NINCO Renault Clio Super 1600 'Battery'
By Shawn J. Smith

With summer fast approaching it is often very common for many in the slot racing community to put their controllers down and head outdoors for other activities. While your lawn might need mowing and your 1:1 car might need washing NINCO is working overtime to make sure as many of us as possible have a reason to pick our controllers back up and have a little more slot racing fun. This time around the release we've been provided is targeted at the rally fans of the group and if you like your rally cars small, light and fast NINCO has made a car for you!

Appearance:



Small, black and ready for the 'bumps' this little 'Pro-Shock' equipped Clio from NINCO is a great looking rally car. Dressed in its mostly black 'Battery' paint job the car is not a color typically thought to be popular in our scale racing circles. As most stock plastic slot-racing tracks are also black a lot of racers prefer brighter color cars so that their cars are more easily seen.



Thankfully, for those who would tend to agree with that, the NINCO 'Battery' Clio is well decorated with yellow 'tear' graphics and other well applied sponsorship logos and graphics to help keep the car more visible when on the track.



Once again NINCO has come through with a wonderfully finished slot car having NINCO's patented full gloss clear coat covering our Clio test car. Being such a dark color this Clio will show your finger prints easily and I found I had to wipe this car down more than once to get rid of my own when taking a couple of these pictures.



All of the Tampo-markings are once again well applied being both non-transparent as well as crisp around the edges. In the details category the Clio benefits again from NINCO's traditional detailing with items such as the pronounced roof mounted air intake, the co-pilot's nearly legible driving instructions clip-board and other nice interior details such as a roll cage, extinguisher bottle and spare rim with mounted tire.

Other nice details include a louvered front hood, tiny chrome Renault badges both front and rear, a roof mounted antenna and a rear mounted roof spoiler above the back hatch.



Certainly another great paintjob from NINCO that's sure to please many enthusiasts although for most it's putting the 'power to the pavement' that says what a slot car is all about and this little Clio has no problem doing that.



Performance:

Before we turn this little beast loose on the track let's take a couple of minutes to check out what is under the body. To do so simply remove the three equal-length screws, one in the very back of the chassis and the two on either side of the guide.



Now with the body out of the way we get the chance to check out the in-line motor configuration and rear-wheel drive set up, the red (soft) 'Pro-Shock' suspension springs and NINCO's now standard 20,000 RPM NC-5 Speeder Motor.



Multiple brass bushings help hold the rear axle in place while giving the 'shocks' a place to attach themselves for that 'suspension' effect. Unlike the bigger RAID style vehicles the amount of up and down movement found on this Clio is very minimal.



Of course the same can be said of the front axle as the up and down travel here is limited as well. Side to side axle free-play is another story as the front axle has quite a bit of movement that in the rear axle is negated by the crown gear. While it didn't seem to bother our little Clio it may very well be enough for some of you to try and correct.



Not terribly far behind the front axle is NINCO's infamous round button magnet and while it does account for a decent amount grip assistance in the Clio the placement, as has been seen in numerous other NINCO cars, creates a generous amount of tail sliding action in the corners when given a hint of too much throttle.



Another well known NINCO feature is certainly their sprung guide flag which is almost essential when using NINCO's own Off Road track sections. Not only is it helpful when working over the bumps and rocks it has also proven its worth on 'dune' and hump-style bridges where catching a little air might spell disaster for more traditional 'fixed' guide blades. Thanks to the additional vertical travel in this guide you can intentionally carry perhaps a little more speed over less than even sections of a layout.



Tires and rims on the Clio 'Battery' are again probably more than familiar to many NINCO enthusiasts. The ribbed tires actually provide for a decent amount of grip in the corners and I only sanded mine down slightly before heading off for some test laps.



So... how does it run? I'm sure this won't come as any giant shock to a lot of you but this NINCO Renault Clio can often be a real handful. The strong RPMs of the NC-5 get this small car moving along rather briskly, posting a best lap of 11.48 on the 118-foot long test road course, and with the magnet placed so far forward in the car the Clio can easily be provoked to slide through the turns with barely a hair too much throttle. Once you learn the acceleration points coming out of the turns you'll hopefully find as I did that the magnet does a pretty good job of holding this small car down on the track.

For those of you who might be more of a non-magnet racer you'll have your work cut out for you finding the balance between keeping the tail in line and getting the most from the cars acceleration. The NINCO Renault Clio is a bit top heavy, with its profile being almost as tall as the car is wide, so some weight tuning in the chassis might also be something to consider when pulling out the stock magnet.

The Final Verdict:



This NINCO Renault Clio Super 1600 'Battery' is a great looking rally-style car with more than enough motor for most home tracks to handle. I was surprised by the lap times posted as the 11.48 lap mentioned earlier is only a couple of tenths slower than the quickest lap run by the new NINCO Toyota Supra. I almost wish the NINCO Clio was a bit slower than it is, as crazy as that sounds, as it just seems un-natural for a Clio to put down faster test laps than a stock NINCO McLaren GTR F1. As true as that is I have to appreciate this NINCO Clio for it's style and performance as there is no question the NC-5 motor makes this small car very quick and NINCO's top-notch paint process makes the Clio look good while running fast.

Special thanks go to MRC – Model Rectifier Corp for providing the new NINCO Renault Clio Super 1600 'Battery' for review. As always, please feel free to email me with any comments or questions about this or any other review and I’ll be happy to answer any questions that I can. Happy slotting!