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New Additions: December 2016

Welcome to the last update for 2016 and again my apologies for the tardiness of this update. There's quite a few new and old release models added this month and the highlights, for me, include the 1971 March Ford 711 whose aerodynamics were unconventional and ultimately unsuccessful. The car had a Frank Costin inspired ovoid front wing often called the "Spitfire" or the "tea tray" for its elevation from the car. Costin wanted the car to benefit from a full front wing design rather than tiny winglets protruding from either side of the nose.

In 1995 the SARD Corporation (Sigma Advanced Racing Developments) a Japanese tuning company entered a 4 litre turbo V8 Toyota MC8-R which was a race modified Toyota MR2. The car was eligible to race in the GT1 category but the car lacked the pace of newer generation GT1 cars like the specially homologated Porsche 911 GT1. The SARD unfortunately retired after 14 laps.

The Pontiac Firebird is truly an iconic American muscle car first introduced to the public in 1967. The 3rd generation  Firebird Trans Am GTA (Gran Turismo Americano) was unveiled in 1981 and the 1988 version has been expertly reproduced by Neo in black with gold wheels. The Trans Am was powered by a 170hp, 5.0L V8 engine.

Okay, that's a wrap for another month and for another year!  I'm looking forward to doing it all again in 2017. Only one model fair this month and it's the regular Sydney Model Auto Club's 2nd Friday of the month Toy Fair at Granville on 9th December. I hope to see you there. Finally I'd like to thank all my customers for their continued support this year and I hope I can carry on providing you all with a great selection of quality models for your collections in 2017. Have a safe and relaxing holiday season. Until next year, happy collecting.

Formula One

• 1936 Auto Union Type C, B.Rosemeyer (4) 1st Monza GP (Brumm Oro series)
• 1938 Auto Union Type D, Nuvolari (22) 1st Italian GP (Minichamps)
• 1976 Ensign Ford N174, C.Amon (22) South African GP (Spark)
• 1972 Lotus Ford 72D, E.Fittipaldi (6) World Champions Collection (Minichamps)
• 2012 Lotus Renault R30, K.Raikkonen (9) Test Session Valencia (Minichamps)
• 1971 March Ford 711, Presentation car (Spark)
• 1971 March Ford 711, N.Lauda (26) Austrian GP (Spark)
• 1971 McLaren Ford M19A, D.Hulme (9) 6th Monaco GP (Spark)
• 1976 McLaren Ford M23, J.Hunt (11) "Texaco" w/engine cover Ed.43 No.38 (Minichamps)
• 1998 McLaren Merc MP4/13, D. Coulthard (2) "West" Team Edition (Minichamps)
• 1999 McLaren Merc MP4/14, D. Coulthard (2) "West" Team Edition (Minichamps)
• 1937 Mercedes Benz W125, H.Lang (6) 2nd Italian GP (Brumm Oro series)
• 1939 Mercedes Benz W154, R.Caracciola (12) 1st German GP (Brumm Oro series)
• 2006 Renault R26, F.Alonso (1) World Champ year (Minichamps)
• 1975 Shadow Ford DN5, J.P.Jarier (17) Brazilian GP (Spark)
• 1950 Talbot Lago, P.Levegh (5) Paris GP (Non-championship) (Brumm Oro Series)
• 2006 Williams Cosworth, M.Webber Show car (Minichamps)

American Race Series

• 1964 Ferrari 250 GTO, Perkins(US) / Eve(US) (32) 11th 2000km Daytona (Brumm)
• 1972 Ferrari 312PB, T.Schenken/R.Petersen (6) 2nd Daytona (Red Line)
• 1966 Ford GT40 Mk2, K.Miles/L.Ruby (98) Winner Daytona (Spark)
• 1977 Porsche 911 Carrera RSR, Haywood/Graves/Helmick (43) 1st 24h Daytona (Spark)
• 1978 Porsche 935, Stommelen/Hezemans/Gregg (99) 1st 24h Daytona (Spark)

