that section but clawing back some time on the long high speed straights. Overall I'm willing to say that AFX has the right to claim this is perhaps one of the fastest stock cars but with a 20% more powerful motor, 'glued to the track' level 30 Neodymium traction magnets mounted in a skinny, hair off the track, chassis shouldn't it be smoking quick? Sure some of Steve's own fleet, with hand selected components were faster but we weren't so much comparing apples to apples. It was interesting to me though to see the difference as the speeds the Mega-G produced were already too fast for my personal taste so trying a few cars that were even faster was amazing to say the least. The Final Verdict:  With my mind made up about the AFX Mega-G ChampCar I asked Steve and Pete, both seasoned HO racers, to give me their impressions and the overall feeling was that the Mega-G was a really good car overall. Pete really seemed to like the chassis design and asked me questions like what the retail price on these are, if I know if spare parts will be available etc. Steve also seemed to like the car and agreed that while fast it seemed perhaps a little less balanced than he expected it to feel. Not sure if the added length of the chassis contributed to our perception of this or not but he and I both said we felt the difference when driving the Mega-G compared to other cars Steve had on hand. I also found out that Pete has a more club friendly 6-lane HO track to race on so hopefully I can get some time on it in the future to compare how it feels on a different layout. In any case we all agreed the car has a lot of potential and we feel AFX did a really great job on the Mega-G on the whole. You serious HO guys let me know your thoughts as you start to burn more and more laps with them. I'd be curious to hear your thoughts. Thanks to CincySlots for providing the AFX Mega-G ChampCar for review. Click their banner link below to see this and all of the other HO slot car items they have in stock. Also please stop by the HomeRacingWorld.com Message Board to talk about this and all other models of slot cars. Feel free to email me at the address below if you have any questions or want to share your thoughts. As always happy slotting! Shawn Smith - SJSlots Shawn@HomeRacingWorld.com Thanks Go To CincySlots for Sponsoring This Review!
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