A New Spirit In Slot Racing!

Once again a brand new company has released a model car for us to enjoy. When Spirit had announced it's first release, it seemed that the Vanquish MG line was all the buzz...and not much attention was paid to them. However you might want to start keeping an eye on this new Spanish firm, because if the rest of their line runs like this car, you might want to give them a second look.

The first model chosen is the Lola B2K/10 as raced in Elkhart Lake in 2000. Although the livery may not be as striking as you may be used to, I still found the car to be attractive, and look forward to more of these in current, more colorful liveries. You can read about the prototype here and learn more about this car in its 1:1 racing world.

Arriving here in its attractive new, rather large display box, our model was intact and ready for the road. My first overall impression was one of decent quality. All mold lines were clean, with the fit of the chassis flush with no apparent gaps or bends. The car is molded in black with of course sparse Tampo-stampings, yet for what markings there are, they were nicely done, being opaque and clear. The clear-coat was adequate, although towards the bottom edges it did seem to fade slightly. Also, I did find some small dust particles in the clear-coat, but nothing too offensive, hardly worth mentioning really, but for some enthusiasts this is a major issue. For their very first effort, I think Spirit did an fine job.

Wheels and tires were round and true, with the rubber gripping all 3 of our test tracks nicely. Some mold pits were found in the front tires on the very inside edge, but they were very slight and should not interfere with performance. I sanded the rear tires slightly, not enough to remove all the tread grooves, just a small amount to true them up. The wheels are a 2 piece affair with a separate brake rotor piece the slides over the inner wheel shaft. I found mine to be a little loose, so to quiet it down during racing, I added a small drop of Super Glue to the top of this assembly.

A one piece removable interior is present, and Spirit has done a decent job in recreating it in 1/32nd scale. I found the interior didn't quite fit snugly after I removed it, and I used some Super Glue to snug it back down. The small mirrors on each side might be your first "victims" in the case of a hard tumble, and since they are melted in place, are not removable. To the rear you see the small metal exhaust piping, which is a nice touch and adds to the overall appeal to the car. Yet again, these are melted in place, and will come loose after a hard crash. I grabbed my trusty bottle of Super Glue once again, and one drop on each pipe helped the durability here.

4 long screws hold the body on the chassis, with one hidden under the front guide. These screws are twice as long as you normally see on a slot car, yet they fit nicely. The durability of the mounting posts are yet to be fully tested, so only time will tell. Once the body is removed, you find a stock Mabuchi motor mounted in the inline drive configuration equipped with a bright red 9 tooth pinion turning a 27 tooth crown gear. Brass bushings on the rear axle are found snugly snapped in place (make sure to ad a few drops of oil here ok?) and right behind the motor is a bar magnet. This magnet is identical to the Fly B73 bar magnet as found in the Listers, Capri, Corvette...etc. Near the magnet is a clip that is molded into the chassis bottom to help secure the magnet in place. Pressing down on this clip will allow you to remove the magnet if you so desire, but do not press down on this clip too far as you will bend the plastic and possibly break it. If this happens, that wonderful adhesive Super Glue will keep that magnet in place.

Up front we see something a little different, as 2 brass strips are melted on top of tall plastic posts, rubbing the top of the front axle. In theory, if these strips were adjusted so that they did not raise the guide from the slot, performance might be improved over a solid axle system on various track systems. As stated, they are melted in place, and I quickly found out that this is not a very durable set-up. Slightly bending the strip up caused the melted plastic to quickly snap off, but once again, some Super Glue cured this easily. The guide is as deep as a standard Fly guide, yet a little shorter in length. If you have this car, see if the guide is as flush as possible. If not, put some Super Glue on the areas where the strips are mounted first, then pull up on the strips until the guide is making full contact to avoid and de-slotting frustrations.

All this seems a little negative, but in reality these issues are very small, and again are my personal findings. When the rubber finally meets the road, you should find yourself happily lapping your favorite track quickly. The bar magnet sits low enough to provide excellent magnetic down-force, and the gearing is very durable. The shaft from the motor that extends past the pinion sits VERY close inside the crown and allows virtually no side to side free-play.

Acceleration was robust and braking was crisp and smooth. Blasting down our new Carrera 19 foot straights and braking right before the corners were all she needed to become a favorite of my 2 teen-agers. The gears do have a slight "growl" to them but action is very smooth. After a few laps, these started to quiet down and I am sure that a proper break in will lead to a quieter drive. This car is very quick, and fans of magnet racing should be happy. Testing on Artin, Carrera and Scalextric Sport proved very similar, and on each track this car hugged the corners nicely. The strong magnet does not leave a great deal of recovery time in a spin, but once you get the feel of the car, you should find yourself a perfect racing groove.

My final thoughts on this model are positive. I think Spirit have good intentions and have done well on their first effort as a company. A few issues might need attention, but not enough to convince me not to have one. This model runs reliably, drives nicely, and should find a good home for many enthusiasts who are not afraid to make a few adjustments. I look forward in future releases from them, and I think you might take the time to try one and see for yourself.

Harry

As always, feel free to email me at wiseone@yhti.net about this article or just the hobby in general.

Or better still, drop into the Home Racing World Message Forum and let us know your thoughts. 

A thanks goes to Slot Car World for providing me with this excellent model.