History.

1962 Ferrari 250 GTO (Gran Torismo Olmongato).

 When Ferrari first released this car it was just another production racer to compete against those pesky Porsches. Of course back then no one knew that this little GTO would end up being one of the most sought after cars of all time.

So, why so much fuss over this car and not others?

Well some believe that the Ferrari GTO was probably the greatest production road or racer ever made. For others it’s the beautiful styling that immediately recognizes it as a “Ferrari”. But for whatever the reasons, combining classic Italian sports car engineering, plus rarity (only 39 still exist today) it equals a piece of history that can demand prices upwards of 10 million dollars each.  Not your normal daily driver now is it!

This review is on the Ferrari 250 GTO that placed second at Le Mans in 1962. The team of Leon Dernier and Jean Blaton drove the no. 22 car. Together they finished second overall at Le Mans. In fact the Ferrari 250’s placed 2^nd and 3^rd over the entire field and could only beaten by (You guessed it) a Ferrari 330 that had another 200 hp over the 250 GTO’s.

 Specifications:

 

Engine:                                                                        SOHC V-12                         

Displacement:                                                            180.2 Cubic inches             

Horse Power:                                                             302 BHP @ 7500 RPM      

Torque:                                                                        216.8 @ 5500 PRM             

Carburetion:                                                               6 Webber 38 DCN Carbs_        

Compression:                                                             9.8:1                                      

Cars Weight:                                                              2299 lbs                                

Top Speed:                                                                  173.4 mph                           

 

 FLY’s FERRARI

 Fly’s announced some time back that they were to release their version of the Ferrari 250 GTO. It immediately created a stir in the slot car community with the main discussion about Fly’s ability to do the car right. Well after months of talk and speculation it has finally hit the streets and the controversy begins.

Body and Paint.

Body:

Fly seems to have done a great job getting the body details and dimensions correct. Looking at pictures of the real GTO I’m hard pressed to find any glaring problems that would keep me from buying this model. There are some minor issues that are there but again they are minor. I feel that as far as scale goes this GTO is the best example on the market today.

Some people do feel the car has too much room between the front fenders and the wheels. Seeing the car setting on the display stand it does seem that way since the tires drop down. But after removing the GTO and placing it on a piece of track I can’t see where there is a big problem.

Grade: A 

Paint and Tampo’s:

 

Paint on the Ferrari is a bright red color and it looks right for the car. I found no runs, orange peel, fading, or debris stuck in the paint. This was a bad problem on the older Fly cars and it’s nice to see they finally got their paint department back up to doing quality work.

 Tampo’s are crisp, clean and not broken. But if you are looking for a Ferrari logo anywhere on the GTO then look elsewhere. There is no logo on this car. Looking at pictures of the real car front, back, sides and top, the only Ferrari logo I found is between the numbers 22 at the front of the car. There is a yellow box that can be seen on Fly’s version but no prancing horse logo. There is a lot of speculation as to why it is missing and with nothing heard from Fly’s side of the house so you are on your own.

 Grade: B

Clear Coat:

The clear coat is nicely applied over the paint on the entire car with no runs or dust. But Fly didn’t clear coat the tampo’s. Any hard racing could easy result in the tampo’s being scratched and ruined. This is an issue that Fly still needs to resolve. 

Grade: C (good job on covering the paint but nothing over the tampo’s.

      

Driver:

          On the inside the driver is painted and there is really good seat belt and body detail. I do feel Fly could have spent a little more time and added some detail to the face of the driver. The face seems to get lost when viewed from outside of the car because of white helmet and light colored face paint. I know it is a minor thing especially since it can’t be seen when the car is screaming past you at speed. But if they can put detail into seat belts why not the drivers face? Minor issue.

 One thing that does bother me is the helmet has a molding seam that runs up and over the top. It’s easily seen from outside and is not up to Fly’s normal standards. Again, it’s a small item but why is it there?

           Grade: C+ (helmet line and face details)

 

 Interior:

Interior has some detail with instrument decals, shifter and painted steering wheel. Looking from the outside in through the windows there is not much for you to see anyway so no complaints from me. 

           Grade: A

 

Tires/wheels:

 Fly has the same tire compound on this car that was first seen with the Carrera 906. And just like the 906 there is no lettering or tread on the tires. I don’t know if this is going to be the norm with Fly now but I do like lettering.

The tires are going to be problem for those that like having a car that is of perfect scale. They are too wide for the car. This doesn’t bother me since looking at the GTO I can’t see the difference unless I have a micrometer and a machinist scale. But they are too wide. What can I say but old age and bad eyes!

 Wheels are going to be the same problem I you are looking for scale accuracy. But in my opinion they are the right size and are very nicely done for the GTO. All the individual spokes can be seen with no plastic casting to make them look bad.

