MATT TAYLOR takes a look at the home racer series of cars from Policar.
In the last issue, I covered a good choice for a starter set this Christmas with the SCX GT Race Starter Set. This month, however, I wanted to talk about a range of cars from Policar called the Home Racers Series. Released a few years ago, Policar released this range as its 1st starter range of cars designed for younger racers, new people to the hobby, or as something that could be used friends who typically don’t use slot cars on a regular basis to keep your prized cars safe.
As of writing this, in the home series we have 3 models of cars available the Toyota GT86 in a Tiger Esso livery, used at Goodwood Festival of Speed 2015, the Subaru BRZ and more recently the Subaru STI which raced at Nürburgring in 2014. The collection of cars was created to celebrate 50 years of racing and rallying for Toyota at Goodwood. Looking at the pictures from the event, excuse my poor photography skills, it’s a shame Policar haven’t made the Castrol livery, but we never know what the future will bring.
As soon as I had purchased my GT86, I wanted to have a look on the inside. The car is held down with 4 screws, so a little tip for you all, loosen screws a little and you should be able to get a good amount of body rock which would help the cars handling. The car is fitted with front lights connected by a plug and socket to a circuit board next to the motor. I like the Policar models as, compared to other brands, it is a lot easier to work on the car, if required, and keep the lights working.
The car comes pre-fitted with a magnet and 13,000 RPM motor. I did at first think this was a little low, but for a home circuit this will give you more control compared to running something more powerful. If you do want to make it faster, you can always install a faster motor if you wish. The car is fitted with standard Slot It tyres, Slot It being the manufacturers and owners of the Policar range, in the form of the C1 compound fitted onto a Slot.It axle'
The pickup fitted on this car is a standard Policar part, are the POLHR01, and unlike on the standard Slot It range, the braids are a quick-change design. This means that as soon as your braids need replacing, they can be done in seconds. Replacement braids can be found under the Policar reference POLHR01.
Turning my attention to the body, I was surprised to see the car had a cockpit fitted. Typical cars around this price point usually feature blacked out windows to obscure the fact that there is no interior present. Policar have however not done this, and have included the cockpit as well as driver and co-driver too. If you attended a club or plan to, this is a positive, as a lot of clubs include a rule that any car being raced must have an interior. This means that with a few tweaks, you could have a competitive club car on your hands, and for very little outlay.
After seeing how nice the GT86 was, I had a look and purchased one to my partner's dismay, the Subaru WRX. This model only arrived with us a few months ago and is a replica of the WRX that raced in the Nürburgring 24h race in the SP3T class. In 2014 the car on which this model is based finished 32nd overall but 4th in the class. This model is bigger compared to the GT86 but only in physical size as it comes fitted with the same parts as the Toyota.
Now I had finished taking these cars apart, it was time to reassemble them and get them on the track. Here at Gaugemaster we have just unboxed all the Christmas decorations and instead of a train running round our tree in our showroom, this year we decided to build a slot car track around it instead. Once this was set up, I thought it would be rude not to give it a go, so I popped down and decided to test the cars on the type of track most people would have at home, especially after opening their starter set on Christmas morning. I was happy to report both cars performed well, but I do think the extra weight on the Subaru helped a bit and would give it an edge over the GT86. If you were wanting a closer race, then it might be worth considering adding a bit of extra weight to the GT86 by using self-adhesive weights from NSR which can be cut as desired. Both cars ran smoothly on the track which makes them ideal out of the box cars. If you wish to have a go yourself, they will be available to have a go within our shop throughout the month.
If you have already clicked on the links above, you will notice that there is part of the range I haven't covered yet in this article, and that is the Subaru BRZs. These are essentially the same car as the GT86, however these are supplied with a very basic coloured body. There is a saving going for these over the others, but they do lack the finished look of their liveried counterparts. That said, they perform just as well, and being that they are available in a wide range of colours, they are perfect for those larger gatherings of family and friends where everyone wants their own car in their chosen colour.
As we have seen here, these cars are the perfect addition to any collection, and if you do not yet have a starter set, Policar do produce a Subaru BRZ Drift Starter Set featuring two of the Subaru BRZs along with a good amount of Policar track which would be the perfect start in slot car racing.