Review of CoMod Carrera 124 for the Carrera Evolution / DIGITAL 132 Ferrari F2007(27244/30438)
The current world champion car!
The 2007 Formula 1 season marked the beginning of a new era: After winning two world championships with Renault, Fernando Alonso had moved to McLaren-Mercedes, bringing the No. 1 car with him. The reigning world champion team, Renault, therefore had to settle for car numbers 3 and 4, while car numbers 5 and 6 went to the Ferrari team. There, Kimi Räikkönen took over the cockpit from Michael Schumacher and immediately kicked off the season with a victory at the Australian Grand Prix. Throughout the season, he engaged in close battles with two-time world champion Fernando Alonso and rookie Lewis Hamilton. Ahead of the season finale in Brazil, however, he had only the slimmest mathematical chance of winning the title—Hamilton and Alonso were in far more favorable positions. Thanks to a spectacular race, however, Raikönnen was ultimately able to clinch his first world championship title.
Now, the 2007 world championship car is on the test track in 1/32 scale. Just like its full-scale counterpart, the slot car features many delicate wings and aerodynamic elements. Not all of these attachments will likely survive the rigors of racing unscathed, but that is entirely true to the real thing. The rear spoiler is permanently attached to the body, while the front spoiler is removable as usual. The body itself is molded in multiple parts due to its pronounced waistline, and the driver figure is depicted as a bust. The paintwork and decals are flawlessly executed.
Worth noting are the wheel covers, which add that certain something to the look: on the rear axle, they’re simply clipped into the rims, whereas at the front, they’re fixed in place and the wheels rotate individually. The chassis components are based on the KTM X-Bow: here, too, the familiar E200 engine is not used, but rather a more compact powerplant. For simplicity’s sake, I’ll call this powertrain the “flat engine,” and it is already familiar from the 2006 F1 cars (Ferrari F2005, Red Bull RB1, Toro Rosso, ...). Purely subjectively, this powertrain seems to be designed more for high RPMs than for torque; its characteristics differ noticeably from those of the E200. The removable engine-transmission unit is also present; it appears to be identical to that of the KTM X-Bow.
The analog and digital versions of the car differ only in the circuit board installed; a corresponding retrofit decoder has been announced under part number 26740. It is worth noting, however, that the cables here are soldered rather than plugged in. There simply isn’t enough space below the cockpit for the connectors, so the retrofit decoder will also have to be soldered in.
Let’s move on to the test drive: with both magnets, the car drives as expected—literally like it’s on rails. No limit zone, no drifts. You either take the curve in a dead straight line, or you fly off the track. What’s striking is how extremely smooth the motor and transmission run; the noise level produced by the car is relatively low.
So, in the next step, I removed the rear magnet and set the center magnet to the maximum possible ground clearance. However, the driving experience wasn’t particularly encouraging—while the car rarely flew off the track, it mostly slid along the course with very little grip. So, the next attempt involved reattaching the spacer plate I’d previously removed back under the center magnet. This made the handling more balanced, but it still places demands on the driver. That doesn’t mean the car frequently loses traction—on the contrary: the F2007 handles all turns very smoothly, and there were no sudden spinouts or similar incidents. However, to navigate corners really cleanly and quickly, it requires concentration and some practice sessions—as is often the case with more strongly magnetized vehicles. Generally speaking, it’s worth noting that even many hardcore non-magnet slot car enthusiasts run their Formula cars with magnets because, across all manufacturers, these vehicle types offer hardly any space for trim weights. The handling with a magnet is undoubtedly true to the prototype, though—that much is certain. To fully exploit this car’s speed, I therefore recommend using it on slightly larger tracks. Side strips, on the other hand, are not absolutely necessary.
Visually, the car is definitely a success, and a world champion Ferrari will certainly find plenty of buyers. In that sense, the F2007 is a worthy successor to the F2002 and F2005 and carries on the tradition of Ferrari Formula 1 cars from the companyCarrera .
