Wednesday, 14 April 2004

Ninco GT MAX Track Set

Although the Ninco track system has been with us for quite awhile now, it really hasn’t received the attention that some feel it deserves and I thought it was a good idea to give those just joining us in this hobby a closer look.  

Arriving here safe and sound it was time to break it open and get started. I have said before that regardless of how long I have been in the hobby, there is nothing quite like getting a brand new set in the mail. Sets are the way most of us get started in this hobby, and the excitement that it brings with it seems to never go away.

Such was the case here as my 7-year-old son and I eagerly opened the box to see what was inside. All the components were neatly packaged and we found no damage to any of the track or cars. The instructions included are about as easy to follow as you could ask for, so we dove right into track construction.

We decided that we would follow the layout design as featured on the box simply because that is what most new enthusiasts would do, and we wanted to see how fun the design could be. I like the fact that it is a flat design and has both a fast back straight and areas where more skill is needed. The back of the box does have a couple more layout suggestions for the track purchased, plus other layouts that you can build using extension sets. The layout design on the box will require at least a 5 foot wide by 10 foot 3 inch table to mount it. You could reduce the layout slightly at the straights to get it to fit a 5 x 9 ping pong table if building a table or space is an issue.

Ninco track is of a flexible design with durable track connections. Simply slip the track together as shown and snap it down in place. It takes a little getting used to, but after the first few pieces, assembly became faster and easier. By just following the box cover we had the entire layout built under 30 minutes. The surface of the Ninco track is more abrasive than you see with other systems, and this has been my sole reason for not choosing it for our racing. However, I want the reader to realize that this is only my personal preference and many other enthusiasts in our hobby prefer this track surface. Some prefer Ninco because it is slightly wider (total width is 180mm) than Scalextric/SCX or Artin being almost an inch (0.927) wider.

The system comes with a decent amount of turn borders and guardrails in both red and white to get you started, but if you decide that this hobby is for you, additional turn borders for all the corners and some straight borders will make the set even more enjoyable.

There are components of this system that impressed me, and one of them is the controllers Ninco has chosen to include in this set. The 55 ohm Plus controllers are a much better set controller than found in most any other set on the market. They are certainly better matched to the cars that come included in the set and they actually work at a decent level with other brands of cars.

Another item that I liked is the easy to install electronic lap counter. In my opinion, having a lap counter is a very important part in a new set as it just adds to fun of racing. The Sprint Lap counter is very easy to hook up and the instructions are fairly easy to follow. It can be set for counting laps or for timed races.

The end of the cable from the lap counter plugs directly into the power terminal and the sensor track has a phone jack type plug that snaps into the side of the counter itself. After you hit the start button there are 4 lights above the unit, 3 red and 1 green. The counter will light all 3 red lights and then you can watch it count down until green is lit, letting you know the race has started.

The system comes already wired for brakes and everything at the simple power base is plug and play. Connections were clean and a snug fit. Years ago, Ninco had some problems with their power base due mostly to weaker wiring. I can only report on our findings here, and so far we have not had a single problem. I connected and disconnected the controllers while power was hooked up to see if I could cause a short or malfunction but so far it functions perfectly. The power base also has a polarity switch for changing direction and you can also add a second transformer. If you use the second transformer, there is an adapter that you place between it and the power base to allow you to still use the lap counter. The transformer is also a decent unit for a track system with an output of 14.8 volts and 700 milliamps.

The cars included in this set are another bright spot in my opinion. Ninco has the ability to make some very nice slot cars when they want to and these 2 Porsches fall in this category.

Overall fit and finish of both models are very well done and should please the lucky new enthusiast. Operation of the cars is also a great deal of fun thanks to the 55 Plus ohm controllers. These models are not heavy on the magnet side, but they provide enough down-force to help allow the new enthusiast a decent learning curve and are durable enough to withstand a fair amount of punishment

So is this set any fun? You better believe it. Lap after lap we battled it out with these Porsches and had great time doing it. We then tried a few different models from other makers and had the same result.  If this layout was all you had room for, you could easily enjoy our hobby for years to come.

In fact, we like it enough that this layout as featured will come off the floor and we are building a permanent table for it. Having a Ninco system to aid us in product reviews is something we have been missing for quite awhile and after spending more time with it, I can’t help but feel we owe it to owners of this system (both present and future) to test new model releases on it and give our findings.

My final opinion is that I like this set regardless of my personal preference of track surface. The components inside this set all function as intended, and do it very well. It comes with plenty of track, decent power and control with electronic lap counting, and 2 quality slot cars to enjoy it on. Fun is what our hobby is all about and if a newcomer to our hobby purchases this set, fun is what they will have.

- 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 MRC for providing us with this fun set!