Le Mans / European Touring Cars / Rally Cars

• 1968 Ford Escort Mk1 TC, F.Gardner/D.Glemser (36) ADAC GP (Minichamps)
• 1968 Ford Escort Mk1 TC, B.Muir/Arundell (35) Nurburgring (Minichamps)
• 1966 Ford GT40 Mk ll, Miles/Hulme (1) 2nd Le Mans (Spark)
• 1968 Ford P68, F.Gardner/Attwood (7) Nurburgring (Minichamps)
• 1968 Ford P68, Irwin/Rodriguez (8) 1000km Nurburgring (Minichamps)
• 1969 Ford P68, Hulme/Gardner (58) BOAC 500 Brands Hatch (Minichamps)
• 2013 HPD ARX 03B Honda, Briscoe/Franchitti/Tucker (33) Le Mans DNF (Spark)
• 1996 McLaren F1 GTR, D.Brabham/Raphanel (6) Zhuhai 4 hour (TSM)
• 1963 MGB, Hopkirk/Hutcherson (31) 12th Le Mans (Spark)
• 1991 Nissan Skyline GT-R, Olofssn/D.Brabham/Hattori (25) 1st Spa 24 hour (PremiumX)
• 1973 Porsche 911 Carrera RSR 2.8, Kremer/Schickentanz/Keller (45) Le Mans (Minichamps)
• 2004 Porsche 911 GT3RS, Bagnall/Colin/Burgess (84) Le Mans (Minichamps)
• 1995 Toyota SARD MC 8-R, Acheson/Ferte (26) DNF Le Mans (Spark)
• 1960 Triumph TR3A, Thuner/Gretener (301) Rallye Monte Carlo (Spark)

ATCC Cars / Bathurst 12 hour

• 1971 Falcon XY GTHO P3, Moffat (65) Bathurst winner (Classic Carlectables)
• 1972 Falcon XY GTHO P3, A.Moffat (1) Hardie-Ferodo 500 (Biante)
• 1979 Falcon XC, A.Moffat/Fitzpatrick (25) Bathurst Black Federation (Biante)
• 1980 Falcon XD, Moffat/Fitzpatrick (1) Yellow Federation (Biante)
• 1982 Falcon XE, D.Johnson/J.French Bathurst (17) DQ "Red Roo" (Biante)
• 1994 Falcon EB, D.Johnson/J.Bowe (17) Bathurst winner (Biante)
• 1979 Torana LX SS A9X, P.Brock/Richards (05) 1st Bathurst decals applied (Biante)
• 2011 Audi R8 LMS GT3, O'Young/Basseng/Mies (8A) Bathurst 12 hr winner (Spark)

Road Cars

• 1957 Bentley S1 convertible in black/grey (Spark)
• 1955 Bristol 405 in dark green (Neo)
• 1978 Chevrolet Camaro Rally Sport in red/black (Neo)
• 1985 Citroen CX Nilsson in red/matt black (BoS)
• 1973 Dodge Charger in metallic dark green (Neo)
• 1961 Ford Falcon XK Panel Van in Kangaroo Petroleum livery (Trax)
• 1968 Ford Mustang GT-390 Fastback in metallic burgundy (PremiumX)
• 1976 Holden HX Sandman Ute in papaya (Trax)
• 1953 Maserati A6GCS Berlinetta in red (White Box)
• 1955 Mercedes Benz 190 SL in red (Maxichamps)
• 1967 MG B GT Coupe in blue (Spark)
• 1974 Morgan 4/4 in white/brown (White Box)
• 2014 Nissan GT-R in red (PremiumX)
• 1988 Panther Kallista in dark green (Neo)
• 1968 Plymouth Sport Fury in metallic blue/matt black roof (Neo)
• 1988 Pontiac Trans Am GTA in black (Neo)
• 1952 Rometsch Beeskow Convertible in metallic light blue (Neo)
• 1964 Porsche 904 Press release car in silver (Spark)
• 1989 Porsche Panamericana in metallic green (Neo)
• 1979 Toyota Corolla E70 in wine red (PremiumX)
• 1983 Toyota Celica ST Mk3 in metallic dark red (Neo)
• 1968 Triumph 2000 Mk1 2.5 PI in light mint/black roof (Neo)
• 1969 Triumph Vitesse Mk 2 in red (Neo)
• 1947 Volvo PV60 in marron red (PremiumX)
• 1951 VW Dannenhauser & Stauss convertible in dark red (BoS)
• 1948 Waibel Porsche Special Sport convertible in metallic green (Neo)

After thoughts: From 1968 when unrestricted corporate sponsorship of motor racing was allowed, cars have been painted in the sponsor's colours and covered with their company branding.  Cars have become mobile, high speed billboards and even the drivers racing suits have sponsor logos prominently displayed for all the world to see. But there is one area where drivers can still express their individuality and that's their helmets. Often it's the only way the team and spectators can identify the driver sitting in identical team cars. Who can forget the intra-team rivalry at Malboro McLaren Honda between Senna and Prost in 1988? You could tell who was leading by the colour of the driver's helmet; was it yellow or was it blue and white?

Helmets were in use during pre-World War 1 motor racing but these cloth or leather helmets did very little to protect the drivers from head injuries or burns during crashes at 10 mph let alone at 100 mph. It wasn't until the 1950's that hard shell helmets were specifically designed for motor racing with Bell Sports developing the first mass produced auto racing helmet in 1954.  By the end of the 1950's full faced crash helmets were essential equipment for all motor racing drivers. Over the years many improvements have been made to their design with the latest being the HANS device to "tether" the helmet to minimise neck injuries. Interestingly, helmets for auto racing and helmets for motorcycle racing, although similar in appearance have several major differences. Motor cycle helmets do not have the same degree of  fire protection compared to auto racing helmets as riders are usually thrown clear of their bikes during a crash. Also auto racing helmets can have a narrower field of view to increase the protective surface of the helmet.

