The Safety Car has a simple silver/grey paint scheme. I could not help myself and added the logo of my circuit. The headlights, brake lights and roof lights all flash when the car is in safety mode. The interior and bottom of the car are detailed quite well. Switching from Safety to Normal mode is as easy as programming the car to a given hand controller. One time it programs as a normal car the next time Safety mode.
You'll know it is in Safety mode when you place it back on the track it does a recon lap or two. SCX says it is measuring the track so it knows where the pit entrance is but I'm positive that it is finding the lane changers so it can run me off the track. In Safety mode the car slowly plods along the circuit randomly changing lanes and avoiding the pit lane. I have a dual use track (road and oval) so the Safety Car sometimes gets confused and drives through the pit lane. This is usually after it drove the longer road course and having taken the oval on its recon lap. In Safety mode it is programmed to car 6 even on a 3 car system. It would have been nice if it was car 7. It does not need to refuel giving it an advantage on the leader board during a race.
In Normal mode it is as quick as any other Leon. Don't be mistaken. This is not going to be your quickest and most nimble car. I did like it enough though that I needed the #23 Monroe. Despite having a slightly different chassis these two Leons drive pretty much the same. They have the top speed of any other SCX car with an RX-42b under the hood but their short wheelbase and height makes them less agile, quirky, and well - slow. These cars are about a half second slower than other SCX cars on my oval (2.87s) and close to a full second slower (5.00s) on the road course. On the R1 hairpin (a 180° SCXd inner) the car sometimes decides to just lay down. It's not the driver! I know I've taken the corner faster but then the next time she just - tip - lays down. Odd.
The #23 is a brilliant blue and yellow with superb detailing and clean tampo markings. It looks like it wants to race. I really like the lines of this car. The rear wing on both cars is easily removed if you choose to do that before a race. My only complaint about the detailing is that fragile roof antenna on the #23. It is the same frail plastic found on the DBR-9. If you put it on the track consider it gone. There must be a better, more flexible material. When I converted the #23 to digital I needed to change the rim style. The picture shows it mid-conversion. Right now she has 4 matching, white rims from the version 1 conversion kit.
The SEAT Leons are great looking cars right out of the box. The Safety Car is easy to use and when putting in laps on the basement track it provides a fun obstacle forcing you to change lanes. I have found it fun to leave it in Safety mode while I race against it using the Monroe liveried #23. The #23 will race the road course while the Safety Car takes the oval short cut. I swear, IT KNOWS. Darn thing beats me half the time, and while in a race with 3 others there is a good chance the Safety car will win because it never pits. Despite not being super fast, or able to scream through the corners, I find these cars fun to drive. These are not squeeze and go rockets. They demand to be driven.
I will be buying one or two more Leons as equal racing partners. If you can still find a SEAT Leon Safety Car grab one. SCX no longer offers it as part of the 2010 catalog. It would be nice if SCX would sell the Safety Car chip so we could make other ghost cars.
