November 16, 2009
 Scalextric Ferrari 156 Review By Shawn Smith  From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Ferrari 156 - Manufacturer Ferrari - Production 1961-1963 Class Formula 1 Body style(s) Racecar Engine(s) 1.477 litre Dino Type 156 120º V6 2 valves per cylinder DOHC - Transmission(s) Ferrari Type 543/C 5 speed Manual Designer Carlo Chiti. The Ferrari 156 was a racecar made by Ferrari in 1961 to comply with then-new F1 regulations that lowered engine displacement from 2.5 to 1.5 litres, similar to the pre-1961 F2 class for which Ferrari had developed a mid-engined car also called 156. It used the V6 "Dino" engine named after Enzo Ferrari's late son.   Still From Wikipedia: Sharknose The 1961 version was affectionately dubbed "sharknose" due to its characteristic air intake "nostrils". Unfortunately, then-Ferrari factory policy inevitably saw all the remaining sharknose 156s scrapped by the end of the 1963 season. Nevertheless such a F 156 is exhibited in the "Galleria Ferrari" at Maranello, probably a replica. A similar intake duct styling was applied over forty years later to the Ferrari F430.  Detail wise there are more than enough features for such a small little car. I really like the brake and steering/suspension details found at the front, along with a mesh grill behind the shark nose openings and simulated rivets all over the cars body.  Our driver looks rather fetching in open face helmet and black goggles. Notice the wood grain steering wheel through the wrap around windshield and the thin single roll bar behind his head.  Small round mirrors are mounted inline with the steering wheel and a cluster of three small guages decorate the Ferrari's small silver dash panel.  Isn't this thing skinny? The louvered back end is detailed with long black exhaust pipes and even greater suspension detail including exposed shock absorbers with spring detail.  The Ferrari's spoked wheels with knock off's look nice and treaded black walled tires are fitted on each. The wheels even have tiny valve stems molded on although in the shot below it's hidden by the upper left lip of the wheel.  Taking the body off is going to feel like a bit of a challenge and I admit that upon taking out the four screws I found myself wondering what the trick was to get the body apart. Thankfully with some patience and gentle pressure I managed to get the top of the car to separate from the bottom tub of the chassis.  Top half removed and the first thing that caught my eye was the infamous slim can Scalextric motor, Slot Car News motor list tested at 22,731 RPM @ 12v, which tells me right away I'm likely going to be turning the voltage on my track down.  These little motors can prove to be a real handfull and I know many chose to replace these with lower RPM alternatives. For the sake of this review I'm going to leave the stock motor in and see what the lap times look like.  The small nature of this model doesn't leave much room inside the body for gearing does it? The toothed side of the crown gear looks like its touching the white plastic axle bushing although a closer look proves it to clear the bushing by a hair. A few turns by hand find the axle spins with little effort and the gearing feels very smooth.  At the nose the front axle has a little bit of side to side movement and more hand spins show that the driver's left front wheel has a bit of a wobble to it. Also seen here is the bucket for the Scalextrc removable guide plate system.   Helping keep the box stock car wheels side down Scalextric uses a shallow round button-style magnet exposed in its pocket on the bottom of the chassis. This isn't a tractor beam by any stretch of the imagination, even with the car weighing only about 50 grams, and the motor makes this magnet wish it was bigger, especially running at higher voltages.  And speaking of running at higher voltages I set my variable power supply at 14-volts and I gave the car a few minutes of warm up time, at maybe 25% throttle, then set off to see just how fast I could make a lap. Not out of my second straight and I found myself out of the slot. Tires run across some tape, back in the slot and about half way around the track again and I put the Ferrari 156 on its lid sliding on the roll bar. A few more laps, more cautiously I might add, I got a decent rhythm going but as I got an ounce of confident in the car I would drive it too deep in to a turn again and I'd find myself quickly out of the slot.  Ok... down from 14-volts I go, first to 12-volts, took a few more laps then down to 10 volts I went. A clear difference in punch could be detected but that's just what I needed as the car become far more predictable and shockingly... it got faster!?! At 14-volts the fastest lap turned clicked off at 6.247 but down at 10-volts I was both puzzled and pleased to see a 6.086 show up on the timer. Slowing it down made the car faster, or more accurately, made it easier for me to drive with less risk of tossing the skinny little Ferrari on its top. Test drive now over I'm glad I went with a variable power supply for my track. Being able to lower the voltages helped my driving experience with this Ferrari 156 and made it a much more pleasurable drive. I love the look of this small yellow Ferrari sliding the tail out on the exit of the turns and shooting down the straight a-ways and sure its a handfull with it's slim motor and small magnet but it can be tamed if one so choses to do so. In any case its another nice entry in the Scalextric Classic Collection series. Thanks to Van Duzer Hobbies, 236 Hickory Grove Rd Horseheads, NY 14845, 1-607-796-9816 for providing the Scalextric Ferrari 156 for review. Also please visit the Our Message Board to talk further about this and all other models of slot cars. Happy Slotting! Shawn Smith - SJSlots Shawn@HomeRacingWorld.com |