RC set : Team Sonic Racing

You know Sonic, the little blue hedgehog super fast that comes to us straight from the world of video games. Here he is back at Carrera in a 1/43 scale radio controlled vehicle box after being released in the GO range previously. Tails his faithful friend the fox accompanies him in this box to allow two players to compete.

The box does not only contain two vehicles with their remote controls, but also black barriers that will allow you to draw a circuit. And to be even more in the atmosphere, decorations can be fixed on the edges of the track, but also an arch. And if you wish, you can use the springboard provided.

Here is the content of the box:

An open box containing the 2 cars and their remote controls
A box with the large borders (x15)
A box with the small borders (x30)

The track

There is no real typical circuit. If you want to make the one in the photo you can take inspiration but there is no plan provided, which is a shame. You have to let your imagination run wild to create the circuit. To do this you have 15 long edges and 30 small track edges. You can assemble the edges together and give an angle between 2. The small edges can make a small radius of curvature at a turn while the large ones will result in a large radius of curve. You will have to mix the 2 to obtain the desired layout.

Fences

The barriers are not symmetrical in the axis of the length, on one side they have a vertical face and on the other a radius of curvature on the ground allows a car that approaches too close to climb on the barrier, a bit like a vibrator effect.

I am divided on this idea. If you bite a little on the radius of curvature, it gives a nice effect, like for vibrator. But if you bite a little more than reasonable the car climbs on the wall and finds itself blocked. While on the vertical side, the car simply enters it and two cases occur. In one case you slide along without much consequence, in the other a reverse gear is enough to free yourself and leave, no need for manual intervention. We can also note that the vehicles are not equal in certain situations. Sonic has faired wheels but not Tails.

Accessories and decoration

The box is supplied with 2 cardboard boards. One contains the decorative elements for the track edge walls with several sizes (x18) and shapes, but also an arch for the start.
The second board is already cut and concerns the springboard that you just have to assemble by simply folding 2 edges and wedging them into the holes provided.

The springboard is pretty good, not too high not too small. The cars use it easily the thinness of the cardboard does not make a step at the entrance and the height of about 1 cm does not damage it and does not disturb the cars during the jump.

The cars

The cars are 1/43 scale and feature 2 characters from the license, Sonic and Tails.
Before starting, you will need to recharge the vehicles with the URB charger provided. The charging time is very reasonable, it only takes a few minutes.

Then, you will need to synchronize them with the remote controls, but let’s talk about them quickly.

The remote controls, as you can see in the photo, are very small but their grip remains pleasant, even for my large adult hands.

To synchronize a remote control with a car, simply turn on the car with the small switch under the car, then the remote control by pressing the central button for 2 seconds which will turn red.

When the car is powered on, there is a small red diode. Very visible for Tails with its light body, it is very discreet on Sonic’s vehicle where it is just a small dot.

Sonic

Let’s talk a little about Sonic, his car is well done by Carrera and the character too, who we see with his hands on the wheel.

Sonic, 1/43° scale, does that remind you of anything? Remember that last year Carrera released a Carrera GO Sonic circuit. And if we compared the 2!

On the right, you can see the two on a GO track. Except for the color, it’s not easy to tell the difference. Maybe easier on the photo below in profile with the front wheel arch a little wider for the steering wheels.

To make it easier to tell the difference, I left the GO car in the slot so that it would stay flat and put the RC car in the middle of the track.

Tails

Tails does not exist in the GO range, it is Shadow, Sonic’s partner on the track.
Tails’ car is faithful to the one in the Team Sonic Racing video game, nothing to say on that side. As previously stated, the unbodied wheels can be a disadvantage in the event of a collision with the other vehicle or the edge of the track.

The track

Here there is no track layout defined as a GO circuit. You don’t just have the cars and have to improvise a circuit on a table or on the ground. You have a whole stock of elements to trace your own track. There is no track assembly model provided, which is a shame. We just look at the photo of the cardboard to try to do the same. We don’t really know if we should put a small border block or a long one. It’s a shame. In this case Carrera does not use enough interaction with its website. A small link to the site to find ideas for alternative plans. No need to use lots of paper in the box, the internet is great for that.

For my part it gave this, a circuit of an approximate size on the ground 80cm x 200cm

You just have to twist it to give different shapes.

Driving

We have the cars, we have the circuit, it’s time to let the cars go. As always, we start by adjusting the neutral of the cars so that they drive straight when we don’t use the steering. Once that’s done, let’s go, we start with a first lap.

The turning radius is rather small which allows you to take the turns rather tight, it’s a good thing on this small circuit with U curves. The remote control controls are not proportional so you will have to play in jerks to create a dosage when you want to adjust.
A very important thing that we didn’t have on other 1/43° or 1/50° RC models. For the steering to work and turn the wheels, you don’t need to move forward or backward. This allows you to slow down in the turns and with the momentum of the car to turn and have more precision at low speed. As a result, the cars are pleasant to drive and easy.

By giving a little push of reverse and turning the steering in the right direction, you can even afford to make U-turns by skidding.

In terms of speed, they are rather fast, I find. In any case rather nervous, given 5km/h on the Carrera site, I find them faster than the Mario Kart 1/50 RC.