Scaleauto are a small slot manufacturer run by an enthusiast whom also produces the MRRC range of cars, a good range of very reasonably priced motors and an interesting range of good quality tune-up parts (some of their wheels are stunning). The uber quick Toyota GT1 also comes from the Scaleauto stable (along with the recent 1/24th scale Porsche 911 GTR) with the Radical being their second 1/32nd car under this brand.

The Car
Radical only came in to being in 1995 producing their first sportcar in 1996. In 2004 their SR8 took and still holds the outright lap record at the immense Nürburgring Nordschleife. In 2006 Radical stepped up to the “big time” by building their very first Le Mans prototype. The first Judd (V8 Naturally Aspirated) powered car finished the 24 hours of Le Mans only months after the car was completed, while an AER (straight four Turbo) powered version, owned and run by Tim Greaves, finished in the points in 2008

In the 2009 Le Mans I actually saw the unfortunate Radicals incident where a Lola Aston Martin took it out. The Lola drove up the inside of the Radical, moved over on it and spun the SR9 into the barrier adjacent to the pit lane entrance. The Radical had extensive damage which led to its early demise.

So there are quite a few liveries available.

The first SR9 to be released by Scaleauto is from the 2008 Le Mans series race held in Barcelona and driven by Jan Dirk Lusders, Jens Petersen and Marc Rostan

The Model
Scaleauto have not only captured the look of the car accurately but the livery is pretty accurate and beautifully applied. There were no flaws in the paint with the red and yellow being very crisp and evenly applied on the base black colour. The tampo printing is excellent and up to the best standards of any manufacturer.

The wheels are plastic and fill the arches well (a nice little trick by Scaleauto as they have used small diameter wheels (aid on the track performance) but brought the lip of arch down giving the visual impression of a filled wheel arch).

There are some nice touches including a spare set of mirrors should you break/loose the sturdily attached originals. The car feels made of quite a rigid plastic, not brittle, but one where a hard crash will result in body damage.

There are a couple of things that you can’t help but notice – the rear has a bump to allow for the contrite to fit under (understandable) but the driver does look too small. He racer in me tells me that’s good as it is lighter but it could do with being a tad bigger for overall aesthetics. These are minor niggles in what is a very good looking mode that has been extremely well executed by Scaleauto.

Under the Bonnet
One thing in common with the Toyota GT1 is the chassis – a good thing because the chassis is excellent and why change things if it is not broken. It was nice and flat without any need for any straightening techniques. A long can torquey motor comes as standard but Scaleauto also provide two short can motor mounts that allow you to use different motors if you prefer.

The chassis allows an angle-winder motor pod to be used, albeit you will need to use one of these ‘flat’ lower profile motors (e.g. Slot-It flat 6), which seems to be becoming the choice set-up for racers especially on plastic track. Four screws hold the motor pod in place and with a bit of loosening you get nice a free movement in the pod.

The two screws holding the body also, with only a bit of loosening, allow the body to float nice and freely from the chassis. Don’t overdo the undoing of the screws as you will soon find tyres hitting the body as understandably there is not a lot of room.

The motor is held securely in place by a screw down brace – it does the job effectively but I would glue in the motor to reduce the weight that this introduces relatively high in the chassis. A nylon 9 tooth pinion drives a 27 tooth contrate. The gears are good quality parts (note the contrite gear is lightened) but you must ensure the contrate meshes nicely with the pinion before running the car. I found it worth adding a second grub screw to the contrite to ensure it remained exactly aligned as I found it did slip with only the original grub screw holding it. The axles were straight and nice and snug in their bearings (oil them) but rotated freely.

The plastic rims (both front and back) were pretty true with no excess molding flash on any of them and they were really solidly attached (I presume with a dab of glue) to the axles. The tyres require a quick true but did not offer great grip on either my plastic home track nor club wood track

A magnet sits in front of the motor which was quickly removed but meant running on my Scalextric Sport track was extremely rapid with it in. The front axle has grub screws that allow you to adjust the vertical movement and upward stop of the axle – this is becoming more common and really helps making setting up the front axle height to your exact requirements a doddle.

The guide feels sprung loaded but in fact it is the leads pushing it down. It moves freely with a good turning arc (helps reduce unwanted de-slots should you overcook the corner a tad) but is quite loose in its post – I will remove the slop or find a guide with a bit more snugness to make me happy. The braids do their job but I would replace with softer ones.

On the track
On my home Scalextric sport track the car flew round (after I aligned the gears and oiled it up) with the magnet in place. After removing the magnet and truing the tyres it lasted about 2 laps with good performances and then the grip had gone and I was driving on ice. While it did had grip it was a joy to drive!

The Radical performed OK, it was bumpy and with the original tyres you were had poor grip. However there is no reason the Radical can’t be up there with the class leaders (at our club the Spirit Dallara and Sloter Zytek currently rule the roost in the LMP class), just needs glued and trued grippy tyres (I prefer NSR ultragrips) and some tuning work to get the front ride height, right weight distribution and motor pod movement. 

Conclusion
A good looking model that has a great deal of potential but won’t be a winner straight out of the box. 

Tuckers Rating 

Radical SR-9 No.26 - 1000km Barcelona (SC6005)