Sunday July 12, 2009

For myself and many other enthusiasts, this is the most anticipated 1/32nd scale slot car of the year. The idea of a PRO NASCAR had us chomping at the bit to see just what SCX was going to deliver. If it was anything like previous PRO versions I knew we would have a winner. Ok, enough talk, let's get right to it!

And with that said I will tell you right now I broke the number one "rule" we have for product reviews. NO RACING UNTIL THE PHOTO SHOOT IS OVER. I do have an excuse (of course). We had a gathering of friends in town for a full week of racing fun and we also had a special guest present. Chuck Ehredt from SCX WorldWide decided to visit HRW HQ and the PRO NASCAR arrived only a day before him. There was no way we were not going to race this car. So if you see some wear, scratches, scrapes, oil and dirt? Yes, we are guilty.

The model comes in a nice presentation box with everything neatly packaged. Inside there is an instruction manual that basically tells you everything you need to know on how to maintain and tune your new race car.

You get the new chassis along with the body. And extra lightweight interior tray, screws, spare braid, brake shoe, guide, and extra motor pod. This pod is important as it allows you to change to a different style motor if you would like. It has holes drilled in the mount which would allow several motors with screw holes in them to work as well. This says a lot about SCX in our opinion. They realize there are a wide variety of motors out there enthusiasts like and made sure they could use them without having to buy this pod separately. You also get the wrench required to make the adjustments for the chassis, wheels and gear. You may not think this is a big thing, but for me it is a great plus. This small wrench is not in every newcomer's tool box so having it included simply makes sense.

Optional Motor Pod

And the chassis is what this review is all about. The body is identical to the standard version and since we have covered that in our first review, we won't waste time here repeating it. This means that you CAN mount your existing standard COT bodies on this chassis. With our collection as large as it is, this was a very important item and I was glad to see this compatibility.

NOTE: This is a NON-MAGNET SLOT CAR.

There is room inside to add one if you wish but it is not included.

Bodies Are Identical.

The chassis has several features most of you will appreciate. One of the first major changes from standard SCX models is the solid wire electrical contact from the braids to the motor.

This change alone is an important one. The silver braid also gives you better electrical flow so most hard core racers should be pleased.

We also see the new RX-4H motor is installed. It is equipped with a 10 tooth pinion that drives the PRO 27 tooth crown gear. The motor is rated at 26,000 RPM at 12 volts. This should be more than enough power for most enthusiasts. The axles are PRO as well and the fit in the bushings is as good as it gets. The gear mesh of these gears is also impressive out of the box.

You also see the brake shoe installed in the rear. This shoe actually works quite well. You can adjust it easily by loosening the mount screw and move it front or back to set the amount of brake tension. It works with the chassis pod that moves from front to rear.

The idea here is that when you let off the throttle that the floating pod will shift backwards (or car body and chassis goes forward) and the brake shoe will make contact with the crown gear, thus increasing the brake effect.

The motor pod (cradle) is also an important feature of the PRO chassis. It has 3 adjustment screws so you can set the amount of float to your preferences. Tightened all the way and the chassis is set to a traditional setting we see in many models. Loosen them a little and it gives you some float.

Another nice feature of this motor cradle is the added screw hole mount for the motor. Many advanced racers will like this as adding a screw will reduce any vibration.

The front axle is fully adjustable too. This allows you to set the ride height to suit your track surface and also sets the vertical free-play. There 2 screws from the bottom and 1 on the top. Don't worry about the screws coming our under power. The plastic holds them firmly.

The kit comes with an additional lightweight Lexan type tray. If you simply must have a lighter racer car, this is the interior for you. I was impressed at the detail level they managed give this tray.

First remove the old interior. You accomplish this easily by removing the cone shaped mounting caps using a small flat tip screwdriver. They pop right off and you can swap trays.

So how much weight can you save?

Body with original interior.

Body with lightweight tray interior.

So you save about 8 grams by swapping the interiors. Personally, I keep the original tray as I simply like the looks of it better. But again, it is good to have this option for those who wanted it.

Perhaps one of the most important areas on this chassis is the wheels. I know some will argue this, but all of the great features of this chassis would be lost without concentric and true wheels. You have all 4 wheels in aluminum and they are as round as you could ask for. We noticed in the first sanding that the tires sat on the wheels almost perfectly like they should. The inserts for the wheels are also well done and they stay in place without any adhesive.

Not only are they mechanically well done, but the sizes are correct as well. They are the same size all the way around and are also identical in size to the standard sized plastic wheel. This means your favorite after-market tires are already available.

BOX STOCK TESTING
5 x 16 Foot 4 Lane Routed Wood Oval

It was time to see what all these features were going to deliver. Assembly only took about 10 minutes that revealed one small issue. The mounting screws are VERY tight to install. We advise mounting the screws in the body first (without chassis) to make sure they start straight and evenly. Then remove them, install the chassis and mount as you would normally.

After installation another bonus was revealed. The chassis is slightly smaller than the inside of the body. This allows you to add body float easily with the sides and edges of the car body interfering.

Our first runs were all the speed and fun you could expect. We posted lap times near the 3.0 second mark, which on our track is very impressive. The car was predictably smooth with very crisp acceleration and braking. And when I say we tested this car, I really mean we REALLY tested it. Many times this model seen it's wheels in the air as we continually pushed this hot rod to it's limits.

Although it ran great, it could be improved. It was time to use all these adjustments and see what we could do. The first thing was to set the front axle to an almost perfect tripod effect with the front tires barely touching the track. Before, it was very loose and had too much vertical free-play. We then tightened the motor cradle up to where it would still move front to back, but we reduced the vertical roll. Next, we adjusted the dynamic brake pad back a little. We were getting too much braking going into the corners causing the model to slide a little sideways. On the tires we sanded them on the outer edges to reduce the chatter effect we had present. Finally we backed off the body mount screws to give it additional float. We did have a slight chatter in the corners and between the tires and the body float we hoped to cure it.

The result? WOW, what a hot rod we had on our hands! We started out cutting laps times easily into the 2.8 range which was a pretty good improvement to say the least. The car just handled better and was much easier to corner. The comments made by our group of racers were all very positive. However, some felt this motor was a little too much for my smaller oval. This is not a knock against the car at all, as most clubs with larger tracks are going to really enjoy this new power-plant.

And although some of the photos look rough, let me inform you that this model broke the 1000 lap barrier during our testing. For almost a week we have punished this model. This should tell you how durable it is and still going strong. It is leaving our track and heading to another larger tri-oval for even more testing.

What about the price? At this writing the MSRP is $69.99. In my opinion that is a good value when you look at all you are getting here. There are some models near that cost that have none of these advanced parts or options. When you look at buying just the axles, wheels, and gear for a standard model, dollar for dollar it is more than an acceptable price. Don't forget the extra parts included in the box on top of this.

I admit I am biased towards this series as it is my all time favorite in ready to run 1/32nd scale slot cars. But the other racers on hand agreed that this model was an outstanding performer. When you combine round wheels, straight axles, smooth and durable gearing, with a fully adjustable chassis it usually means a great running slot car regardless of the body or series and such is the case here.

The only thing this model needs is an owner.

Given all this model delivers it is clearly my Slot Car Of The Year.

- Harry

Contributing Editors:

Cindy Wise

Pete Stanley

Jim Troye

Tom Terriah

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!

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