For 1965 and 66 Porsche decided they needed alittle more oomph to compete with those pesky Ferrari’s and Ford Gt-40’s that were so dominating at the races. To make this happen Dr. Porsche and his son had to go back to the drawing boards to build a new racer, the Carrera 6.
Called the 906 by racers because of it’s six cylinders and the Batmobile by the press for it’s gull wing doors, it won a few races but never dominated the way Porsche had hoped it would. To bad because it was a great car in it’s own right.
Porsche Carrera 906 Specifications:
Engine: Flat Six Cylinder.
Displacement: 122 Cubic Inches.
Horse Power:; 210 @ 8000 Rpm.
Torque: 145 Ft Lbs.
Carburetion: 2 Triple Bore Webers.
Compression: 10:3:1
Cars Weight: 1360 Lbs.
Top Speed: 170 MPH.
Body and Paint.
Paint and Tampo’s:
The paint on the 906 is flawless with no runs or colors bleeding out in the corners. The white paint is really bright and the orange trim panels are consistent throughout the car. All of this without any of the dust we normally see in the paint from Fly.
There are not many tampo’s on the Porsche but those that are on the car are clear enough to read without any wash out or bleeding. It will be nice to see if Fly makes some other liveries in colors other than white.
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Clear Coat:
And here again I find a nice surprise; the body is covered by nicely done coat of clear to protect everything. This makes me happy since Fly has had so many issues with clear coats or lack of clear coats in the past. It seems someone maybe finally listening to us.
Grade: A.
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Body fit:
Body and panel fit is near perfect with the only one small issue I found. The passenger side head light lens cover was sticking out away from the lower corner of the body and left a small gap. I pushed it back down and it stayed in place.
Grade: A.
Driver:
I have never had an issue with Fly drivers looking unrealistic and I won’t have one here today either. The driver can be seen on the inside and he looks correct for the 1960’s period.
Grade: A
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Tires:
The tires for this car look to be the correct size. There is no white lettering to deal with and after looking at photos of the real car I didn’t see any lettering. The sidewalls are a little more glossy than what you normally see from Fly and that is because of the new type of rubber they are using. It makes the rears look like they were coated with tire cleaner.
One thing to look for is one front tire barely touched the underside of the wheel well when pushed hard upward. A closer look found that the plastic weld for the mirror had a small area that I popped off with my fingernail. After that there was no more problem. The tire probably would have never touched the body on the track but play it safe and check yours.
Grade: B ( one tire barley rubbed fender)
Wheels:
Wheels look perfect for the 906 as when compared to the photos I have seen. What you can’t see though is that on the inside of the wheels are disk brakes rotors. They can’t be seen from the other side yet Fly has them on there anyway. Try and figure that one out!
Grade: A
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Details:
There are lots of small details that can be seen on the Carrera 6. Some details like the side mirrors may not last long and others like the flexible front canards (yes they flex) are a wait and see for me. But looking around the car you find things like the rear exhausts megaphones, Weber carburetor intakes, and window louvers for air intakes. These details are what Fly is well known for and you won’t be disappointed with the 906.
But remember it’s your driving skill that’s going determine if the mirrors or the front canards stay attached to your car (Good luck).
Grade: A
Chassis.
Motor:
Motor is the standard Mubachi rated at 18,000 rpm. It used by most manufactures and in the Carrera 6 it still provides plenty of speed and brakes for my liking. If you plan on racing larger plastic or wood tracks with 15ft or longer straights you may want to change it out, but for me and most home tracks user this Mubachi motor is fine as is.
And in case you didn’t notice Fly took the trouble of cutting off the end of the motor shaft to keep it from touching the tire at speed. This is an old sidewinder trick that most tuners do right away to their cars. It’s nice to see Fly taking the time to do it for us.
Grade: A
Gearing:
The Porsche 906 is a sidewinder configuration with an 11-tooth brass pinion and 36-tooth plastic spur gear. This gearing works well for the car and combined with the Mubachi motor is a good balance of top end, acceleration and braking. Gear mesh is good and gets quieter as you get some laps on the car. What’s surprising is the noise from gears is no more than my Scaley Ferrari 330p when I go it new.
But don’t forget to grease and oil the car before you run.
Grade: B (needed lubricant)
Guide and Braid:
This is the new style gray guide that is a hair deeper, although the blade length is the same. One thing to note is that the new gray guide would pop out of the old black chassis, not so with the new gray one. The fit of the guide works well and didn’t cause any problems on the track.
Braid is the normal Fly braid and it will require the ends to be frayed and adjusted.
Grade: A
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Chassis:
The chassis is a new plastic one piece that is a gray color instead of the black one we normally see. It feels more like a vinyl material that it stiffer and more durable compared to the older Fly cars I have. It also comes with pegs for the motor leads to be attached to each side of the chassis. This is helpful since it keeps the leads out of harms way.
Grade: A
Tires:
Slicks all the way around with no tread in sight. The good thing is the Porsches tires made of a new compound that’s sticky like the silicone aftermarket tires that we buy. Might even be good for the wood track people also. They do seem to be very round and true and should only need a minimum of truing.
Grade: A
Wheels:
Wheels are nice and round and after removing the tires it was surprising to see that there was very little plastic casting to remove. It seems fly is using a new style mold for their wheels and it’s working since they didn’t need any truing to get them round.
Magnet:
There is one magnet pocket located in front of the motor. Unfortunately there are no other pockets that allow you to move the magnet with out it being glued to the chassis. The magnet itself is a heavy bar type instead of the button style used on the Fly classics. It does provide considerable down force.
Grade: C (needs second magnet pocket)
Axles:
No stub axles! Fly has gone to solid axle in the front with slotted axle pillars. This will allow the axle to rock in the chassis and provide a better tripod effect between the guide and the rear tires. Both the front and rear axles are straight and there is absolutely no slop or side-to-side play in the rear axle. Now this was a first for me, A Fly car that didn’t need any rear axle shims!
Grade: A+
Bushings:
Rear axle bushings seem to be made of the same vinyl material as the chassis and fit tightly to the chassis. There is no spinning under load. The front axle has no bushings since the up right axle pillars are slotted to allow the axle to rock up and down.
Grade: A
Out Of The Box Performance.
Aright, I clean the dust off track and yank the car out of the plastic display case. Now out of the box means to me no touching anything, and that includes the braids. On the track as I start to squeeze the controller and the first thing I notice is how quite the car is. Not like the Fly gear sets I know. I start to push the car harder and it becomes clear how balanced the car is between the motor and the bar magnet through the turns.
Tires are really good as is and grip the track better than any Fly tire I have used. Before I know it I have more laps on than car than I realize and I have yet to lube it or make any adjustments. I’m pushing really hard now trying to hang the back out on the bigger turns. This Porsche is surprising me! I can get the back to slide and still no de-slotting. I finally turn the car completely sideways at some ridiculous speed and the guide hits the stops. Certain de-slot right? No the car didn’t de-slot it just bounced back. One more time at even more speed and I finally launch the car over the track. This Porsche handles great!
The Carrera 6 is slightly (and I mean slightly) slower than my Scaley Ferrari 330p. This is because the Scaley has twice the magnet the Fly car has. Yet the Porsche is faster than Fly’s Gt-40’s. Truing and tuning this car I believe would make it even faster and better handling.
Over all Grade: B
Note: Now either I was sent a ringer (and I know I wasn’t) or Fly has changed the way they are producing cars. I have never seen a Fly car that I had to look so hard to find something wrong with. This speaks very well for Fly and I hope they continue because they have a winner with this Porsche Carrera 6.
