| August 5, 2007 Review |
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 BRM 1/24 Porsche 962C Review By Eric Cropper BRM is located in Italy and are known under the brand names of BRM and Codolo. They were primarily in the business of producing model car accessories. They are now branching out into our beloved hobby with 1/24 and 1/32 scale slots cars according to their website. So, it seems you 1/32 scale guys won’t be left out in future releases by BRM. This review is picture heavy and my most detailed review to date. Load times may be long with dial-up service. The Build:  The kit comes in a large box. The top shows the entire line to be released. If I heard it right, they are only releasing 1,000 of each version worldwide. So, if you want one don’t wait too long. Look at that body! All shiny and free of finger prints. It’s just a hint of the quality hidden inside.  Once you pop the top of this treasure chest you’ll see just how much time and effort went into the craftsmanship of all the pieces. It’s almost sensory overload seeing that much great looking stuff in one box. There are 29 pieces total in the kit.  Above is everything you get in the kit after I removed them from the box and bags. I will point out that the body is held in place by screws located on the bottom of the Styrofoam bottom. So, don’t go yanking on it. You’ll also notice there’s no chassis in site. Don’t worry because it’s under the body once you unscrew it from the bottom of the box. There are 2 instruction booklets included in the kit translated into several different languages. Luckily, English is one of them. (insert rim shot) Throughout the instructions there are tips to make the assembly an easier task. Most of them are in grey shaded boxes. Read them!!! Let’s get a building… Assembly:  First, grab your chassis. Feel it. Admire it. This is one well crafted chassis. This thing is rock solid. No flex in this one. At some points I’d guess the thickness at 3/16 to 1/4 of an inch. It’s pretty clean and free of flashing. There are one or two areas that a little flashing has to be dealt with, but nothing too major. I’ll point them out as we go. Below are the tools needed to bring it all together. They are included in the kit. The Allen wrench is a nice size and study. Though the screw driver is cute, I opted to use one of my own. Frankly, it’s just too small for my hands to use.  Step One:  Insert the bushings into their openings. Grab a crown gear and slide an axle through. Don’t worry about which axle to grab. They’re both the same. There are two crown gears in the kit. The blue one has 34 teeth and the orange one has 36 teeth. I opted for the blue one. Step Two:  Set the motor in its pocket and secure it with the motor bracket and 2 screws. As you can see on the motor label this motor is rated at 23,500 RPM @ 12V. The motor has an 8 tooth pinion already on the motor shaft. The kit also includes a 9 tooth pinion. The bracket was packed inside the same bag as the magnet plate and screws. You will want to use the longer screws for the motor bracket and not the shorter ones. This is one thing you can’t tell by the instruction diagrams and it’s not mentioned in the text. This is the only complaint I have about the instructions. However, looking at the screws and the holes you can figure it out. After the motor is secure line up your rear axle and tighten the gear. Step Three:  The guide is a plus on these cars. After you snake the lead wires down the side channels of the chassis they screw into the guide. No more dead cars in the middle of a race because a wire worked its way loose and popped out of the guide. I first place the braids over the guide to get the bends started. I then removed them and made the bend more defined. This made them lay very flat against the bottom of the guide. The rest is just snaking the screw through the wire eyelet and braid into the hole on top of the guide. The thinner braids included are for use on plastic tracks and the thicker second set for use on wood tracks. Another check in the plus column! I must admit this was an area of frustration via my big fingers. Save yourself the headache and slap a magnet on your screw driver to help aid in getting the screws into place. The arrow points out the rubber O-ring that holds the guide in place. I had my doubts, but it really works. NOTE: This is where there was a little bit of flashing that I had to remove from the top of the guide post of the chassis. After doing so, the O-ring seated all the way against the top of the chassis post. Step Four:  This step involves personal choice. Too magnet or not too magnet? The bar magnet fits neatly in its pocket and is held in place by a plastic cover and the 2 short screws that were in question when we mounted the motor bracket. (pointed out by the white arrows) The other arrows show you the motor wire channels molded into the chassis. Another great and practical feature of this car. Step Five:  Diamonds are forever and so are BRM’s aluminum set-screw rims. They come fully assembled minus the set-screw being installed in its place. They feature a cross-drilled disc brake with a plastic spoke pattern topped with a painted wheel lug. The design creates great visual depth. I hate the disc brake up against the rim look a lot of cars have today on the market.  