ManicSlots' slot cars and scenery: REVIEW: Porsche 935 K3

FLY Porsche 935 K3

24hr Daytona 1980 'Coca Cola'

HISTORY

The Coca-Cola/STYLE AUTO Porsche 935 K3 competed in the GTX class at the 24hr Daytona in 1980. The car was driven by Bob Akin (USA), Roy Woods (USA) and Bobby Rahal (USA) and did not finish due to a engine failure after 156 laps.

The race was won by the LIQUI MOLY/STARCRAFT Porsche 935J driven by Reinhold Jöst (D), Rolf Stommelen (D) and Volkert Merl (D) after 715 laps.

PRESENTATION

The slot comes in Fly's standard crystal display box and is secured to the base via Fly standard plastic screw. I've been very impressed with Fly's release of the Porsche 935 K3 and thought it would be a while before the Apple liveried Porsche 935 would be topped. That was until I saw the Coca-Cola livery in the flesh. The Coca-Cola livery is very striking, especially when being raced around the track. The Coca-Cola livery makes this car an instant collectible and most slot shops are already sold out of this car. If you're after one, get one sooner rather than later.

The Coca-Cola Porsche 935 fits right into the category of slot cars that don't even need to move around the track to make you smile ear-to-ear; this is one awesome looking slot car!

SPECIFICATIONS

Motor: Fly standard 18,000 rpm
Motor mount: Sidewinder behind rear axle
Magnet: Bar magnet located just in front of rear axle
Gearing: 11 tooth pinion / 36 tooth crown gears
Guide: Standard Fly
Tyres: Standard Fly

For more information, head over to the Fly website: http://www.flycarmodel.com/

QUALITY & DETAIL

Fly is famous for its attention to detail, the Porsche 935 is no exception. Fly really have done a top job even by their standards. The first thing I noticed when I picked up this model was the striking gold wheels against the red paint scheme. I'll point out that the gold wheel detail is a decal but this is not an issue in my opinion, these wheels look excellent. Even Racer Slot Car's version of the Porsche 935 comes with decaled inner wheel detail.

Paint finish and decal detail is absolute top shelf! As with all Fly models, the decals have been applied onto of the clear coat. That being said, the red paint scheme is deep and glossy, this is a VERY impressive looking car. On a side note, I also like the 'Toys For Big Boys' decals on this slot too. ;)

The front of the slot is beautifully detailed with numerous body vents, grill detail and a set of spot lights mounted on the bonnet. The side rear vision mirrors have been designed with longevity in mind, the mirrors will be able to take the heaviest of hits.

Side detail is excellent, body vent detail is numerous and my favourite small detail is the door handles which are separately moulded plastic items. Driver, dash and internal detail are excellent! I particularly love the driver's seat-belt which connects behind the rear seat via straps. The internals come with a complete roll cage, gear stick and the mandatory Fly fire extinguisher.

The rear of the slot looks excellent, huge rear wheels and a massive rear tail that give the car a fantastic profile. The rear lights, body venting, gear box and exhaust detail complete the scene. The rear tail is glued in place but I don't think it would stand up to countless hard knocks. This is a bit of an issue as the slot tends to flip over if pushed hard through corners, I'll speak more about this later. There is limited under side chassis detail although I'm of the opinion that some detail under the chassis doesn't add much to the model as you can't see it when the slot is running.

As you can see in the above and below photos, the 935 comes with huge rear rubber that is quite soft and grips well especially by Fly standards. I'm not aware if MJK or any other after market tire manufacture makes rubber for the Porsche 935. I had to true the rear tires heavily to get them flat, the Fly rubber compound is quite difficult to true well as it becomes sticky if trued too hard. I'm thinking some after-market rubber would be a good investment for this slot.

The body comes easily away from the chassis via 3 screws. The front axle is solid metal which is a relief as so many Fly cars come with stub plastic axles. There is a fair degree of vertical travel in the front wheels but there is no possibility of the front wheels rubbing of the front guards.

There is very little lateral movement in the rear axel which is a nice change for a Fly slot car. I would estimate the lateral movement to be less than 1mm so this could be left as is. If you do wish to fix this small issue, use a small brass shim. Remove the chassis from the body and then remove one of the rear wheels, (typically the non-gear side wheel is easier) and insert the shim on the axle, then replace the wheel, (make sure the wheel is tight). Reassemble the slot and check the clearance to the rear guards, you don't want wheel rubbing on the body. Be careful not to over shim as this can cause the rear wheels to rub on the rear guards.

There are a few issues with this chassis that I wasn't too impressed with. Firstly the chassis itself is very thin and has no bracing what-so-ever. This means that the chassis can significantly bend through the centre, the body of the slot car gives the chassis its only real strength. In fact if the body is removed from the chassis the chassis has difficulty running around the track due to the strong magnet bending the chassis towards the track and increasing magnetic down-force greatly.

A greater issue is the amount of rotational movement in the motor which is located behing the rear axel. The motor needs to be hot glues into place to prevent movement under load, this also reduces noise.

PERFORMANCE

As previously discussed, the amount of lateral movement in the rear axel is minimal although if you want your 935 to really run well, you will need to modify the rear axel. Once the rear end has been shimmed you will need to true the rear rubber. The gears on my 935 also didn't mesh very well at first, this resulted in the car not running very smoothly. After around 100 laps the gears really settled in and this problem sorted itself out. It was after addressing the rear axel movement, truing the rear tires and running in the gears that my 935 really started to perform well.

Although the 935 comes with a large Fly bar magnet, it's not stuck to the road and if pushed will slide coming out of corners. Although the 935 is only powered by an 18K standard Fly motor acceleration and braking is very good. Fly have chosen a 36 tooth spur and 11 tooth pinion gear which is the same configuration for most modern Fly slots. I'm a fan of the gear ratio and it accounts for the crisp acceleration and good breaking.

As far as slots go, the Porsche 935's profile is a little top heavy. This means that the 935 has the tendency to flip onto its roof if pushed too hard through a corner. A well documented simple fix with all slots is to loosen the body screws a turn or two allowing the body to roll a little on the chassis. To some extent this helped the 935 rolling when pushed too hard. When first run from the box, the 935 was doing laps times around the 7 second mark. After running the slot in and fixing the mentioned issues, those times came down to around the 6.1 second mark. That puts the 935 half a second slower than the Fly March 761, (no shame there) and approximately 0.3 of a second faster than a Flt BMW M3 on my Carrera track. I'm not too sure how well the 935 would run non magnetic.

Fly's release of the Porsche 935 was highly anticipated as it is a very popular 1:1 race car. Releasing the Porsche 935 in a cult livery such as the Coca-Cola livery was a guaranteed to be a very popular choice. This car does come with a few small issues which I always like to think of as 'Fly character'. Once these small issues are addressed, this car becomes a great looking, driver's slot car and you can't ask for more than that. Whether you race or shelf this car, you won't be disappointed for one second.

The Fly Coca-Cola Porsche 935 goes straight into 'Manic's collectible slotcars' list.