Helmets have one function and that is to protect the driver's or rider's head but it also offers a blank canvas for art.  Helmets are that one visual signature from the drivers that are burnt into the fans memory and is never forgotten. Take for example, Aryton Senna's predominately yellow helmet with simple strips of green; it is one of the most recognisable images in the racing world. It was Senna's connection with his homeland, Brazil. Also worthy to be considered as art is Gilles Villeneuve's simple orange and black design, Graham (and Damien) Hill's London Rowing Club inspired white oars on a blue background and James Hunt's black helmet with 3 simple coloured strips with his name in bold white characters. Some drivers and riders of course have taken this art form to the extreme by having a different design at virtually every race but the FIA has now mandated drivers have the same design for the whole year making it easier for the fans to identify.

Congratulations to Nico Rosberg on winning the 2016 F1 World Championship and to Shane Van Gisbergen for winning the 2016 Australian Touring Car Championship.

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New Additions: November 2016

Welcome to the November monthly update and my apologies for the lateness for this update. Let's get straight to this months highlights. Minichamps continue to release classic and modern F1 cars at a rate unheard of in the past. They have released most of the 2016 cars they were licensed to produce, namely all teams except Ferrari and Manor. The Renault and Haas cars have yet to be released but one that has is the Red Bull Tag Heuer RB12 of Dan Ricciardo which will be keenly sought by Aussie collectors. Unlucky not to have 3 wins this season instead of just one, Ricciardo has had another stellar year wrapping up 3rd in the championship with still two races remaining.

Probably the most memorable of all the "art" cars to have raced at Le Mans must be the infamous "Naked Ladies" Porsche 911 GT3 Evo that entered the 1998 edition of the great race. The body of the porsche depicted cartoon figures of women and a couple kissing; the artist was Georges Wolinski, who along with 11 others, was murdered at the office of the French satirical weekly newspaper, "Charlie Hedo" on 7 January 2015. Wolinski's name appears on the white cat on the car bonnet and this Spark model is a wonderful tribute to the acclaimed catoonist. Minichamps and (I think) Vitesse have also produced this model.

Plymouth, a subsidiary of Chrysler first produced cars in 1923 until the brand was discontinued in 2001. In 1960, Chrysler's chief designer Virgil Exner penned a small sports roadster concept car, the XNR and it was one of his most ambitious designs. The design had many controversial features that weren't relevant to conventional road cars of the day. The XNR had an asymmetrical design with a power bulge running down the driver's side and both the front and rear fenders were sculpted with small winglets. One version was built in Italy and then toured the world in 1960 before being bought by the Shah of Iran. For nearly 50 years the XNR disappeared from public sight until it was presented at the 2011 Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance. The current owner discovered the XNR in Beirut, Lebanon in the early 1980's.

Okay that's it for another month. Two events are scheduled for November; firstly the regular 2nd Friday of the month Swap at Granville on the 11th and then on the 20th, Collectormania will be holding their last Fair for the year at Penrith. Please check the "Swap Meets" link for further details and I hope to see you there. Until next month, happy collecting!

Formula One

• 2001 Australian GP Event car (Minichamps)
• 1994 Benetton Ford B194, M.Schumacher (5) 1st Monaco GP (Spark)
• 1966 Brabham BRM BT11, J.Taylor (44) 6th French GP (Spark)
• 1955 Ferrari D50, J.M.Fangio (1) British GP (Hot Wheels)
• 1974 Ferrari 312B3, N.Lauda (12) 50th Ferrari GP win, Spain GP (Hot Wheels)
• 1977 Ferrari 312T2, N.Lauda (11) German GP (Hot Wheels)
• 1977 Ferrari 312 T2 6-wheeler, Lauda (11) Test car (Hot Wheels)
• 1979 Ferrari 312 T4, G.Villeneuve (12) (Minichamps)
• 1982 Ferrari 126C2, G.Villeneuve (27)  (Minichamps)
• 1968 Matra-Ford MS10, J.Servoz-Gavin (11) Monaco GP (Spark)
• 2007 McLaren Merc MP4/22, L.Hamilton (2) Vodafone (Minichamps)
• 2007 McLaren Merc MP4/22, L.Hamilton (2) 1st win Canada GP (Minichamps)
• 2015 Red Bull Renault RB11, D.Ricciardo (3) (Spark)
• 2016 Red Bull Tag Heuer RB12, D.Ricciardo (3) (Minichamps)