Grade: B

 

Other Details:

           Fly has always been known for the amount of detail they can put in a car. The Ferrari GTO is no exception to this rule. Take a look at the hood and you can see the metal pins, hood latches and the intake grills under the clear hood scoops. Up front in the grill you find the Prancing horse emblem, the doors have handles and even the megaphone exhaust tips at the rear look correct. 

Grade: A

 Chassis.

 

Ride height:

One thing that people have commented on is the car has much too much room between the front fenders and the wheels. Seeing the car setting on the display stand it does seem that way. But after removing the GTO and placing it on a piece of track the tires fill out the fenders nicely so I can’t see where there is a problem with the ride height.

Motor:

Mabuchi is the standard Fly motor rated at 18,000 rpm in a front motor configuration. There is a drive shaft from the front to the inline gear at the rear. Some like front motor setups and some don’t. Bottom line here is if you plan to run the car as designed with a magnet then the front motor concept is not going to be an issue. As is the GTO will provide you with plenty of speed and decent handling. But if you expect this car to run without a magnet then you are going to have to do some real work and you may not be happy with the results. But again, the car was designed to work as it was delivered from the factory and does a good job in doing just that.

Grade: A 

 

 Gearing:

          Inline gear set is a normal 9-tooth pinion and 27-tooth crown gear that works well for home racing. On the track there is a slight gear noise that goes away after a few laps. Just make sure you lube before you go since there is no lube on any bushings or the gear set.

           Grade: B (Could have been a little quieter).

    Guide and Braid:

The guide sits flat to the track and needs no shimming and has almost no side-to-side play. Braid is the normal Fly copper strip that will need to be groomed before you operate the car. Once groomed the braid and guide work well and make good contact with the track.

Grade: A

 

 Chassis:

The chassis on the GTO is very rigid from all the added ribs. For a front engine car this is actually desired. Chassis flex on front-motored cars cause the drive shaft and pinion to change their relationship to the crown gear with disastrous results. It took me 3 crown gears on one car to learn this lesson. Here chassis has very little flex.

Grade: A

Wheels and tires:

Plastic wheels on any production car always need some minor attention. But here these wheels were pretty round and true stock. I found nothing to make me want to replace them with an aftermarket wheel. 

Tires are the new rubber from Fly that seems to work well on my Scalextric and Carrera tracks. They are round enough and after a few laps it was clear that the only thing they needed was some more lap time and rounding the edges.

 Grade: A

16

 Magnet:

The magnet is located in a pocket just in front of the drive shaft support. It’s held in place by two clips that allow it to be snapped in and out. If you like heavy magnet stuck down car than you’ll love this one.

Grade: D (To much magnet)

 

Stub axle location.

Axles and Bushings:

          The GTO has a straight axle in the back with plastic bushing mounted to the chassis. I found nothing bent nor did I find the bushings on either the axle or the drive spinning under load. Rear axle play was also nil!

 

          Front axles are independent stubs. They do need the wheels pushed on further to remove some of the play that is there. Here again Fly needs to take a look at the diameter of their stub axles and the axle pillars since there is a difference in the hole size. This difference will not stop the car from running but it does make a difference in the cars performance.

 

         Grade: C Sub axle clearances.

 

Out Of The Box Performance.

 

As always I cleaned the track and yanked the car out of the box and hope for the best. I hit the controller and nothing happened. It’s easy to see that the braids are going to be a problem and need work to be groomed. No problem since any car needs the braid adjusted to work correctly.

After combing and adjusting the braids the GTO went back on the track and immediately set a new track record for a front engine Fly car.

With only a little gear noise I found I could really turn some decent laps. The more laps the more the car quieted down. I still would like to see less magnet in the GTO since the heavy magnet really overpowers the car.  But in Fly’s defense the car is exceptionally quick, runs pretty smooth and has some excellent tires. Just don’t expect to see any tail slides.  To see how much magnet there really is I placed the GTO on a spare piece of Carrera track. I was surprised to see how far I could tilt it before it started to roll. Other than the magnet, I don’t have any real complaints on the way the car performs. It runs straight and true with no wheel hop from bad tires or out of round rims. It has no weird de-slots tendencies and looks fantastic on the track at speed.

 

 

OVERALL GRADE: C+

(The car would have rated much higher with me if there wasn’t so much magnet.)

 My Recommendations:  Groom the braids, pushed the wheels onto the stub axles, replace the heavy magnet with one that has half the pull. This will allow the car to start getting sideways under heavy acceleration as it leaves the turns. Once you do this you will now find the rear tires would start to skip on the exits. I spent some time with the tires and wheels truing and rounding the square edge where the sides meet the bottom. This allows the tire to slide now without catching and rolling the car over.

 Back on the track the car is now so much more balanced and easier to drive. Laps times are consistent and the GTO is a just a real pleasure to run laps on. What a difference tuning makes.

 Special thanks to Gene at Slot Car Place for the chance to review Fly’s newest release and to have some fun!

 Tom Dandes.