May 4, 2009
 SCX Face Off Renault T5 Maxi Turbo Vs. Lancia Delta S4 Review By Shawn Smith One of my favorite types of reviews is a good old fashioned show down between two cars that would make likely competitors. What often makes for a better review however is two cars similar in purpose yet considerably different in design providing a chance to see if one set up really out performs another. For this review we're going to tear down two versions of the new SCX Rally cars, one a rear wheel drive Renault T5 Maxi Turbo, the other the all-wheel drive Lancia Delta. I've driven them on a routed wood track, an SCX home track and my own Carrera home track (both mag and no-mag) and while I can't say I was all that totally surprised with the results I have to say the car I expected to do the best really wasn't the best all around performer. Which will win out?  Before we get to beatin' and bangin' lets have a look at both cars before the paint gets all scratched up and the mirrors find new homes in the parts bin.  Above: the 'spider-esque' look of the Renault T5 Maxi Turbo. Eight eyes, err... eight lights frame in the black grill work and pulled my attention to the front of this car right away and had me wondering if all eight were going to light under power. Below: the less dramatic four round headlights of the Lancia Delta S4 get a little bit of their attention taken away by the Lancia's large swooping front splitter.  And because I was so curious about the Renaults lights it took me all of getting the cars off the base to check out the brightness and while not exactly as I had hoped I do have to say the lighting on both cars is great and nice and bright. Those round driving lights, inside the rectangular headlamps, actually shine a little more yellow than the bluish white of the rest of the lights thanks to clear amber inserts inside of the buckets.  The Lancia Delta's lighting is all business giving off a very bright blue cast on the track and both cars really look great driving around in the dimmer lighting.   Looking closer at the detailing of both cars; the hood of the Renault above is fitted with a solid replicated grill section while the interesting piece on the Lancia is again that front scoop with its tiny molded rivets although I did also like the very easy to overlook hood deflector.   Inside of both cars you'll find some unique detail differences. One that I found humorous is the difference in the drivers figures with the Maxi Turbo getting traditional blank expression open helmet figures while the Lancia is driven by a faceless driver and navigator.   Out back the little red Renault gets an added detail in the way of a simulated spare tire in the back hatch. The Lancia has a lot to take in with the exhaust being the major eye catcher although we'll look a little closer in another image or two.   As we saw with the front the back of both cars is also equipped with working lights although check out the glow from the Maxi Turbo above. The entire rear of the car lit up as if it were on fire driving around with the hatch glowing like crazy. The Lancia in contrast was much more subtle although the glowing red of the Renault provided much more humor driving around in the dark.   Back to the detail on the Lancia I really like the added touches like the air intake duct work, the louvered rear glass and the roof spoiler. I also like the braced mud gaurds behind the rear wheels.  And speaking of wheels the Lancia sports five-lug rims, I appreciate manufacturers taking the time to produce unique wheels on a car and this Lancia is fitted with different wheels front and back that look great and are well modeled. Same goes with the Maxi Turbo, also fitted with a slightly different rim on the front than found on the back. The Renault's small four lug rims, while initially thought to be the same have a slightly different lip to the rim front to back and the rear rims are wider to handle the fat grooved rubber fitted by SCX.   Besides cosmetic differences one of the most glaring differences between the cars is the size. The little red Renault is dwarfed by the black and gold Lancia.  But while there is a size difference in overall length of the cars I was surprised to find out that the wheel base of both cars was dead on exact. I didn't expect this at all looking at them lined up on my track.  Chassis differences are noticed right away. The wheel base might be the same but very little else is. The Maxi Turbo, fitted with the SCX RX-41, has a very open motor location while the Lancia below hides the motor from sight.   The next giant difference? All wheel drive versus rear wheel drive. The Lancia is fitted with an SCX RX-91 wearing a long front motor shaft and brass pinions on both ends spinning both the front and back axles in brass bushings.    The Renault in contrast is a rear drive inline so in theory there should be less driveline friction and make for a faster car... right?  Tires on both cars are grooved although here again, totally different applications. The Lancia's grooves are thinner, and molded closer together however the Maxi Turbo has considerably thicker ribs spaced farther apart.   Yet another interesting difference is in the guide mounting. The Renualt above has a more exposed electrical tab system, and a guide spring set up with two extending arms, the Lancia's chassis covers the electrical system more and has a guide spring design that is completely different.   So... lots of interesting bits and pieces to point out but what does it spell out come race time? Knowing now that both cars share the same wheelbase some might expect similar performance but I was not one of them. Taking both cars straight to the track with their magnets in place and with no tuning other than cleaning the tires the little rear wheel drive Renault posted the faster of the two cars with a 6.387 over the Lancia's 6.720. I honestly expected the Lancia to run a little closer to the Renault but the lap times are what they are.  Taking the magnets out however flipped the tables with the small and light weight Renualt feeling very nervous around the track, the nose almost vibrating or hopping at speed, begging for a little weight tuning to be performed. This is the same habit the car displayed driving around the routed road course at the HRW headquarters and it left me wishing the car ran a litte more smoothly. The Lancia however was the far better non-mag performer and while it was a little less than three tenths slower in mag form with the magnets no longer a factor the Lancia managed a respectable 7.999 lap while the Maxi Turbo could only muster a 'tougher to go fast' 8.597. Wheel base being the same the Lancia does have a slightly wider track in the rear and a considerably wider track at the front wheels so even playing with weight in the Maxi T5 I'm betting the Lancia will continue to have the performance edge.  Final Thoughts:  Here at the end of another review I thankfully can give both cars high grades in the fit and finish department. Both are great looking models with their own unique detailing and while I lean more towards liking the Lancia its hard not to find the Renault to be a cute little car. Performance wise there are differences to be tweaked regardless if you're a magnet racer or not, but both were fun to try and get that little bit of more speed from and both held up very well after hundreds of laps of run time and quite a few tumbles. As always HomeRacingWorld.com would like to thank SCX Worldwide for sponsoring this review. If you have any questions feel free to contact me via my email link below. Shawn Smith - SJSlots shawn@homeracingworld.com Thanks Go To SCX For Sponsoring This Review!
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