Carrera Porsche 904 GTS

03/03/2014

1/32 Carrera Porsche 904 GTS
Item #30682 (Digital Version)
Item #27459 (Analog Version)

A great little Porsche that will be right at home on your track with other vintage racers.

By Jeremy "bibbster" Bibbee

Carrera not only releases another livery of this Porsche, but it is available in both digital and analog, and possible to get without having to buy a complete set of track and cars. Many folks were a bit dismayed when they couldn't get the first release of this car by itself, but Carrera listened and brought us a version we will all enjoy, and I'm sure there will be many more to follow.

The Porsche 904 has a wonderful pedigree and was a great precursor of things to come from this automotive great. For a brief history about this car, please visit this page, Porsche 904 GTS History.

*NOTE* This is a digital car that was converted to analog. Please see the video at the link below for instructions on this simple conversion.

DIGITAL to ANALOG CONVERSION VIDEO

On to the Porsche 904 GTS...

* Spare guide blade and braids are located in the back of the case. The exhaust tip would have been nice to have as it will likely get broke under hard racing. *

The blue is quite pleasing, and is very similar to Gulf blue. The tampos are nice and crisp but not overdone to a point where you forget what the car is underneath. The roundel has no bleed-through and details such as the tinted windscreen are a nice touch to realism.

Many of us prefer to see tire manufacturer logos on our slot cars tires, however this model does not have them. Simply enough to fix with decals or some white paint. No big deal to me really.

This being digital model, we get to enjoy both front and rear lights. The headlights are nice and bright. This will make for some great night racing!

The taillights look nice as well. The red LEDon the passenger side does not light up the taillight lens as well as I'd like it to, but but I suspect I can adjust this and get it to match the other one.

The side mirror is not made of a flexible material, but it is on a short arm and probably will not be prone to breaking. My picture above doesn't show it real well, but the air intake just aft of the rear window has been detailed well. Rather than Carrera just making the piece chrome, they have actually blackened the recessed areas to give the piece a more realistic look. I highly commend Carrera for adding this nice little touch as it could easily have been omitted.

Track Test
Copperhead Climb Rally Course
4' x 8'- 2 Lane MDF - Satin/Flat Latex Surface
Copper Tape - Pyramid PS26KX Aftermarket Power @ 12 Volts
Parma 45 Ohm Controller

As with all my reviews, the car is box stock; straight from the box to the track. The 904 delivers just the amount of fun that I expected it to. While I will do a few of my normal tuning steps to this model, for 'out of the box' running, it is a smooth little car. Those racing on plastic will find that it handles just as nice as it does on my wood track.

The tires handled quite well in their stock form. Again, it's worth a mention that the compound for tire production that Carrera is using lately is a good one; much softer and more grip than their earlier tires. After a couple minutes of running around the hill climb, I put the car on my sanding block and scuffed off the factory shine. With the 904 on the track again, the little gem came alive and cornered very well. Obviously, the stock tires will not compare to silicone or urethane tires, but for out of the box running, they work very well.

The guide spring seemed to offer quite a bit of resistance so I'll most likely disable that part of the guide system. However, for running on Carrera track, I don't think you'll notice this at all.

The acceleration and braking from the motor are what we have come to expect from Carrera. Acceleration is quick and stopping is abrupt.

The underside of the car shows that there are two body mount screws at the front and two at the rear, just to the left and right of the exhaust exit. You'll also see the long guide blade, IR sensor and dipswitch for digital/analog conversion.

I really like that Carrera painted the inside areas of the body silver where there would be light penetration from the LEDs. When in operation, there is no light showing through the body at all.

With the body removed, we can see the inside of the chassis is full, thanks to the digital chip. Well, that and it's a small car anyway. You'll also see independent front wheels in the front.
You'll also see the standard E200 motor as well as the 9 tooth pinion and 27 tooth crown gear.

The space inside the car is tight, so the headlight assembly utilizes a 90 degree LED that feeds light into a clear plastic lens leading to the headlights in the body.
Also note that the LED's have been sleeved to prevent light from shining all around.

The rear taillight assembly is typical of what we see in other cars from Carrera.
Here, you'll also note the exhaust tip detail. As I mentioned earlier, this could be an item that gets broken in heavy racing. It's most likely possible to remove, but you may run the risk of breaking it, so why not just race it and see what happens.

As a Porsche fan, Carrera has done a really nice job on creating this model. I really enjoy this era of auto racing, and this 904 looks great among it's period competition. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that these cars have a selling price of approximately $32 and $42 respectively for analog and digital versions. How can you go wrong with that? So grab a friend and a couple 904's and have some great fun racing or just tooling around the track. And remember, if you're not having fun, you're doing it wrong!

Jeremy

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