Scalextric Cougar

[Burglar]

Am I imagining it or does the wheelbase look wrong on the Cougar?

http://www.scalextric.com/shop/cars/rac ... ougar-xr7/

[waaytoomuchintothis]

The wheelbase looks right to me, but the track is a bit narrow. I'll buy it anyway, but those pictures definitely make the track seem quite narrow.

[HomeRacingWorld]

It isn't perfect, but it appears to be very close. Or at least close enough for me.

Have to wait until it is in my hands of course.

[MoparGreg]

Im probably wrong but wasnt the Cougar much narrower than the Camaros, cudas, challengers etc anyway? It was about the same wheelbase but narrower?

[slothead]

I did a quick search on the web - '67 Cougar had a wheelbase of 111" and the '67 Mustang was 108". The difference in 1/32 scale is slightly less than 1/10th of an inch. Seems to me Scalextric used the same center chassis mold for all its Trans-Am cars, so if the bodies are close to scale, the wheelbase would be off by a tiny bit. But I'm with Harry, looks good to me and no qualms about minor details. That's what die cast cars are for, looking perfect on a shelf.

I'm more about realism in racing than appearance. Wish there was a good way to slow slot cars down and still need skill to drive them. And more realistic acceleration where your top speed at the end of a straight really depended on how smoothly you got through the prior corner. Also, ever think about weight when it comes to scale replicas? The '67 Cougar weighted 3400 lbs. A true 1/32 scale replica would weigh 106 lbs. Tire compounds, suspension, weight transfer, etc. would all matter. Would that be a hoot to drive or what?

Slothead

[waaytoomuchintothis]

I always thought the Cougar was significantly wider and longer than my Mustang, but that is completely wrong. They are nearly the same. Right in the neighborhood of 108-112 inches is pretty much universal to all the pony cars. I take that back. The AMX seemed shorter at the time, I just don't know.

Here's my big muscle car story for those who care about these war stories: The Mustang I had was almost exactly the same track and wheelbase as my buddy's '69 SE Barracuda 340, which I never would have believed at the time, and the later MOPARS were only 5 inches wider and longer wheelbase, which is still incredible to me. My buddy's '69 SE 340 Barracuda, running against my slightly modified '65 Mustang (just a bit of tweaking on the 289), would turn inside of me, beat me to the 1/4 mile, and on a 90 mile top-in contest, come within 20 feet of me at a sustained 114mph (which scared hell out me, as the front end kept getting very light when I hit expansion joints on the interstate). That was a helluva day! We estimated the amount of gas we would need plus a little, and went flat out for 90 miles, from Jackson TN to 90 miles east, near Dickson, TN. We were running top-in for over an hour. Neither engine had the least trouble or damage. Of course, we shut down across 40 miles or so of interstate to keep from blowing the engines, winding up and turning around at the Hermitage exit. What gets me about those days is that there were lots of people who could have blown us both off the road with less than $400 invested. But we were mostly stock. That's as crazy as I got. When we got back to Memphis, we just sort of vibrated for a while.

[dreinecke]

[dreinecke]

Oh...and the Cougar looks pretty good to my eyes. Nice work Scalextric!

[bkrownd]

[ElSecundo]

My sister had a '67 Cougar, and this car from Scalextric looks to be in the ballpark to these old eyes. Being the only production Cougar available, how can a Cougar or T/A fan resist?

Burglar, I do agree, the wheelbase looks a tad too long. Nice looking car, though, and a nice addition to the Camaros and Mustangs.

[Cincyslots]

I'll own one for sure. Is this front wheel drive? I'm not a rivet counter but the front tires look huge. The rest looks in line to me.

[HomeRacingWorld]

December 9th is the release date I know about.

No, sidewinder :)

[Jesla]

Hey Bruce, I'm going to need this one.

[Nor Cal Mike]

That Cougar looks fine to me how it is. The 1:1 car looked longer to me than the mustang probably because it is. Not so much in wheelbase but because of more overhang front and rear of the axles. That extra length would make it look narrower even though both cars used most of the same off the shelf axle and suspension parts. I imagine that Scalextric used off the shelf wheels & axles from their other T/A's also so it should be the same width as well.

[dreinecke]

The wheelbase should be slightly longer than the Mustang. However, if they cheated it to use an existing chassis but it still looks good - I'd be ok with that.