| April 3 2004 Review |
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 Click Here To Buy This Item Now Ninco Audi TT-R ‘Belcar’ 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] How this relates to slot cars is when it pertains to cars that have been available on the market for some time or because you’ve had a car for a long time and might have moved on to racing other things. Slot cars, like old friends, need to be called on every once in a while just to make sure you’re kept aware of any changes that have happened in their life. You wouldn’t be a friend if you didn’t. Appearance:  For many, the Ninco Audi TT-R isn’t anything new. In fact, the TT-R has been on the market since 2001 and since then it has been released in five different paint schemes including one street version. For those who have started racing slot cars since 2001 however, this is your chance to learn more about an old favorite and oh, something about this car has changed besides the livery so you veterans might want to keep reading too.  The Ninco Audi TT-R ‘Belcar’ is a great looking car. It might not win awards for intricate detail but that’s fine by me. While delicate detailing is preferred by certain percentages of slot car collectors there is something to be said about sturdy functionality especially for those who race their collectables.  You can forget about a full interior with the Ninco TT-R as its just not there. In its place is a shallow tray interior holding the driver detail from the armpits up. There isn’t a safety cage, no fire bottle or markings on the dash panel to speak of and fueling locations are simulated though printing on the glass behind each of the doors windows.  Looking at the finish of the latest TT-R I could find no real issues with the paint quality. The graphics are crisp, colorful and well sealed by a nice clear coat that keeps everything shiny. While I am a fan of the previous paint jobs, especially the black PlayStation TT-R I think this white version has just become my favorite of the line up. It’s bright so it’s easy to see, has every color of the rainbow with the exception of purple printed somewhere on the car and I think it photographs pretty well don’t you agree?  Tires and rims are typical Ninco and you can’t go wrong with that. The simulated BBS style wheels look very nice and Ninco rubber is one of my favorites. I’ve used Ninco rubber tires on other cars, one that took second place in a rally proxy event, and I think Ninco makes some of the best stock rubber tires around.  Something I don’t care much for however is the amount of play in the Ninco front axle. As you can hopefully see from the animated picture above, the TT-R has a considerable amount of both side to side as well as up and down play. Where the up and down movement doesn’t bother me so much the side to side is enough to make me modify the car a little and I’ll get to that as soon as we get the body off. Performance:  To remove the body you only need to remove the three equal length screws. While I often worry about chassis warping with only one screw in the back I can tell you that the fit between the chassis and the body felt very solid on this car.  Now with the body off we get our first good look at the TT-R chassis. The car in general is pretty small but that doesn’t mean that you don’t have tuning room with this chassis.  Room in the middle of the chassis might be tight however that is not the case with the sides. Large flat areas between the wheels are ideal for adding weight. Why does it need weight? Well for starters the Ninco button magnet doesn’t provide a tremendous amount of down force. This coupled with the TT-R’s small size make it relatively light when running and it slides through the turns with little provocation.  What will be new to almost all of you is Ninco’s decision to replace the NC-2 motor with the newer 20,000 Rpm NC-5 motors. To my knowledge this makes the only TT-R to see the NC-5 power plant so that might be something to consider when running this car with previous TT versions. Acceleration from the motor is brisk and the back wheels will spin with enough power yet braking is even and predictable.  The 20,000 Rpm’s get routed through a brass pinion gear and plastic crown spinning the real axle in its brass axle bushings. Oddly enough, just as I had to do with the previously reviewed Ninco ProRace Subaru, I had to re secure the bushings on this car prior to running it. On the Subaru it was only the two rear axle bushings. On this TT-R I had to secure one of the rear bushings as well as the entire front axle.  Funny thing is that Ninco even designed this car with interior molded supports that sit just above the rear axle to stop it from coming out during running. Can’t say whether or not my axles came free during shipping or if it’s a production issue but the interior axle posts did little to prevent one side of the axle from popping out.  The front axle was a whole different story. When looking at the TT-R for the first time I knew something was wrong with the front wheels. There was no tire clearance and upon opening it up I found that the front axle wasn’t snapped in at all. It’s a very simple fix to be sure although I know things like this bother those who believe that ‘ready to run’ should mean just that.  Before I reinstalled the front axle though I took the time to correct that excess axle play I mentioned earlier. Although I contemplated shimming the axle with spacers I decided to shorten it instead as I prefer the look of having the wheels inside of the fenders. To remedy this I plugged in the indispensable rotary tool and chucked in the cutting wheel and took just a few millimeters off of the axle end. Once I cleaned up the rough edges of the cut with a sanding wheel I simply press fit the rim back on to the axle and the slop issue is no more! So let’s get it to the track! The great thing about the Ninco TT-R is that it performs much like the other Ninco button magnet cars. The characteristics of the TT-R were exactly what I was expecting being light, not overly glued down by the magnet and being a smooth runner. The NC-5 motor powered the TT-R to a best 3.052 lap time placing it nicely between a 2.946 set by a FLY GT1 Evo Porsche and a 3.187 run by the Monogram GS Corvette. Probably the funniest thing is that the TT-R set a faster lap than Ninco’s self-titled ‘Pro Race’ Subaru even with the Subaru’s upgraded parts like a hotter motor and ball bearing axle bushings. The Final Verdict:  What you get with the Ninco TT-R is a nice looking little slot car that runs well and lacks the micro-details that could break off of higher detailed cars. The fact that two Ninco products in a row came to me with loose axles is a concern however once the axles we seated the way they should be the Ninco TT-R settled in to be a fun car. It’s very light, both in the weight category as well as the magnetic attraction category and you will have to work the throttle a little to keep the TT-R from spinning the tail end around. For me this is exactly the way I like my cars although I know you fans of the (magnetic) ‘force’ will be looking for ways to glue this thing down more. Do I recommend it? You bet! Just be sure to check those axles before letting her rip! 
Video will take about a minute to download on a 56k modem. Click Here To Download Ninco Audi TT-R ‘Belcar’ Video Thanks go to the folks at Model Rectifier Corporation for providing me this new Ninco Audi TT-R ‘Belcar’ slot car . 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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