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NINCO Mitsubishi EVO Dakar 2006 |
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The newest Pajero from Ninco is the Repsol livery of the 2006 Dakar rally truck. This is my first experience driving a rally RAID truck from Ninco, I was apprehensive at first that such a seemingly top heavy truck would be able to handle high speed turns on my Ninco track, much less my wood track without tumbling off, I was pleasantly surprised.
I was able to turn consistent laps with the truck without the expected dramatic crash. The truck was stable and controlable, even to the point that I was able to slide around the turns, drop the outside wheel off the track, and the other wheel would still bite enough to right the truck before it would flip out of the slot...all thanks to the drop arm guide.
The livery that Ninco have chosen to replicate on this truck is a complicated one. Many colors, many small logos and in places on the body there are some gaps in the tampo printing on the rear deck, but this is not typical of the rest of the finish. The body is underpainted with red, which on the front of the body is orange peeled slightly. I don't want to overstate the finish problems the truck has, as the livery is striking and is a well done reproduction of the truck.
The drop arm guide set up is much better suited to magnet racing than to my wood track out-of-the-box. There is a small spring that pushes the guide down onto the track, on the Ninco track, the magnet holds the whole truck tightly down on the track, on the wood track however, the spring doesn't hold the guide down hard enough. If this was my slotcar I'd put a small block of lead on the guide arm to hold it down firmly. The all wheel drive on the truck is driven by NC-7 (19,300 rpm) and the pulley system that Ninco uses on it's rally style cars. The red rubber band drives the front axle and the "hard" yellow springs are at the corners to add some shock absorbing action.
Under full throttle the truck does exhibit some hop that many of the Proshock cars have, but it's controllable if you apply moderate throttle at first, then full throttle. This car won't win any races against a LeMans type car, but then that's ok since after all it's an off road vehicle that should be drive hard over rocky terrain. While I did test it on my tracks, both plastic and wood, the Pajero probably more at home being driven on the Ninco off road terrain track.
"Mitsubishi Motors made history today when its Pajero / Montero Evolution crew Luc Alphand/Gilles Picard (#302) won the Dakar Rally, claiming a record-breaking 11th overall victory and sixth consecutive win for the Japanese manufacturer on this legendary rally. Repsol Mitsubishi Ralliart team-mates Joan ’Nani’ Roma and Henri Magne (#304) also finished on the podium, in third position."
Dave Kennedy | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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