Tuesday July 13, 2004

New Auto Art
 Lamborghini Countach 5000S

Auto Art certainly has a different way of doing things in our hobby, and this latest release just confirms it. This Lamborghini is one of the most recognizable exotic machines they could have produced and keeping with their past tradition it seems they have done a fine job of reproducing it in our scale.

First impressions of this model were very positive as I looked over prototype photos. Auto Art is no stranger to building highly detailed and scale accurate models, and from the photos I have seen it appears they have done a great job with this model. Body and mold lines seemed decently smooth and a clean, dirt free clear coat seals it nicely.
 

Of course there isn't much detail here to speak of given the model chosen, but for what is present is done well. The interior is void of any driver figure just as the Murcielago was, but given the dark tinted windows it really doesn't take away from the car in my opinion. One thing you need to watch is that the side mirrors are on the fragile side and will break quickly in a hard crash. I did this rather quickly myself, but super glue came to my rescue.

As good as it looks it was time to head to the track and see how she performs. Right out of the box the first thing I noticed was how quiet and smooth the gear mesh seemed to be. I picked the car up and turned the rear wheels and it felt almost as if it was missing the pinion it was so smooth. However, everything was quite in working order as we began the first few laps.

This model ran very smoothly and quietly right out of the box. The main thing you will notice is that braking is very light compared to what you might be used to in other models. I attribute most of this to the gearing of the model, but also the motor has such a light feel to it that the magnets in the Mabuchi motor chosen are not as strong as those found in Scalextric or Fly. This combination usually ends up spelling light braking action and such is the case here.

This model does have lights both front and rear for those that enjoy them on their models and they functioned very well. I did find it odd that they chose to light the front fog lamps instead of the main headlights, but the effect for night racing is still present. Another thing about this car is that the tires have a very heavy tread design identical to the Murcielago. This can make it a little slippery in the corners but after a good sanding they do much better on all the plastic tracks we tested on. These wheels are of a slightly different size than the Murcielago, meaning the Classic Fly Indy Grips didn't fit. The inner rib is a little larger with the sidewall taller and it will most likely need to have a new mold made specifically for them in order to have after-market tires.

Under the car we see that Auto Art has chosen the sidewinder configuration with the bar magnet mounted directly behind the wheels. You can also see the polarity switch and 2 other locations for the bar magnet. The spring loaded front guide is again in use and contact is made through 2 metal strips. It is here that you may find you need to do some adjustment. Our model was pretty good, but it seemed to have a little more downward pressure from these contacts that I liked, that almost causes the front wheels to not touch the track. Simply pressing down on these contacts by hand cured the problem, so if your model has this issue, it should be a quick fix.

4 screws mount the body to the chassis and inside I found a very nice surprise. The lighting system has a quick disconnect feature that makes it easy to remove the body and allows better handling for moving the magnet. I really liked this addition and would like to see more car makers follow suit in the future.

I mentioned the issue of the gearing earlier as being one of the reasons for the light braking. The motor is equipped with a 14 tooth pinion that turns a 37 tooth spur gear, compared to a standard Fly sidewinder equipped with a 11 to 36 combination. However, the gear mesh is very smooth and durable, so changing these gears will boil down to personal preference. The motor is still a part of the braking issue as well, so depending on how important braking is to you will dictate any changes. For all the work you could do to this model, I will leave mine as is. A simple exotic hot rod that I can race around my layout in stock form is good enough for me.

And in the end that is just what this car is. Most of could never afford a Supercar like this in 1:1 form, but thanks to our hobby, Auto Art at least makes it possible in 1/32nd scale. If models such as these are what you have been waiting for, I can safely say you should be pleased to add it to your current collection.

- Harry

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!

Thanks go to SLOT CAR WORLD for providing us with this model.