Le Mans

• 1968 Alfa Romeo T33/2, Giunti/Galli (39) Le Mans (Spark)
• 1967 Bizzarrini P538, Le Mans Test car (10) (Spark)
• 1970 BMW 2800 CS, G.Huber (63) 1st 300km Nurburgring (Spark)
• 1970 Lola T70 Mk3B, J.P.Beltoise (58) Vainqueur Magny-Cours (Spark)
• 1962 Porsche 356B, E.Barth/H.Hermann (34) Le Mans (Spark)
• 1998 Porsche 911 (993) GT3 Evo, Graham/Poulain/Maury-Laribiere Le Mans (Spark)

ATCC Cars

• 1969 Monaro HT GTS 350, C.Bond/T.Roberts (44D) Winner Bathurst (Biante)
• 1991 Nissan Skyline GT-R R32, Skaife/Richards (1) Bathurst winner (ApexReplicas)

Road Cars

• 1967 Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale prototype in red (TSM)
• 1980 Alfa Romeo Sud Ti 1.3 in white (Neo)
• 1968 Buick Skylark Sedan in metallic brown/matt black roof (Neo)
• 1972 Ford Taunus GXL in silver/black (Neo)
• 1968 Ford Mustang Fastback 2+2 in white (Minichamps)
• 1958 Land Rover series II 109 in blue/white roof (White Box)
• Nissan Skyline GT-R GpA in white (ApexReplicas)
• 1960 Plymouth XNR in red (BoS)
• 1953 Simca Aronde Grand Large in red/white roof (White Box)
• 1938 Steyr 55 in red/black (BoS)
• 1953 Studebaker Champion convertible in beige (BoS)
• 1976 Volvo 343 in red (White Box)
• VW Schult Beetle in metallic red (Neo)
• 1965 Wartburg 312 in blue/white (White Box)

After Thoughts:  I mentioned briefly a couple of months ago that 2016 is the centenary of the founding of BMW and it would be remiss of me not to delve a little more into the history of this famous motoring marque. Formed in 1916 originally under the name Bayerische Flugzeug-Werke but soon after adopted the moniker Bayerische Motoren Werke (Bavarian Motor Works), the company made it's name manufacturing aircraft engines. It wasn't until 1928 that BMW made its first car, the Austin 7 under licence which was called the BMW Dixi.  In 1936 BMW launched the legendary 2 Litre sports car, the BMW 328 which won numerous motor sporting events around Europe. Aircraft engines, motor bikes and cars were BMW's main products up to World War 2 but during the war the company concentrated on aircraft engines with bikes as a sideline and car production ceased all together.

Most of BMW's production facilities were heavily bombed during the war and the plants in Eastern Germany were seized by the Soviets. The Allies banned BMW from making cars after the war so the company made pots and pans using salvaged and second hand equipment and it wasn't until 1947 that they were allowed to start making motorcycles again. Eventually BMW starting making cars once more, producing the 501 in 1952 and the 507 in 1956. The BMW philosophy, based on their relatively small production capacity was to make luxury cars with high profit margins.

Throughout its history, BMW cars and motorcycles enjoyed success in various forms of motorsport. Apart from the factory efforts many privateer teams entered BMW cars in National Touring Car racing and in 1980 BMW developed a turbocharged engine for the Brabham F1 Team which was ready to race in 1982. The following year Nelson Piquet won the World Championship for Brabham and BMW. The BMW 1.5 litre F1 engine became the first engine capable of developing 1,000hp in racing trim and it was reputed to be able to deliver 1,400hp in qualifying mode. BMW withdrew as an F1 engine supplier at the end of 1987 when turbos were to be banned after the 1988 season. BMW re-entered F1 in partnership with Williams in 2000 with a V10 but the partnership ended in 2005 after constant disputes over the cause of numerous techincal failures. For 2006 BMW decided to add an F1 team to their motorsport division so the company purchased the Sauber team and raced as BMW-Sauber F1.

In 2008 Robert Kubica won BMW's first F1 race in Canada but after a disappointing 2009 season the team was sold back to Sauber. Apart from F1 success, BMW won the 1999 Le Mans 24 hour race with their BMW V12 LMR partnered with Schnitzer Motorsport.

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New Additions: October 2016

Welcome to the October monthly update. Quite a few new additions this month especially from Minichamps who, after a long period of inactivity seem to be playing catch up with Spark with regards to their classic F1 cars. There are a number of exciting new releases from the Minichamps F1 World Champions Collection series which include Prost's 1986 McLaren, Hakkinen's 1999 McLaren, Alonso's 2006 Renault and Prost's 1993 Williams. These are all very collectible and will certainly fill a few missing holes in some collections.

In 1999 the Gunnar Racing team started to develop a Porsche 911 GT1 into a spyder GT1 (open cockpit) for the American Le Mans Series and the project was called the G99  (G for Gunnar and 99 for the year). However the car was not finished until 2002 but then the rules had changed that prevented the G99 to run in spyder form so the team had to convert the car back into a coupe (with a roof). Most of the body panels (except the roof) and suspension were from the original GT1 but the engine was a 3.6 litre from a GT3-RS. The Minichamps G99 shown below raced in 2003 at the hands of Paul Newman, Kyle Petty and Gunnar Jeanette.

