MB Slot Pagani Zonda - Kurt Moser - Home Racing World & Slot Car Garage

11/02/2011

By Kurt “El Secundo” Moser

Once upon a time, there was a great Grand Prix champion by the name of Juan Manuel Fangio. Besides being one of the world’s greatest drivers, this champion also had something of an engineering background, and in his later years, he contributed engineering help to a small Italian car manufacturer called ‘Pagani’. This little manufacturer made several variations of its first car, the Zonda, and in 2005 unleashed the Pagani Zonda F on the world. The ‘F’ stood for ‘Fangio’, and this car was modeled by slot car manufacturer MB Slot. It’s this effort that we’ll look at today.

The Zonda looks outrageously fast, and while it makes other fast objects look downright slow, the Zonda makes slow objects look like they’re going backwards. MB Slot did a wonderful job capturing that look, right down to the ‘up periscope’ wing mirrors. So, how come there are no mirrors in the pictures? Well, I’ve owned this car for a while, and the mirrors stick out like eye stalks on a lobster. I took them off and put them in a safe place when I bought the car. A very safe place. So safe, I don’t even know where it is. It’s ok, though, even if there are no actual pictures, we do have some near photo-quality artist conceptions of the Zonda with mirrors.

The obvious problem with mirrors like this, is that the first time the car flips, the mirrors are done. Using advanced predictive video technology, we can conjecture how this would all go down should you flip your Zonda:

So that’s why those mirrors are in a safe place. I hope I can find them some day.

And in case you’re wondering, I don’t do portraits – don’t even ask.

MB Slot sells quality aftermarket parts, and the Zonda is loaded with the good stuff: set screw aluminum wheels and crown boss, spring-loaded floating motor pod, deep guide and a high torque long can motor.

For the magnetically inclined, the Zonda sports a pair of tiny rare earth button magnets. Seven (that’s right, seven) pairs of magnet pockets are aligned down the motor pod (four forward of the motor, three under the rear axle), so tweaking magnet performance is a snap. The inline motor pod is spring loaded at three points. An e-clip holds the springs in place on smooth-shanked precision brass screws. The deep guide is held steady by a screw mount, rather than the less-adjustable fixed plastic mounting used by most manufacturers. For those keeping score at home, the Pagani shares much more with a typical Slot.It car than it does with a Scalextric, SCX or Carrera car. All the raw materials are in place to build a great race car.

So does all this quality add up to a great race car? Well, yes and no. The car has great potential, but a few items hold it back, at least straight out of the box. First, the 21k motor is a bit peaky, making accurate throttle control a little tricky. Second, the natural rubber tires aren’t quite up to the job given the amount of power available, and third, the magnet setup is about equivalent to a narrow bar magnet. This means that for plastic track running, the car is at a disadvantage against cars with wider bar magnets. The Pagani is a little more susceptible to sudden break-away than cars with larger bar magnets might be. On my example, and at least one other in the club, the car is prone to hopping under heavy braking – even with the brakes dialed all the way down. I’m confident this can be fixed, but I’ve been too lazy to this point to track down the source. I suspect that the pod has a bit too much travel, and the rear tires are getting into the fenders on braking. I’m usually too busy enjoying the raw speed to bother with grabbing a screwdriver. In spite of its out-of-the-box flaws, it’s clear that this is a good car, and I like driving it and dealing with its little quirks. With its current magnet location (two spots ahead of the motor), the Zonda twitches out of corner, but always seems to find a way to keep moving straight. Where other cars would snap-spin, the Zonda wiggles then launches forward, keeping the headlights looking ahead.

I wouldn’t describe the drive as easy, but the drive is certainly very good, and different from other manufacturers’ cars. For the hobbyists who like to try everything the hobby has to offer, I recommend this car – it starts with high quality components, and delivers a drive more like a race car for a seasoned driver than a balanced track day car for an amateur. My suspicion is that a really good set of tires will transform this car.

The big disclaimer: I haven’t spent any time tweaking the spring –loaded pod, and I can just about guarantee that this car has much more potential than I’ve seen. I would bet that the twitchiness can be dialed out, and then it’ll really scream.

To sum it up, the Zonda scores on several levels, but may be a handful for some in its stock form. I don’t quite love this car (yet), but I respect its design and construction enough that I recommend it. When MB Slot released this car, its price was about 20% higher than cars with similar components. Today, that gap has closed quite a bit, and MB Slot has become a more viable alternative for folks who don’t mind going across the pond to buy their toys. Give this one a shot – there are even white kits available out there, and you may even be able to find one at a famous HRW sponsor.

-Kurt