Home Racing World

Quick Review of the Thunderslot McLaren.



First, a not out of the box good experience. Which I must say is a real surprise, having 4 of these TS cars with great performance OTB previously.





Right off the biggest fault was the rear wheels were so tight that they hardly turned. In removing the body screws, I thought a cheater bar was needed! Okay, so I can live with that. After all, I’m tearing this down to the bare minimum anyway. Going to install a Slotting Plus SP101001 guide, and change the rear tires to TS TYR004, and the fronts to NSR 5200 Zero Grip. These both perform well on our track surface.





Took the rear axle out to see why it was so tight, one of the flange bushings was out of sorts, floppy, and wouldn’t line up in the bushing recess. So, changed that and reassembled rear. Turns a little more freely now, but still not sufficient. Made sure gear lash was good, check, axles and bushings lined up, check. What the heck?! Pulled the motor, checked the rpm’s, 16.8k is all it would muster! Okay, no problem, let’s throw a Piranha 21.5k in this monster. Oh yeah, that did the trick! Well, guide, rear/front tires, .005 spacers front and back, Piranha...viola, screamer!! Second fastest slot car to ever grace this track! To end this saga, I thought this was going to be a disaster.



All in all, turned out darn well. Nice car, good design, excellent aesthetics....a winner! Keep ‘em coming TS!

How much does it weigh, what are the handling differences you noticed if any when compared to a similarly prepared Thunderslot Lola?

Thanks for sharing this here sir, much appreciated.

“A winner.”
Really? You pay $85 for a slot car that won’t run out of the box, then have to put a new motor in it?
TS blew it on that engine detail. There is no small block Chevy with flat valve covers, let alone ones that are higher than the intake manifold. Bring on the 3D guys.

Ditto.

I always thought they were silly overpriced, but I did think they were supposed to be quality. This is an eye-opener. The engine detail error is funny. It looks like a Buick Nailhead with Chevrolet written on the valve covers.

Now I wonder about the McLaren Elva that's coming. It would be a crime to mess up on an iconic car that nobody has done in 1/32nd in a coon's age. I have one very expensive resin kit of that body, and that's the only one I ever found. The only slot car of the McLaren Elva that I remember was Aurora T-Jet, a long time ago.

With a huge sink mark over the rear body post and odd intakes.

I can get Fly cars for $40 or less and not have sink marks....and do tuning. Or better yet....a Slot.it for $40 that really will be fast right out of the box.

Hope the Elva is good..... haven't found a printable version.

Many manufacturers don't take OOB failure seriously, which is unfortunate.

Well guys, others have reported no issues. All of my prior TS models are excellent runners.

I don't think one bad apple is cause to label the entire line up :hand:

Fly? Oh sir I just can't agree 100%. After the tuning parts we have spent more $$$, and even then it's not going to go like this one unless you go all out on the chassis.

This was just a bad one I suspect.

Point being....if I want to do a bunch of tuning, I can do that on a car for much less than $85.

Look.....the TS cars are indisputably fast....proxies bear that out. Until the Elva, what they haven't done yet is produce a car you can't get anywhere else. That is one of the things done well by other manufacturers.
I am not saying don't buy it.....it's a hobby for goodness sake. We put insane amounts of money into cars and model scenery etc. And I will want an Elva, like I want the CG cars....because I can't get them anywhere else. It's why I have a couple Carrera Bentleys.
And I am not defending Fly...they take a bunch of work to make them work. And everyone says so.

Hopefully the mechanical issues are one bad apple. Molding typically is not. Again...I have bunches of Ninco and SCX cars that are badly molded too. It's a different price point, that's all.

The engine detail appears incorrect for this particular car for this race. Not so much on later versions, although the velocity stacks are overdone.

As far as getting them anywhere else? The model yes. How it runs out of the box? No. Revogram versions are horrible. Full rebuild. At least for me.

Doc Reinecke and I talked about this very thing this AM. It's not just the funds, it's the time. And even then, no contest on the track.

Rebuilt many a Fly and Revogram in my day. Between the cost of the car and all the gear...then my TIME? Well I am getting lazy. I just want a car that runs well sometimes without all the added work.

Maybe because I am scratch building more. I just don't seem to have the minutes I used to :lol:

TS has not and likely will not win any scale accuracy awards. Then again...we could say that about just any car out there.

You will still be hard pressed to build a faster car than these for under 80 dollars. They are absolute rockets right out of the box. My car seems to be in perfect working order other than the rear set screws being exceptionally tight.

The engine detail is definitely not the best I have seen, but the body is also very light.

This car was clearly built to perform, and on that mark I would say it nails it.

Zack

So I wanted to weigh in as I am now a proud owner of the McLaren (and a Lola).

I received the #4 McLaren from Cincyslots, (thanks Bruce for the fast service)!!!'
After reading War Eagles' review, I was concerned about the car, so I carefully checked the rolling of front and rear wheels as well as screw and set screw fitment.

I am pleased to report she was free of any of the issues that he had encountered. So I popped the cover and gave a few drops of oil and headed to my track to test.
Happily the McLaren ran smoothly as one can on a dusty Carrera track (unpainted) and 100% stock! I have not even sanded tires, glued anything or added weight. (no weight is needed here).



After about 20 laps to break her in a little, it was time for a 50 lap test run. Remember this is 100% stock.



Do you need one of these? Heck yes you do! I will admit it needs a better guide like a Slotting Plus for my setup, (already on order). Sometime I'd like to try the tires recommended by War Eagle River, but they seem to be out of stock about everywhere. :(

For a comparison, I have the Gurney Lola, which I had not unboxed until tonight, and I'm happy to say it was in the same great condition as my McLaren, so I had to put it on the track to see how she fared. Again, a 100% stock out of box car, not gluing and truing and no weight.





I'm not the most consistent driver out there and the Lola only got 20 good laps, it NEEDS weight or a Slotting Plus guide.
I know I can get it closer, the point I am trying to make is don't put down the TS McLaren or Lola, they are great cars or, can be out of the box.
Sadly some got cars that didn't get the attention at the factory that mine did, but they can be made into excellent cars.

Give one a shot. :auto-driving:

Nice write up Mike, thank you for sharing. As everyone knows, issues with any product can happen at any time. Unfortunately, one happened upon me! Didn’t really bother me that it did. Addressed the issues and moved forward. As stated at the end of the review, all is well. We are racers here foremost, and we all do things to better the performance. Thunderslot is a good product, and I for one, will continue to support them. Vaya con dios!

Excellent follow up report sir, this is what I enjoy reading. I notice the different engine detail area as well.