The Land Rover was conceived by the Rover Company in 1947 during the aftermath of World War 2. The plan was to build a light agricultural and utility vehicle similar in concept to the Willys Jeep used during the war.  The early vehicles were painted in various shades of light green which was dictated by the surplus supplies of military paint used for aircraft cockpit interiors. The aluminium alloy bodywork was kept simple to reduce production time and costs and early tests of prototypes showed the Land Rover to be a capable and versatile vehicle. The plan was for the Land Rover to in production for two or three years to gain the company some cash flow and some export orders so Rover could restart manufacturing luxury vehicles. But the Land Rover greatly outsold the cars that were subsequently produced by Rover and eventually it developed into its own brand . In 1992 Land Rover claimed that 70% of all the vehicles they had built were still in use. The model below is from TSM who have produced a number of different variants of the 1957 Series 1.

Okay, that's it for another month; just one event for October and that's the regular Friday night SMAC Model Fair at Granville on 14 October at 6:30pm. Hope to see you there and until then, happy collecting.

Formula One

• 1968 Lotus Ford 49B, J. Oliver (2) Belgium GP 5th place (Quartzo)
• 1969 Lotus Ford 49B, R.Attwood (2) Monaco GP 4th place (Quartzo)
• 1969 Lotus Ford 49B, G.Hill (1) 1st Monaco GP (Quartzo)
• 1987 Lotus Honda 99T, A.Senna (12) Senna Collection [New Series] (Minichamps)
• 1971 March Ford 711, H.Pescarolo (27) Spanish GP (Spark)
• 1971 March Ford 711, R.Petersen (25) Italian GP "STP" (Spark)
• 1966 Matra MS5, J.Servoz-Gavin (40) 1st Coupe de Paris F3 (Spark)
• 1967 Matra MS5 F3, J.P.Jabouille (54) 1st Coupe de Vitesse, Riems (Spark)
• 1971 McLaren Ford M19, M.Donohue (10) 'Sunoco' Canadian GP (Spark)
• 1983 McLaren Ford MP4/1C, A.Senna (7) Silverstone Test [New Series] (Minichamps)
• 1986 McLaren TAG MP4/2C, A.Prost (1) World Champions Collection (Minichamps)
• 1991 McLaren Honda MP4/6, A.Senna (1) World Champion [New Series] (Minichamps)
• 1999 McLaren Merc MP4/14, M.Hakkinen (1) World Champions Collection (Minichamps)
• 2014 Red Bull Renault RB10, D.Ricciardo (3) 1st win Canadian GP (Minichamps)
• 2006 Renault R26, F.Alonso (1) World Champions Collection (Minichamps)
• 2016 Sauber Ferrari C35, M.Ericsson (9) Australian GP (Spark)
• 1981 Williams Ford FW07C, A.Jones (1) 1st US West GP (Minichamps)
• 1993 Williams Renault FW15C, A.Prost (2) World Champions Collections (Minichamps)
• 1994 Williams Renault FW16, A.Senna (2) Senna Collection [New Series] (Minichamps)

American Race Series

• 1990 Porsche 962C, Bell/Dickens/Moretti (30) Daytona 24hr "Momo" (Spark)
• 2003 Gunnar Porsche G99, C.McQueen/Minter (6) Daytona Grand Am Weekend (Minichamps)
• 2003 Gunnar Porsche G99, Petty/Newman (6) Bully Hills Vineyards Grand Am (Minichamps)

Le Mans / Rally

• 1990 Jaguar XJR12, Brundle/Nielsen/Cobb (3) Le Mans winner (Spark)
• 1967 Lola T70 Mk 3, Hulme/Brabham (4) BOAC 500 Brands Hatch (Spark)
• 1968 Porsche 907, Elford/Maglioli (224) 1st Targa Florio (Spark)
• 1973 Porsche 911 Carrera RSR, G.Loos/J.Barth (63) Gelo Racing 10th Le Mans (Spark)
• 1977 Porsche 936/77, Ickx/Pescarolo (3) "Martini" DNF Le Mans (Spark)
• 1978 Porsche 936/78, Pescarolo/Mass/Ickx (5) Le Mans (Spark)
• 1982 Porsche 956, Mass/Schuppan (2) 2nd "Rothmans" Le Mans (Spark)
• 1986 Porsche 962C, Boutsen/Jelinski(17) "Jagermeister" winner Spa 1000k (Spark)
• 2015 Porsche 911 (997 II) GT3 R, Haring/Schmickler (56) 17th Spa 24hr (Spark)
• 1958 Borgward 1500 RS, H. Hermann 3rd Schauinsland Hillclimb (Premium ClassiXX)
• 1986 Ford Sierra RS500, A.Senna Rally Test Senna Collection [New Series] (Minichamps)