This is where reading the directions pay off. The fit of the rubber over these rims is tighter than Fort Knox. The instructions tell you to run a hair dryer over the rubber until it softens up before attempting to get them over the rim. DO IT!!! I was able to get the fronts on without doing this, but there was no way in @#$! the rears were going to fit without being heated up. I used the mega watt spot lights used to light the Garage’s track. It was still difficult and you had to work fast before they cooled, but it worked. I suggest using a hair dryer if you have one. I think it will heat up the rubber quicker and more evenly. These tires are huge, but not out of proportion. The fronts are around 15/16 of an inch in diameter and a tad over 1/2 an inch wide. The rears have a diameter of 1 1/8 inches and a width of 5/8 of an inch. “Your tires are so big,” said an admiring track patron. “The better to hook up and blow your doors off with,” said the big bad reviewing grease monkey.  After man handling the tires, insert the set-screws with the supplied Allen wrench and tighten the wheels onto the axles. There are 2 small nylon spacers that go on each end of the front axle before the tire. NOTE: This is where I encountered another issue. It was either the holes that the axle went into on the front rims wasn’t deep enough or that the axle was just too long. I pushed the rims onto the axle as far as I could and the nylon spacers provided didn’t fill the gap. There was just too much side to side play. I grabbed some nylon washers I found at the local hardware store and replaced the ones supplied in the kit. I actually had to use 2 of my nylon washers on each side to get the axle just right. This might be an isolated incident with my car. I don’t want to state that this is an issue with the whole run of cars. “Wait a minute!” Take a look at the picture above and zero in on the wheel lug on the front wheel. It’s sticking out and it shouldn’t be. Upon closer inspection it appears that the wheel lugs have posts that push into the rim. This must be what was keeping the front wheels from going on all the way. I just noticed this as I’m typing away here. I pulled the car out and sure enough it’s sticking out. I will have to do some further inspection. Keep this in mind if you experience the same issue. The lug post may need to be trimmed. Step Six:  It’s interior time and it’s a piece of cake to do. Grab the interior and simply line up the 2 holes on the bottom of it with the 2 post on the chassis. Press into place. Now flip over the chassis and screw in the only flush mounting screw provided in the kit. It should look like the picture below.  Step Seven: Grab the only other driver who’s going to be as lucky as you are to driver this Porsche and place him into the driver’s seat.  The driver doesn’t lock in place by any posts or such. You could heat up the old hot glue gun, but I didn’t. The driver has his matching Advan colored racing suit on and has the seat belts molded on him too. There’s some great detail in the shifter and various components paint in silver and flat black. You’ll notice the black overspray into the silver on the sides. However, this doesn’t come into play when the car is fully assembled. Sadly, the majority of the interior details are impossible to see through the windows. I do think it shows BRM’s dedication to making a complete model in the end. They could have left most the details out, but chose to do it the right way. Step Eight: The dash is the last piece of the puzzle in the installation of the interior. Below is a close-up of the bells and whistles painted in various colors.  Simply slide the post on the bottom of the dash over the post on the interior and make sure it sets flush. (pointed out by the arrows below)  This is how the finished interior should look. There is a random mistake of black paint in the silver sheet metal up front. However, it's detail you won't see when the car is completed.  NOTE: The arrows above show where tabs on each side of the dash piece fit into channels molding into the tops of the axle posts and the hole in the center of the silver sheet metal goes over the guide post. I think this will help keep that rubber O-ring from completely coming off the post if it should happen to work its way up the guide post over time. The dark spots on the dash are finger prints. Make sure you wipe it off before the next step. This car demands this kind of attention to detail! Step Nine:  Above you see the strong brass body screw inserts in each of the 3 body posts that mount this gem to the chassis. There are 3 very, very small black screws and 3 silver washers used to secure the body. Big fingers beware! Use the magnet trick! Below the white arrows point out the body screw locations and the other points out the screw that secures the interior. NOTE: When you get the rear body screw tightened down grab the rear wheels with one hand and the rear of the body with the other. Rock the body. It moves side to side. This appears to be part of the Porsche’s design. I know folks back off the body screws to allow this body rocking to improve handling. Again, BRM appears to have thought of that already.  