Car supplied by MRC.

NINCO Club Car #2 - NC-6 NSX
By Shawn J. Smith

The second of NINCO's Club cars has finally arrived on North American soil and our friends at Model Rectifier Corporation wasted no time getting one of these car in our sweaty eager hands for review. Going a totally different direction from the first Club Car release, a Subaru WRC Rally, NINCO has chosen for their second Club Car to build on their recent success with the angle-winder NSX to bring us just that... a hot NSX although this time with a bit more power behind it.

Appearance:

Bright red! Its the only way to paint a NINCO Club car and much like the first NINCO Club Subaru the second 'Club' car comes decorated in this hot red base color accented in white and black NINCO graphics to pull off the completed presentation.

While some enthusiasts aren't fond of 'fantasy' liveries you can sure bet the collector's will love this car. Sporting the number '2' on it's side to proudly declare it's place in NINCO history this second Club car makes a fantastic addition to an already strengthening NINCO line up.

With the NINCO name decorating almost every body panel of the car there is little chance to confuse this version as anything other than the manufacturer's pride and joy. The black with white trim NINCO logo on the nose and sides are just the beginning of the NINCO graphics.

Both front fenders wear the NINCO Club graphics as does the rear spoiler while the front windshield is slightly different wearing a CLUB NINCO variation. The tops of the rear fenders get the compliment of hosting NINCO's www. URL address while near the bottom of each rear fender you'll find graphics denoting the cars angle-winder gearing components and it's 'Pro-Race' equipped NC-6 'Crusher' motor.

The NC-6 and angle-winder graphics are duplicated again on the rear of the Club NSX although in between both NINCO took a little time to do a bit of subliminal 'marketing' thanks to a 'The Ultimate Slot Racing' graphic.

One graphic that also makes an appearance and captured even more of my attention was the 'NRC' logos placed on the tips of the rear spoiler and on the bottom of the car's nose section.

'NRC', being shown as NINCO Racing Components, slightly confused me at first because I assumed too quickly that this was a reference to the line of NINCO hop-up parts due out later this year. For a moment I was really excited to see this on the car anticipating NINCO might have used a few of their 'ProRace' parts on this release although sadly I was mistaken.

Performance:

Throwing the new NSX up on it's roof gives us our first look at NINCO's decision to use the 23,500 RPM NC-6 for the Club car. Seeing as how all 'standard' versions of the NSX have come equipped with the slightly lower RPM NC-5, 20,000 RPMs to be exact, you might be ready to call this the fastest NSX so far right?

The answer to that question has a little bit of both yes and no in it. Obviously having more RPM's should be an advantage but you also have to consider if and how those additional RPM's can be properly used. The NC-5 has already proven itself to be a pretty quick motor and for some slot racers there is a feeling that even the 20,000 RPMs of the NC-5 are too much for many home-track racers.

As I've seen in my own testing the NC-5 has little problem delivering power and depending on how much grip the car gets the same NC-5 also has no problem spinning the wheels out from beneath a car under high load. Considering that this Club car has even more RPM's from the NC-6 as well as carries the same strength of magnetic downforce from its center mounted button magnet and you can sure bet this NINCO Club NSX can get away from you quickly.

Now obviously if you have the ability to run on a larger track such as I do you will see a small amount of increased straight line performance on longer straights. Providing I could keep the tail in line through the corners this NC-6 equipped Club NSX could rocket out of the turn and down the 20-foot back straight of my local commercial raceway. On my home track though the NC-6 did not offer a noticeable advantage as my shorter straights were just as much an advantage to the standard NSX's motor than to the higher RPM's of this NSX Club car.

With rims and tire compound also being the same the true increase in performance becomes a non-issue once these tires loose grip. They are a really good tire, don't be confused, yet they can only take so much speed in a corner before they loose their grip and send you tail first in to a barrier.

The Final Verdict:

Quite honestly there will be as many different reasons to like this car as there are people to buy it. Collector's will no doubt snatch this car up purely based that it's the second release in the NINCO Club member series. I have little doubt this car will end up being a 'shelf queen' for a large number of enthusiasts even if NINCO made this car for it to be raced.

If you actually want to buy this car to run and are a home-track enthusiast like I am the NSX, be it the standard version or this NINCO Club version, is a fast and fun car to drive. Yes the NC-6 will be too much motor for many smaller home layouts but thankfully NINCO makes it a simple matter of swapping motors by offering lower RPM motors such as the NC-2 (18K), the NC-7 (19,3K) as well as the NC-5 (20K) that are the same size as this NC-6.

In any case this second offering from the NINCO Club series provides a good looking and nice handling slot car that should please many slot car racers and collectors alike. Whether you purchase this NINCO Club NSX to look at or race with you'll be making a good choice.

One final reason to like this NINCO Club NSX is because of it's price tag although please let's be clear that will depend on how you purchase the car. If you buy one directly from NINCO be prepared to pay more in US currency than you would for any of the standard non-Club versions. I can't suggest strongly enough to order one of these directly from MRC as the price on this car drops down to less than the standard NINCO products and that includes the cost of shipping. Please check them out through the links I've included and give them a call to order one for yourself today!

Special thanks go to MRC – Model Rectifier Corporation for providing the new NINCO Club #2 NSX for review. As always, please feel free to email me with any comments or questions about this or any other review and I’ll be happy to answer any questions that I can. Happy slotting!