ATCC / Bathurst 12hr

• 1991 Nissan Skyline GT-R R32, Richards ATCC winner (1) (Apex Replicas)
• 2016 McLaren 650S GT3, Van Gisbergen/Parente/Webb (59) 1st Bathurst 12h (Spark)

Road Cars

• 1934 Alfa Romeo 6C 2300, Aerodinamica Jankovitz (Matrix)
• 1981 Alfa Romeo 2300 Rio in dark blue (Neo)
• 1929 Bentley 4-1/2 Litre Supercharged Blower single seater in red (Neo)
• 1950 Bentley MKVI RHD in silver/blue (White Box)
• 1970 Cadillac De Ville Convertible in metallic light blue (BoS)
• 1963 Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray Coupe in white (Brooklin Models)
• 1933 Chrysler Imperial Le Baron Phaeton road car in silver/black (White Box)
• 1933 Chrysler Imperial Custom Phaeton in blue (Matrix)
• 1970 Dodge Charger 500 in black [The Fast and The Furious] (Hot Wheels)
• 1957 Ford Thunderbird Convertible in light green (Brooklin Models)
• 1954 Holden FJ Station Wagon Prototype in cream (Trax)
• 1963 Holden EH Utility in windora beige Trax)
• 1965 Holden HD Special Station Sedan in Sultan Red/Fowlers Ivory roof (Trax)
• 1969 Monaro HT GTS350 in verdoro green metallic (Trax)
• 1971 Intermeccanica Indra 2+2 Coupe in red (BoS)
• 2010 Lamborghini Sesto Elemento in red (White Box)
• 1955 Lancia Aurelia B24 Spider (America) in black (Spark)
• 1957 Land Rover Series 1 107" Recovery Truck (TSM)
• 1957 Land Rover Series 1 88" Soft top in green (TSM)
• 1957 Land Rover Series 1 88" Fire Appliance in red (TSM)
• 1957 Mercedes 300d (W189) in black/grey (White Box)
• 2012 Mercedes SLS AMG Roadster in silver (Spark)
• 1934 Packard V12 LeBaron (Speedster) in beige/red (White Box)
• 1967 Porsche 911S Troutman & Barnes dark green 4-dr sedan (BoS)
• 1995 Porsche 911 (993) Cup 3.8 in white (Schuco)

After thoughts:  Brooklin Models is a company based in Bath, England producing hand-built, high quality 1:43 scale models in heavy white metal. The company had its origins in the small rural town of Brooklin in Ontario, Canada where production began in 1974 of models of American automobiles but these early models were understandably rather crude. These first models cast in white metal did not have windows in clear plastic, no rear windows at all and had white rubber tyres. But from 1977 onwards, quality started to improve with the addition of windscreen wipers, clear plastic windows and licence plates. Then in 1979 the founder of Brooklin, John Hall returned to England to continue making model cars and the company still continues to produce very collectible models. In 1998, after a management buyout, the quality of models continued to improve but maintained the traditions and values of its founder. Although best known for its range of American cars, the company eventually started producing models from Britian's motoring heritage under the "Lansdowne" brand with the release of the 1958 Austin Healey Sprite Mk1 in 1993.

Brooklin models have tended to maintain a high market value; partly because of the rarity of the subject matter modelled but also to their philosophy of producing limited runs of each model. Their manufacturing process allows for low run production. The company doesn't use the diecast method due to the high costs of creating metal dies but instead utilises brass masters from which vulcanised rubber moulds are made. Body moulds are created by the layering of strips of virgin rubber onto the master, encasing it in a steel frame and vulcanising it at 150 degrees C.  Baseplates, headlights, wheels, dashboards, seats and other small parts are made using centrifugal casting machines. Each model is hand painted and manually packed one model at a time. According to Brooklins, the company produces about 20,000 models each year and the production run of an individual model over a five-year period rarely exceeds 1000.

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New Additions: September 2016

Welcome to another monthly update and a special welcome to those who are new to my website. Thank you to everyone who stopped by my garage at the Shannon's Classic Day and my marquee at the All British Day last month. We had great weather on both days and there were some beautiful cars (1:1) on display at both events. I hope to see you again at these two events next year. Some more interesting models were added to the stocklists this month and the highlights for me included the Alan Jones 1976 Surtees TS19 which finished 4th at the Japanese GP. This was the famous final race in the Hunt vs. Lauda duel for the World Championship in 1976. After Lauda had courageously withdrawn from the race due to the atrociously wet conditions, Hunt needed a 4th place to draw equal on points with Lauda which would have been sufficient for the McLaren driver to claim the title due to winning one more race than Lauda. In the dying stages of the race Hunt passed Regazzoni and into 4th but one lap later he passed Alan Jones' Surtees and his 3rd place ensured he was one point clear of Lauda.

