| Feb. 28 2004 Review |
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 Click Here To Buy This Car Now Vanquish MG Lotus 72D Dave Charlton Grand Prix Inglaterra 1972 By Shawn Smith Click here to have Genie read this review out loud to you in Microsoft Agent AUDIO! [Click here to chat about this item on our Forum] [Click here to download this article to your Desktop for offline reading - 625 KB] Appearance:  Get a first look at the all-new Lotus 72D from Vanquish. Talk about digressing! For the first time ever Vanquish has decided to leave their ‘comfort zone’ of the Can-Am cars to branch out and create one beautiful looking 1972 Formula 1 race car.  I was very happy when this car arrived from Eagle Distributing and couldn’t wait to get some track time in on this beauty. Removing the car from its familiar VMG base I couldn’t help but admire the now well renowned Vanquish level of detail. I could almost hear the wail from the headers as I looked over the gorgeous engine detail of this car.  Setting the car down on the track was a real joy for me. While some have decided to avoid the Vanquish cars because of the closer to 1/28-scale measurements I for one have fallen in love with the Vanquish cars. The level of detail, mixed with the uniqueness of their working differential rear axle and the seemingly high level of quality have really secured their place in my line up. But how close has Vanquish come with this new Lotus 72D with both the scale accuracy and overall effect? Here’s a little prototype picture to give us some reference.  Judging from the real car I’d be willing to say that Vanquish has done a pretty amazing job with this car. While the model does appear a bit narrower than the prototype picture shows it does appear that Vanquish has come very close to hitting this nail on the head.  Almost all of the racing logos and sponsorships appear to be accurately recreated and the majority of the model is well clear coated to help seal them all in. The red however around the cockpit doesn’t appear to be clear coated like the rest of the car although that particular section of the car isn’t in any real danger of contacting anything during racing unless you manage to flip it on to it’s top and slide it down a guardrail.  What might take some punishment though is the rear engine detail. While the level of realism is well recreated it comes at a small price. Some of this work could suffer in a serious crash especially the exhaust tip and battery section just under the rear spoiler. Nothing holding this on really except for the heat melting of the exhaust ends into groves in the chassis. Do yourself a favor and add a little glue to them before really running it hard.  Tires and rims are well done with dual gold striping and white Firestone letting surrounding nice looking wheels with simulated three spoke knock off details. These wheels though might also need some TLC and I’ll cover that shortly. Performance:  Removing the body of the Lotus 72D requires the removal of just one, slightly hidden, front mounted screw. You’ll need to move the guide aside to get to it but that is no difficult task. The body is a little tricky to remove at first so take your time and don’t force anything. Part of the simulated suspension detail is run through holes in the body so again take some consideration here.  Now with the parts separated we can see Vanquish’s use of an all-new chassis to go with their all new model line. Gone is the sectional Can-Am chassis and replacing it is a nice and simple single section design.  Up front we have a solid front axle run through more simulated suspension detail and a guide that in my opinion is a little on the ‘sloppy’ side. It has considerable amount of both up and down as well as a certain degree or movement side to side. This is something that might need addressing from model to model so take a look at yours and use your own judgment on whether or not to do anything to stiffen this up.  Out back we can see that Vanquish has decided to continue with their now famous working differential although something here has in fact changed. Gone is the brass pinion found on the previous Can-Am cars and making it’s debut is a black plastic pinion. I found no problems here during testing as the gearing felt smooth and firm.  For those who haven’t yet done this it is a good idea to open these things up and apply a bit more of your favorite plastic compatible grease to the internal components. The axle can be carefully pried out of its mounts and the differential easily opened to allow the application of more lubrication.  Touching back on the wheels you can see by the picture above that the wheels used, at least in the front, are a multi piece design. I found this quite by chance as I thought I was trying to straighten a slightly bent wheel post when in reality I discovered that the outer rim wasn’t completely seated on the inner rim. A small amount of hand pressure corrected this but not before I took some modeling liberty.  While it has absolutely nothing to do with how the car runs I did notice that in all of the prototype photographs I found that the rear wheels of the Charlton Lotus 72D resembled more of a white color and that the front wheels were actually a darker color than silver in the centers. Using some thinned out flat black I went ahead and painted my hub before fixing my wheels. I know… You’re thinking ‘get on with it!’  What does help with the running is the cylindrical button magnet placed just ahead of the motor. Don’t be fooled though as this magnet is not as strong as the hardcore magnet fans typically like. The Lotus had no problems with kicking out the back end with a little too much throttle at just about any point on the track. For my tastes however that is exactly how I like them. That’s not to say though that the magnet isn’t effective. Trying a new test for this review I used a spare track section of both Carrera and vintage Revell track to perform the ‘tip test’ where I sat the car on the track and proceeded to turn the track at an angle just to see how high it would go before the Lotus fell off. I was actually quite impressed that I managed to get both track sections almost completed flipped upside down before the car’s magnetic pull finally let go. The true test came when it was time to actually run the Lotus. While not setting any track records the Vanquish Lotus did hold it’s own against some pretty good competition. Best lap was a 3.295 compared to the 3.214 and 3.428 best times run by the FLY 3.5 CSL and Ferrari 365 GTB. While the characteristics of the Lotus were very similar to all other previously tested Vanquish cars it’s the best lap that sets the Lotus apart as it is now the fastest VMG car I have. Being smaller and lighter certainly doesn’t hurt in that regard.  One final point of interest here is in the scale department. If you can judge by the comparison above with the Scalextric Corteco IRL Dallara the Vanquish Lotus 72D is not what I would consider tremendously out of scale. While I could not find true dimensions of the 1:1 race car I can see with my own eyes that this Vanquish car isn’t grotesquely bigger than other comparable 1/32 open wheeled race cars. Do not let what you’ve heard about the scale of Vanquish cars deter you from buying them. You’ll miss out on some really great cars. The Final Verdict:  So what are my thoughts after getting an up close and personal look at the new Vanquish MG Lotus 72D? Well for starters I do not thing this is a car for the ‘first time’ slot buyer. The level of detail, while appealing, does take away from the sturdiness of the car and other items like the front wheel not being properly seated and the slop of the guide might leave a new buyer left with a car they aren’t quite sure how to correct. It is a beautiful car however and those of us who are comfortable enough to look for these small issues should have no reason to avoid these cars. In top form this Lotus is one great looking model that runs very well not to mention the ‘cool factor’ of having a modern replica of a vintage Lotus 72D to buzz around our tracks. I really like this car… I hope you will too. 
Video will take about a minute to download on a 56k modem. Click Here To Download Vanquish Lotus 72D Video Special thanks go to Eagle Distributing for providing me the chance to get a better look at this latest Vanquish MG Lotus 72D release! As always, feel free to contact me if you have any additional questions and I will be happy to answer anything that I can. Shawn Smith SJSlots@hotmail.com |
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