| July 13 2004 Review |
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 Click Here To Buy This Car Now Scalextric Silver 04’ Audi TT By Shawn Smith (SJSlots) 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] Appearance:  Secret number one; things aren’t always as they appear. Looking at the Audi TT in its box you might not easily pick up on more than one of its interesting new changes. Does anyone see anything odd about the Audi’s box? The base looks blue instead of the typical black right?  Get a look at Scalextric’s latest attempt at slot car packaging! No hard plastic black base here, no hard clear plastic top to cover our car and no more removable sleeve to take off to be able to get the two case halves apart. This new packaging sports a modest cardboard base, with a large bright Scalextric-USA website address printed across the background, and a very different clear plastic box with folding tabs and secured box art. If you’re one of those guys who likes to display your cars in their cases be advised now that this new arrangement blocks the car from certain views. Do not worry too much about that because I doubt many of you will be putting this car away.  Another new find with this Scalextric Audi TT can be located on the underside of the cardboard base. While the metal screw makes another reappearance it is now joined by wire ties that loop around each of the front wheels and assures that the car stays planted on its base.  Having now removed the car from its box we can get a better look at the detailing on the new Scalextric Audi TT, or maybe it is better to say, lack of detailing on the new Audi TT. Do not be confused by my comments however as just because I said ‘lack of detailing’ that does not mean it is without its details. Let’s just say that the details are ‘different’ than most will be used to.  Anyone notice how dark the windows are on the new Audi TT? I know around here that level of window tint would be something local law enforcement would write me a ticket for. Legal tint percentages in Ohio are 50 percent on all side windows and the new Audi tips the scales at a full 100 percent of total amount of outside light blocked. That’s right… the windows are painted on in solid black! Painted on you ask? Yes, but we’ll come back to that.  Up front our Audi is sporting a black grill with a chrome accented Audi symbol, tampo printed headlamp details and a tampo painted front Audi plate. I’m certain by now that many of you are already scratching your heads about this car. Printed on headlights can’t be right can it? We are talking about Scalextric right? Right!  You’re going to notice the trend soon as the back is no different from the front. Tampo printed taillights and a painted Audi plate also highlight the back of the Scalextric Audi TT. I know this is unusual for Scalextric yet it is true that the headlights and taillights are non-functional and are printed on.  I know this is unusual and many of the scale purists are already writing this car off of their must-have lists and to be honest I can empathize. This car has no interior detail, no working lights or even separately added headlamp or tail lamp details. I do however think this approach is much needed in this market and especially after I tell you the price. Stay with me! Performance:  Flipping the Scalextric Audi TT over gives you access to its four equal sized screws keeping body and chassis together. From this perspective we can also see four equal sized slicks and the chassis’ multiple magnet position locations. We can also see that the Audi utilizes a short inline motor configuration and maintains Scalextric’s new braid plate system.  Now with the body off we can get a look at what’s missing inside. There you have it folks! Nothing! Not a single thing is inside of this Audi. On the bright side, of not having a cool little driver, roll cage or extinguisher bottle just think of the weight reduction accomplished by this change. I don’t have a scale to measure it but I can say that it feels light, very light.  Back to the chassis, everything that was assumed by looking at the bottom is proven to be true. A simple rear mounted inline drive train, a nice wide bar magnet with an alternate magnet position and nothing else to get in the way is what we have left when the body comes off!  In the gearing department we see a white plastic pinion rotating a white plastic crown that rotates the axle through black plastic bushings. The bar magnet comes stock in the rearward most position and is ample in down force for the weight of the car. In other words… this car scoots!  Up front Scalextric has chosen solid front axle mounts and the additional magnet position. You’ll also notice some extra little tabs and notches in the chassis that I can only assume are there for a different version of the car or if the chassis will be shared with a different body. You can see that the wiring is a simple shot from the guide to the motor so without any interior detail to worry about the odd little chassis features escape my understanding for now. Possible future lighted version maybe?  Tires and rims are typical Scalextric dependable. The rims look nice and have tiny little Audi symbols in the centers of each rim and tires are about as true as you could hope for on a model slot car. The rims themselves all seemed devoid of any excessive flashing that would cause any problems and taking the car out for some test laps confirmed its smoothness.  One final interesting item to look at comes in the plastic package containing Scalextric’s typically included extra braid plates. The interesting part is that it displays the word ‘Sport’ which seems confusing based on the lack of typical Scalextric ‘Sport’ features and I chuckled to myself when I saw the word ‘Sport’ there.  The Final Verdict: I love this car! I’m hearing doubt from many of you now but it is in fact true. Why? For one it’s fast! I can’t tell you how fast because my laptop was unplugged and boxed away for an upcoming move but I can tell you that just by feel alone this car feels to be one of the quickest of its type. It accelerated briskly and stopped quickly. Grip from the magnet and the tire combination proved to be ample as the car felt stable and took inner corners with ease.  Another reason I like this car is because we need more cars this tough. There is nothing to break off of this car. I slammed it pretty hard in to some retaining walls and everything is still in its place. The lack of details might bother some but a lack of them is nice once in a while. It was so relaxing to run as fast as I could without worrying that something would be broken off before my review was finished. People are always asking for fast, fun and durable beginner cars… and the folks at Scalextric are presenting their answer! The final reason I like this car is price! At around $25.00 it solidifies its place as the perfect car for new or younger racers. If you loved the value represented by the Scalextric IRL $19.95 cars you can’t afford to miss this Audi or it’s running mate the, the red and silver, Porsche Boxster. So there we have it. No interior, no working lights, no headlight lenses or spoilers to break off and lose during racing, just a quick, tough and inexpensive slot car. My question to you is… where is yours? 
Video will take about a minute to download on a 56k modem. Click Here To Download Scalextric Silver 04’ Audi TT Video Thanks again to Jon at Rad Trax www.radtrax.com for providing me this new Scalextric Silver 04’ Audi TT slot car. Please check out Radtrax on the web or give them a call at (702) 253-7568. 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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