| December 26, 2005 Review |
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 AutoArt Ford GT By Shawn Smith Appearance:  Decked out in bright yellow with black racing stripes the new AutoArt Ford GT is yet another example of AutoArt delivering a die-cast finish as well as the quality detailing most have come to expect from their AutoArt 1/32 scale slot cars.  While my images might not do the car justice the paint work on this Ford GT is top notch as is the deep glossy clear coat covering the entire painted surface. Looking for any signs of imperfection I can't find any fading, dust trapped in the paint or blemishes of any kind.  Getting a closer look at the front of the car the AutoArt Ford GT gets black mesh grille treatments both in the opening between the lower driving lamps and in the tiny opening at the back of the front hood as well as inside of the giant louvered hood openings if you're looking at the car from behind.  Also up front AutoArt has once again provided buyers with a car equipped with lights and the inside hole of each headlamp bucket is filled with the tip of a small 'blue-ish white' LED. Somewhat surprisingly the LEDs in this Ford GT manage to only produce a fraction of the LED brightness we saw while testing the AutoArt Porsche 911 GT3RS and I can only guess that the LED size as well as how much is exposed in the headlamp housing it the cause of this. Still... the lights are welcome and add that extra bit of added realism that many enthusiasts enjoy.   Turning the car around to the back the tail lights get the LED treatment and here also the light is a little dim although visiable while driving in reduced light. The rest of the Ford GT's back-end gets decorated with a 'Ford GT' logo between the tail lights, some additional modeled grille work and small silver painted exhaust tips.  Interior wise AutoArt has again provided both a driver and a passenger figure in the front bucket seats although clothing colors have been painted differently from the previously mentioned Porsche 911 GT3RS. Dash and steering wheel get some additional in areas like painted silver trim rings on some gauges, silver steering wheel spokes and a silver painted center console with a chrome gear shifter between the seats.   Behind the seats the AutoArt Ford GT has some much expected engine details and the plastic rear window has replicated defroster lines and a painted on third brake light.  Wheels and tires are again well done with the rubber being a treaded design, simulated drilled brake-rotors behind the rims and the wheels themselves are painted silver with tiny Ford GT logos being applied in the center of each wheel.  Performance:  As I do with every review I like to point out where the screws are to remove the body from the chassis and while most can figure this out easily for themselves it is cars like this one where the tip might be handy. When first flipping the AutoArt GT on its top I was under the impression that I would need to remove 3 screws to get the body off. What I found was that the hole located near the nose of the GT was not a screw hole at all and the only 2 screws holding the car together are in the holes in front of each of the rear wheels. That doesn't mean however that the front of the body is free to move around as a tab on the chassis fits in a special location in the body work to keep the car tight in the front.  With the body now removed you can get an idea of how the lighting system is run in the car as well as see the interior pan to figure out if any room is left in the car for weight tuning. There isn't a ton of room to be certain and what little room is there is often being used by things, taking the grove in the bottom of the interior as an example, where the wiring and light plugs connect then rest inside of that cut out once the body is placed back on the chassis. Keep this in mind when reassembling the car is if you don't get the wiring plugs in there correctly it will cause some issues with tightening down the screws.  The first look at the chassis shows a side-winder motor and gearing configuration as well as dual magnet chassis design which is easily seen by looking at the bottom of the chassis.  Gearing used in this Ford GT mirrors the 12/38 combination that also appeared in the recently tested AutoArt Porsche and this is a top speed set up to be certain. In contrast to the cars speed potential both acceleration and braking suffer slightly from this gearing combination and it will take some time for many racers to become accustomed to the driving characteristics of this car.  Up front the front axle is held in the chassis with the same brass bushings used to secure the rear axle yet in the case of this Ford GT the front axle bushings allowed for no up and down movement in their mounts and were very snug in the chassis unlike, again, the recently tested Porsche 911 GT3-RS.  Magnetically the Ford GT is also set up differently in the relationship between the cars magnets and their placement in the chassis. In the Porsche 911, mentioned several times above, both of the cars bar magnets were glued inside of the car and on top of the chassis where the magnets in this Ford GT have been dropped in to pockets designed in to the bottom of the chassis to keep them flush mounted. This does mean that the AutoArt Ford GT gets grouped in with the 'heavy magnet' crowd which will please some but will bother others.  So, performance wise, what does the AutoArt Ford GT do? Knowing that the gearing in the new AutoArt Ford GT and new AutoArt Porsche 911 are the same I sort of expected lap times that were close to being the same however I was fooled. The Porsche, with its two bar magnets and 12/38 gearing, cruised its way to a fastest recorded lap of 6.062 however that time was considerably slower than the fastest lap of 5.580 achieved by the Ford GT. Now the GT does have magnets that are flush mounted with the bottom of the chassis so additional downforce is easily assumed yet for some odd reason the GT seems to have more torque even though gearing is the same. This means that the Ford GT could rocket out of the turns just fast enough for it to beat the Porsche by a half of a second over 60 feet and because the gearing ratio is shared by both cars you'd have to guess there is a variance in the motors.  And speaking of variances I already know that many will want to see how the new AutoArt Ford GT stacks up agasint the previously released Scalextric version so here are some shots to let you make your own visual judgements between the two.      Now having seen both I'm sure you'll want to know if the compare speed wise and happily they make a pretty decent pair. Give the nod on acceleration and braking to the Scalextric version but give the top speed award to the AutoArt car. How much speed you can carry in the corners feels very close but keep in mind that the AutoArt Ford GT is dragging two magnets around on its treaded tires while the Scalextric has one, larger, bar magnet and racing slicks helping it in its grip department. Would I recommend one over the other? I might, depending on how they will be raced and if gear tuning is an option for those asking, yet side by side on the track both are great looking cars with different characteristics. The Final Verdict:  There is no question that AutoArt knows their stuff when it comes to making a great 'looking' slot car. In making a great 'running' slot car I still think AutoArt has yet to figure out how they want to do things as this Ford GT has the third different magnet set up in the last three AutoArt cars I've tested. Yes the gearing is going to turn a few racers off about this car yet its nothing that can't be changed and if you're one of the lucky ones with a decent length straight I think this Ford GT should really shine. Again, the AutoArt Ford GT is 'strong in the ways of the force' (read magnetic downforce) so expect it take corners with decent speeds and offer little time for you to recover in case those mangets fail to keep the car in line. All in all its a great looking car with respectable performance and at a price of around $40.00 its an affordable option that will fit nicely in your collection. Special thanks go to SlotCarWorld.com for providing the new AutoArt Ford GT for review. As always, feel free to contact me if you have any additional questions and I will be happy to answer anything that I can. Happy Slotting! Shawn Smith SJSlots@hotmail.com |
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