Appearance:  You can lift your chin off the ground now. Here’s what all that effort went into. Not really. The kit went together rather well, except for the little things I pointed out. Pictures don’t do BRM’s product any justice. Everyone I handed it to at the track held out their hands flat for me to set it upon. Even once they had it in their hands they were afraid to handle it. You would have thought I just placed a brick of C4 into their outstretched hands. NOTE: I didn’t put the mirrors on my car because they are usually one of the first pieces to be lost in a wreck. I must say that in testing, I didn’t come close to putting it on its side let alone on its roof. So, they might be safe while running the car alone. Running door to door might be another story. Also, they included 4 red Yokohama logo tire decals to put on the sidewalls. I didn’t put these on either because I prefer an all black sidewall and usually turn my wheels around to achieve this look. So, why bother?  The 962 sits pretty low to the track. There’s a tow hook up front and air vents and splitters on the corners. Below the headlights are screaming for a light kit in my opinion.   The rear end is pretty plain Jane. The rear spoiler feels solid, but still flexible. The red of the tail lights is transparent for that light kit I mentioned. Sadly, the yellow part is opaque. There’s also two large aerodynamic fins on the underside. These are molded into the chassis and are very solid. Below you get the full view of the standard red and black Advan livery. The finish of these cars is practically perfect. All the base colors are shiny and smooth. The logos are crisp and well defined. No bleed through from the black and red base colors in the white graphics. The only white graphics that appear slightly thin are the Kenwood logos. However, on such a thin font type this is not unusual. You’ll want to rub these BRM’s with a diaper.    The air vent openings have clean lines and are free from any type of flashing. The picture above shows the location where the mirrors are inserted between the windshield and side window if you choose to take that risk.  This picture says all that needs to be said about how these wheels look on the 962. Track Spacing: SCALEXTRIC SPORT TRACK If you own this track system and think you’re going to run 4 of these on you 4 lane track, think again. I ran this car on a 6 lane road course and as you can see in the pictures below the BRM is over the tracks edge when in the slot.  There’s going to be NO side by side racing of these cars on Sport track!!! As a matter of fact the maximum of 2 BRM’s could cleanly run on the 6 lane Sport track. That means 1 BRM in lane 2 and one BRM in lane 5. That’s it!!!  Above is the BRM on the inside lane at the apex of a Sport R2 curve. As you can see by the spacing, side by side is impossible. CARRERA TRACK Below is the spacing of a Carrera straight. Even on the wider Carrera track, it’s going to be very, very close racing in the straights and there WILL be bumping and rubbing in the curves. There's little room for mistakes or tail slides.  I think it’s safe to say that BRM mostly had routed commercial tracks and maybe Carrera track in mind when building these Porsches. Whatever type of track you run these on, each will have its challenges to cleanly run them. If you’re a down and dirty bump ‘em if you can’t beat ‘em racer…nuff said! Shawn’s looking my way and shaking his finger at me. I’m saying, “Not with this one brother.” CARRERA BANK CURVES This is where I tell you the bad news of running on Carrera track with banked curves. I attempted to run this on a 4 lane road course and made it through the left banked turn and down a long straight into the right banked curve of lane 2. SNAP!!! CRACK!!! TINK. TINK. “Oh, that didn’t sound good!” I pick up the 962 and the right side air splitter is gone. After about 10 minutes of looking and running a broom across the black and white checkered floor, the shop owner found it. It snapped, drug across the top of the fender taking the shiny layer of paint with it, and landed on the floor about 10 feet away. As I looked at the bottom of the one remaining air splitter it had obviously drug in the turn too. So, I could have lost both of them. See the picture below.  