CoModCarrera 124
The current world champion car!
The 2007 Formula 1 season marked the beginning of a new era: After winning two world championships with Renault, Fernando Alonso had moved to McLaren-Mercedes, bringing the No. 1 car with him. The reigning world champion team, Renault, therefore had to settle for car numbers 3 and 4, while car numbers 5 and 6 went to the Ferrari team. There, Kimi Räikkönen took over the cockpit from Michael Schumacher and immediately kicked off the season with a victory at the Australian Grand Prix. Throughout the season, he engaged in close battles with two-time world champion Fernando Alonso and rookie Lewis Hamilton. Ahead of the season finale in Brazil, however, he had only the slimmest mathematical chance of winning the title—Hamilton and Alonso were in far more favorable positions. Thanks to a spectacular race, however, Raikönnen was ultimately able to clinch his first world championship title.
Now, the 2007 world championship car is on the test track in 1/32 scale. Just like its full-scale counterpart, the slot car features many delicate wings and aerodynamic elements. Not all of these attachments will likely survive the rigors of racing unscathed, but that is entirely true to the real thing. The rear spoiler is permanently attached to the body, while the front spoiler is removable as usual. The body itself is molded in multiple parts due to its pronounced waistline, and the driver figure is depicted as a bust. The paintwork and decals are flawlessly executed.
Worth noting are the wheel covers, which add that certain something to the look: on the rear axle, they’re simply clipped into the rims, whereas at the front, they’re fixed in place and the wheels rotate individually. The chassis components are based on the KTM X-Bow: here, too, the familiar E200 engine is not used, but rather a more compact powerplant. For simplicity’s sake, I’ll call this powertrain the “flat engine,” and it is already familiar from the 2006 F1 cars (Ferrari F2005, Red Bull RB1, Toro Rosso, ...). Purely subjectively, this powertrain seems to be designed more for high RPMs than for torque; its characteristics differ noticeably from those of the E200. The removable engine-transmission unit is also present; it appears to be identical to that of the KTM X-Bow.
The analog and digital versions of the car differ only in the circuit board installed; a corresponding retrofit decoder has been announced under part number 26740. It is worth noting, however, that the cables here are soldered rather than plugged in. There simply isn’t enough space below the cockpit for the connectors, so the retrofit decoder will also have to be soldered in.
Let’s move on to the test drive: with both magnets, the car drives as expected—literally like it’s on rails. No limit zone, no drifts. You either take the curve in a dead straight line, or you fly off the track. What’s striking is how extremely smooth the motor and transmission run; the noise level produced by the car is relatively low.
So, in the next step, I removed the rear magnet and set the center magnet to the maximum possible ground clearance. However, the driving experience wasn’t particularly encouraging—while the car rarely flew off the track, it mostly slid along the course with very little grip. So, the next attempt involved reattaching the spacer plate I’d previously removed back under the center magnet. This made the handling more balanced, but it still places demands on the driver. That doesn’t mean the car frequently loses traction—on the contrary: the F2007 handles all turns very smoothly, and there were no sudden spinouts or similar incidents. However, to navigate corners really cleanly and quickly, it requires concentration and some practice sessions—as is often the case with more strongly magnetized vehicles. Generally speaking, it’s worth noting that even many hardcore non-magnet slot car enthusiasts run their Formula cars with magnets because, across all manufacturers, these vehicle types offer hardly any space for trim weights. The handling with a magnet is undoubtedly true to the prototype, though—that much is certain. To fully exploit this car’s speed, I therefore recommend using it on slightly larger tracks. Side strips, on the other hand, are not absolutely necessary.
Visually, the car is definitely a success, and a world champion Ferrari will certainly find plenty of buyers. In that sense, the F2007 is a worthy successor to the F2002 and F2005 and carries on the tradition of Ferrari Formula 1 cars from the company
CoMod
