Review of the Carrera 1/24 and 1/32 BMW V12 LMR slot cars

Carrera Exclusiv 1/24 #20475 and Evolution 1/32 #25420 BMW V12 LMR Le Mans 1999 slot cars

1/24 Exclusiv Features:

Sidewinder chassis with removable traction magnet [photo of bottom of chassis]
Switch on bottom allows you to change polarity so you can race on any track since Carrera track is wired backwards than most 1/24 tracks
Front lights with working rear brake lights system

Overall Rating:

3½ out of 5 tires

1/32 Evolution Features:

Inline chassis with adjustable traction magnet
Switch on bottom allows you to change polarity so you can race on Carrera and other standard 1/32 tracks
New 1/32 Carrera chassis design eliminates the old friction drive and replaces it with the common gear drive

Overall Rating:

5 out of 5 tires - SCG Best Buy!!!

Here's the Carrera Exclusiv 1/24 and Evolution 1/32 BMW V12 LMR 1999 slot cars. These cars should be available any time now in the US.

Scale	Lane	Best Lap Time	Average Lap Time	Chronometer
1/32	1	4.337	5.179	0:55.658
1/24	1	5.384	5.644	0:59.036

The Carrera 1/32 BMW V12 LMR has the same level of detailing and workmanship of the Audi R8R car. It is on par with the likes of FLY and Ninco so Carrera is now a creditable opponent in the 1/32 slot car wars. They have released a new style chassis for 2000 which includes an adjustable magnet system. It features an inline gear drive system using a pinion and crown gear rather than their friction drive from previous years. This 1/32 BMW V12 LMR 1999 slot car from Carrera has a slightly longer wheelbase than the Audi R8R which I also tested on my track.

I was surprised with the performance of this car and think it definitely has the ability to take on most Fly and Ninco 1/32 slot cars. The car handles the course very well and it takes the curves without much fish tailing (oversteer) and little jumping out of the slot (understeer). Carrera has their new adjustable magnet system and wide slick tires that have good grip to aide in the handling of this slot car. The only problem with their adjustable magnet is that it slides higher up into the chassis as you move it forward. I had it furthest back in the chassis which is closest to the track for the test drive. It would have been nice if they included the magnet further back in the chassis but it still helps.

Compared to the Audi R8R, I prefer the BMW V12 LMR slot car. The BMW drives much but both have the same power and speed from the Mabuchi S motor. The BMW gets a 5 out of 5 tires SCG Best Buy rating since the BMW rides very smoothly and handles the course perfectly without much hassle. You get great performance out of the motor and the body itself is well detailed and nicely done. A car worth the money with a very smooth running, quiet drivetrain. Next, we take the 1/24 scale Exclusiv version of the BMW V12 LMR slot car for a test drive...

The 1/24 BMW V12 LMR 1999 Exclusiv slot car has a different chassis design and motor as it's 1/32 scale counterpart. The chassis is a sidewinder design with a larger Mabuchi motor. They also have included lights for the front of the car with a working brake light system for the rear. The detail could have been better since it is a larger scale but they decided to keep it on par with the 1/32 scale car which is still pretty good.

From running other 1/24 Carrera slot cars on my larger Carrera Exclusiv 1/24 road course layout, I didn't really expect much of this car. Taking some laps around the track gave me some insight on how the car will work for the test drive. The new chassis design features a removable traction magnet that holds the car to the track pretty good. The older 1/24 Exclusiv chassis has the same sidewinder design and motor but no traction magnet.

For the test drive, the car went pretty much effortlessly around the track without much needed skill. The magnet keeps it on the track around most of the curves but it still has the tendency to slide around when you punch the throttle or brake a little too late in the turns. The motor itself is not all that powerful but combined with the way the car handles the curves almost flawlessly and the new traction magnet, we get a good combo that gave me one of the best track times yet tested from a 1/24 scale slot car on my layout.

I do find some faults with the car but you must remember that they tune these cars for their 1/24 layouts which aren't as larger as mine or most of the enthusiast 1/24 home or club slot car layouts. I thought the 1957 Corvette 1/24 slot car that I just built was faster than this car but with a quick test drive proved me wrong. The Corvette was slightly slower but sounded faster than this 1/24 BMW V12 LMR car. The car should have some more power to the motor but I am told by a very reliable source that Carrera makes a black motor with a higher performance rating than their stock motors in their 1/24 Exclusiv cars. I plan to get some of these motors and try them out to see how good they are. The lighting system is also a major downfall to these cars, nice for the kiddies but not for diehard racers.

Overall the 1/24 scale slot car gets a 3 out of 5 rating because of the motor lacking performance and the way you have to go almost full throttle to get any response out of the car. This could have been caused by the lighting system dropping the power or storing the energy for the brake lights to go on when you leave off the throttle. A nice novelty item for the cars but it hurts the performance a bit. I even tried it with a lower ohm controller for commercial 1/24 slot cars and the same thing happened so I am thinking it is in the car itself. I still like the car because it is pretty fast and handles the course well without much trouble if any. A recommended purchase if you are interested in getting the 1/24 scale version for your 1/24 scale layout at home.

3½ out of 5 tires for the 1/24 BMW V12 LMR
5 out of 5 tires for the 1/32 BMW V12 LMR - SCG Best Buy!!!

Notes: The case has a slicker that says for use only with Carrera 14.8v transformers but the car works great on my 13.8 volt (12volt) 25amp peak system without any problems. I doubt you will have trouble running it on your 1/32 layout with standard 12-volt type power supplies. Another nice feature from Carrera is the include extra pair of braids for the guide flag and instruction booklet. The 1/24 car is probably too wide for most 1/32 slot car tracks but will work on most 1/24 tracks from Sears/Marx, Carrera, Strombecker, etc.