Another interesting and probably more significant model is Alan Jones' 1980 World Championship winning Williams FW07B. This model forms part of Minichamp's ever popular World Champions Collection but is unusual in that it comes with a removeable body cover.

Appropriately, this year being the centenary of the founding of BMW comes this wild looking Group 5 BMW 320 that won the Macau Guia Race in 1980 driven by Hans Stuck. This Spark model is part of the Chinese National collection with a limited release of 750 models.

Porsche Carrera Cup racing is the most successful international one-make racing series at the moment with national series held in Europe, Australia and Asia. This Minichamps Cup car from the 2009 Asian Challenge has a distinctive red dragon livery against a black body.

Okay it's a wrap for this month. There are three events I'll be attending in September; the usual Friday night Toy Fair at Granville on 9th September and then a very busy/hectic weekend on 17th/18th. On Saturday 17th I'll be at the Hawkesbury Model and Hobby Show which is being held in conjunction with the Sydney Antique Machinery Club's Clarendon Classic Rally and then on Sunday I'm at Penrith for the Collectormania Fair. I hope to see you there. Happy Collecting.

Formula One

• 1979 Arrows Ford A1, R.Patrese (29) Argentina GP (Spark)
• 1970 Lotus Ford 72C, J.Rindt (10) 1st Dutch GP (Spark)
• 1985 Lotus Renault 97T, A.Senna (12) Senna Collection New Series (Minichamps)
• 1968 Matra-Ford MS10, J.Stewart (8) 1st Dutch GP (Spark)
• 1972 McLaren Ford M19A, D.Hulme (12) 1st South African GP (Spark)
• 2016 McLaren Honda MP4/31, F.Alonso (14) Australian GP (Spark)
• 1975 Shadow Ford DN5, T.Pryce (16) 6th Dutch GP (Spark)
• 1976 Surtees Ford TS19, A.Jones (19) 4th Japanese GP "Theodore Racing" (Spark)
• 1981 Theodore Ford TY01, P.Tambay (33) 6th Long Beach GP (Spark)
• 1980 Williams Ford FW07B, A.Jones (27) World Champions Collection (Minichamps)

American Racing Series

• 1976 McLaren Offenhauser M16C, J.Rutherford (2) 1st Indy 500 (Spark)
• 1968 McLaren M6B, M.Donohue (6) pole Fuji Can-Am 200 miles (Spark)
• 1973 Porsche 911 Carrera RSR, P.Gregg/H.Haywood/Helmick (59) 1st Sebring (Spark)
• 1973 Porsche 911 Carrera RSR, P.Gregg/H.Haywood (59) 1st Daytona 24h (Spark)
• 1987 Porsche 962, Mass/Rahal (86) 1st 12h Sebring "Budweiser" (Spark)
• 1995 Porsche Kremer K8, Lassig/Lavaggi/Boucut/Werner (10) 1st Daytona (Spark)

Le Mans / Rally / Touring Cars / Truck

• 1955 Aston Martin DB3S, Collins/Frere (23) 2nd Le Mans (Spark)
• 1980 BMW 320 Gr.5, H.Stuck (2) 'Guia Race of Macau' (Spark)
• 1949 Delage D6 S, Gerard/Godia Fales (14) 4th Le Mans (Spark)
• 1967 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350, Dubois/Tuerlinckx (17) Le Mans (Spark)
• 1997 Panoz Esperante GTR-1, D.Brabham/McCarthy/Bundy (55) Le Mans (Action)
• 2000 Panoz LMP900, D.Brabham/Magnussen/Andretti (11) Le Mans (IXO)
• 1977 Porsche 935, Schenken/Hezemans/Heyer (39) Le Mans (Spark)
• 1983 Porsche 956, V.Schuppan/Holbert/Haywood (3) Le Mans winner (CMR)
• 1985 Porsche 956, Ludwig/Barilla/Winter (7) 1st Le Mans "Newman" (Spark)
• 1983 Porsche 911 Carrera RSR, Pareja/Leconte/de Thoisy (78) Le Mans (Spark)
• 1995 Porsche 993 Bi-Turbo, Kaufmann/Hane/Ligonnet (54) Le Mans (Spark)
• 2009 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup S, D.Seng (22) GT3, Asian Challenge (Minichamps)
• 1973 BMW 2002, Stiller (255) Rallye Monte-Carlo "Jagermeister" (Neo)
• 1968 Porsche 911 T, Elford/Stone (210) 1st Monte Carlo Rally (Spark)
• Mercedes L3500 Truck, Blue truck with flat board; Merc Racing Dept. (Premium Classixx)