Above the white arrows point out where the mounting pegs broke off and the other arrow is where the shine was removed. (hard to see in the picture, but it happened) If you lost this piece or it got destroyed you would end up with the glue marks and slight paint removal. It’s a major eyesore on this beautiful car. I hope I can get it glued back in place without any further paint or alignment issues since the pegs broke off. So, I didn’t get to run this car on any Carrera track that didn’t have banked curves and I didn’t want to risk any more damage to the front end by trying to move up the bank. I did put it in the slot of the largest radius that Carrera makes on the banked end of the shop’s oval track. It looked like these pieces might be safe. However, not many racers have the room for these types of banks in their home layout. The BRM handled the old table top styled bridge just fine and I have no doubt that these cars would be at home on a flat Carrera track. The above issue caused all of my performance results to be based on Sport track. Performance: If you’re not asleep by know with this lengthy review, you’re wondering what has to be done to get this car ready for the track. I only did 3 things. I lube everything that usually needs lube and some tire sanding. The rear tires inside and outside edges were slightly raised up. It was nothing that a little time on the tire sander couldn’t solve. The tire compound is like nothing I’ve ever seen before on the market. It is on the hard side of the spectrum and has an unusual feel and texture to it. It will sand and it will get messy when the rubber starts flying. I used 150 grit paper to start and the rubber sanded off in a pebble form instead of a dust. I finished up with 100 grit paper to smooth them out. The last thing I did was fan out the braids. That’s it folks. The 6 lane Scalextric Sport Cataluyna Circuit is a 35’ X 10’ track at the local shop. I ran in lane 2 which is 119 feet long. It has some very tight turns and you will see this in the video. The guide did slightly hit the bottom of the slot and caused a little noise and a noticeable bounce to the front end at full speed down the 30+ foot straightway. However, it didn’t cause any binding of the guide in the slot or loss of speed. The motor has very good acceleration and equally impressive brakes. The tires provided better traction than I expected. That doesn’t mean that the tail end won’t show itself around a turn or under hard acceleration out of a turn. The 962 on occasion would slide out to its furthest point and wouldn’t come back straight. I would have to manually straighten it back out before I could continue driving. The guide will turn to an angle a bit shy of 90 degrees. Don’t get me wrong, as long as, it didn’t get too far away from me in a slide I was able to recover and continue down the track around 90% of the time. I ran the Porsche with its magnet installed and turned a fastest lap around the Cataluyna of 12.433 seconds. I also ran my Carrera 1/32 Porsche Spyder and it turned laps in the low 10 second range. Keeping in mind the size of the BRM, it lapped good times. I didn’t forget you non-magnet racers this time. I was able to turn a fastest lap of 13.474 seconds in the same lane. A second difference is darn good in my book. I’ve got to be honest with my non-magnet experience. I LOVED running the Porsche this way. It did show its tail more and I would get pissed when I was turning what I felt to be a new fastest lap, only to be slowed down from a hard slide. However, I felt more comfortable running it non-magnet. I was able to get through the sharp turns quicker by coming off the trigger and letting the car’s momentum carry it through the turn. It was a blast!!! The video was taken on the first day that I was running the BRM with its magnet. LOAD TIME MAY BE LONG FOR DIAL-UP SERVICE Click here to watch "brm-lap" Judgement Day: Simply put the BRM line of 962C Porsches are incredibly beautiful cars. The quality is very high in visual details and craftsmanship. The build was straight forward and could be complete with little effort. (Big hands and all) They gave us gearing options that usually meant making a visit to the local hobby shop and its performance was way more than I personally expected. Being a stock magnet racer, I never thought I would find a car that I prefer to run without its magnet. I did. Really!!! There are only 2 points that may make owning one or more of the BRM’s a problem. #1 Price Regarding the price I ask how many of you have $100+ Fly cars in your collection? Raise your hands. (Kurt you better have both hands up) How many of you have paid that or more for a Slot It “Newman” and run the darn thing? I know a lot of local guys pay $50 for a Slot It and drop another $50 or more into parts for it. Then they run and break them on the same track I tested upon. #2 Track This may be a bigger issue than the cost. Sadly, a lot of home racers won’t be able to run this car on their track. (There was no way in #@$% it was going to run around the Garage’s Carrera track) I’m lucky in the fact that I have one track I know I can go to and run the car. However, it will most likely by myself and when nobody else is there wanting to run on the track at the same time. Personally, I don’t mind running this car by myself. That’s just how much I like it!!! “Uh, can I get lane 2 and 1,3,4,5, and 6?” The American judge gives it a 9.85 Slot Car Garage sends a big THANK YOU to www.CincySlots.com for this review car. We are looking forward to this renewed partnership to bring knowledge to the Slot Masses. Please make sure you visit the CincySlot website and don’t hesitate to call or email Bruce. He provides great service and is quick to respond to you email inquiries. Eric Cropper AKA legionofone ecropper@hotmail.com |
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