Scalextric 1970 Chevrolet Camaro
3/30/09
This is probably one of the most awaited cars in not only the Trans/Am series, but in 2009 for myself. Being a muscle car nut anyway, this one is right up there with the 1970 Chevelle coming later this year from Carerra. And with this being the Jim Hall prepared / driven car, makes it even more wanted in my collection just because of the Chaparral legacy.
I received 10% off this price at my LHS as a club member.
I will start off here with a few pictures of the overall body work and finish. Looking head on into the front I see the normal Scalextric laser cut steel grill, a clear front spoiler which is authentic. Fairly crisp lines on the blue stripe.
From the rear I can see about the same quality in the stripe as in front, not perfect but very close. The rear quarter panel flares are very noticeable from this view. Both the front and rear views are very well detailed, and I think look great.
Left and right side photos here show me that Scalextric really did some research on this car, unlike the 1969 they basically deformed.
In my eyes they really hit the body and stance right on the money.
This really lets me down about this car, shown in the original picture below. The car raced with FIRESTONE tires. I think this is a very important detail missing from this car. Jim Hall was always on Firestone tires as far as I know. Not even a decal on the fender. Shame on you Scaley :(
HOORAY Mr big head is gone, hopefully for good. This guy even represents Mr. Hall pretty well. One other great point here is the rubber side mirror. Kudos on this one also.
The interior doesn`t have much in the detail department, at least not like the Viper did. But it`s not really a necessity for me. Wheels are the basic style that we`re used to on the Camaros & Mustangs.
On the right here is a picture of the rear tire, left is the front tire, my car has issues here. Both have fender well contact, nothing major. The front was easily fixed by just pushing the wheels on the axles a little more. The rear tire rubbed only on the (non gear side). There was plenty of clearance on the spur side. So just a small spacer was needed to pull the axle over .
Another pat on the back for Scalextric here on the wheels. Normally these areas have a big plastic booger that needs to be sanded off. Well surprise, because they`ve taken care of that for us.
A few bad areas here to point out. They seem to not have the message yet about this idiotic guide design. Do yourself a favor, buy a Slot.it plastic track guide and be done with it. P/N SICH10 $3.99. Next is the rear axle, about .003 of slop. If your going to be doing any high speed wood commercial track racing as I will. You might want to do the super glue trick on the inside of the bushings.(IT WORKS)
Also the car is equipped with the digital plate thingie... yada yada yada.
If your a magnet kinda person, you`ll be happy with the factory equipped earth stopping, power sucking, driver aid it has. On a side note, unlike the other Camaro and Mustang. This car has the same size wheels & tires on all 4 corners. So as far as on the car tire truing, just true the rear, move them to the front. Move the front to the rear, true again and your set.
The chassis is a new design also, but works all the same.
Pretty simple to dismantle, with the 6 screws shown, but you will need a small phillips screw driver. I always take the 2 center screws out also. This lets the interior stay with the body, then it can be removed after the chassis if needed. Another plus that the 69 didn`t have, is the removable spoiler. So if you don`t want to bust it up, take it off.
Here is a comparison of the 1969 & 1970 Camaro chassis. Probably a downer for you magnet people, but Scaley decided you didn`t need 4 magnets, because your driving is improving. The guide flag postition is moved forward from the axle as compared to the 1969 chassis. The 70 also has about a 1/8 inch longer wheelbase.
All in all I think they did a fantastic job on this car. It runs great and looks super, it`s been a long wait and this time Scalextric delivered. I ran this car on the big King track Saturday out of the box it ran really well at about a second slower than the tuned 1969s. After tuning a bit with much less weight than the 69, it runs 1/2 second faster than the 69. My guess is it`s a combination of the low stance, the forward guide position, and the slightly longer wheelbase.
I think it`s a winner.