ATCC Cars

• 1964 Ford Cortina GT, Geoghegan (21C) in metallic blue/white roof (Classic Carlectables)
• 1967 Falcon XR GT, Geoghegan/Geoghegan (53D) 2nd Bathurst (Classic Carlectables)
• 1972 Falcon XY GTHO P3, J.French (5D) 2nd Bathurst (Classic Carlectables)
• 1978 Falcon XC Cobra, D.Johnson/V.Schuppan (17) Bathurst (AUTOart)
• 1979 Falcon XC Cobra, D.Johnson ATCC (17) "Bryan Byrt" Lakeside (AUTOart)
• 2008 V8 Championship, Whincup (1st) Falcon/Winterbottom (2nd) Falcon (Classic)

Road Cars

• 1957 Chevrolet 150 Sedan (2-door) in yellow/white (BoS)
• 1966 Dodge Dart in metallic purple (White Box)
• 1966 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 (Hertz) in black/gold (Spark)
• 2003 Falcon FPV GT-P in acid rush (Biante)
• 2003 Falcon FPV GT-P in phantom (Biante)
• 2003 Falcon BA XR8 in winter white (Biante)
• 2003 Falcon BA XR8 in blood orange (Biante)
• 2003 Falcon BA XR8 in mercury silver (Biante)
• 1949 Holden FX 48/215 in gawler cream (AUTOart)
• 1950 Holden FX 48/215 in forrester green (AUTOart)
• 1970 Monaro HG GTS350 in indy orange (AUTOart)
• 1977 Torana LX A9X in tuxedo black (AUTOart)
• MGB Roadster Hardtop in dark blue/white top (Spark)
• Subaru Legacy RS in black metal polish (HPi)

After thoughts:   Sadly the great New Zealand Grand Prix driver Chris Amon passed away on 3rd August at the age of 73. Widely known as the best driver never to win a championship GP, he was dogged by bad luck which robbed him of several GP victories whilst leading comfortably. From 96 GP races starting in1963 through to 1976, he scored 11 podiums and 5 pole positions. However, Amon's greatest successes came from other forms of racing, most notably his win at Le Mans in 1966 driving the Ford GT40 with compatriot, Bruce McLaren.

After this victory Enzo Ferrari offered him a Ferrari contract for 1967 and Amon won the Daytona 24 hour and the Monza 1000 km in the Ferrari 330 P4 with Lorenzo Bandini.

These sportscar successes lead to an offer of a full time drive with the Ferrari F1 team driving the 312. His first race with the F1 team was at Monaco where he finished 3rd, however his team mate, Bandini crashed and died from his injuries.  During this era of racing, F1 drivers regularly competed in other forms of racing so Amon found himself contesting the Can Am series, the International Championship of Makes, the European Touring Car Championship, Le Mans and the Tasman series amongst others.

The 1960's and 1970's was a dangerous time for racing. There were over 70 fatalities during the years that Amon raced, including the deaths of 17 F1 drivers. In 1976 while driving an Ensign at the German GP, Amon, after passing the smouldering wreck of Lauda's Ferrari, drove into the pits and refused to rejoin the race, effectively ending his F1 career. Chris Amon will always be remembered as one of the greatest racing drivers of his generation.

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New Additions: August 2016

Welcome to the August update and thank you to everyone who dropped by my stand at the Collectormania Fair last month. Quite a few new F1 and Indy cars this month so what are the highlights? The Connew Racing Team is probably a team you've never heard of before. This short-lived F1 constructor was founded in 1971 by Peter Connew and the team made just one car, the Ford powered PC1. After much trial and tribulation the PC1 finally managed to take part in the practice session of the 1972 British GP but was withdrawn prior to the race. At the Austrian GP, Frenchman Francois Migault qualified the car at the back of the grid but managed to pass 4 cars before retiring with suspension failure after 22 laps. This was the car's one and only F1 race and the following year it was converted to Formula 5000 specifications for the European F5000 Championship where it was equally unsuccessful. The model is by Spark.

Minichamps have finally released Jackie Stewart's 1971 and 1973 Tyrrell Fords that won the Scotsman's second and third World Championship titles. In 1973 Stewart scored 71 points and won 5 GP's (South Africa, Belgium. Monaco, Netherlands and Germany) to win the championship. The model is part of Minichamps' popular and highly collectable "World Champions Collection" series with the tall acrylic case. Incidentally, Alan Jones' 1980 Williams in the same collection series has also just been released and I have some in transit which should arrive in time for the Granville model fair.

Last month I featured the 1984 Dakar Rally winning Porsche 953 and this month another Dakar car has centre stage. This time it's the Peugeot 2008 DKR16 test car in carbon fibre black. It is an awesome car powered by a 3L 350HP V6 engine giving the car a top speed of 124 mph (200kph) through 2 driven wheels. At the 2016 Dakar Rally, the DKR16 dominated the race with nine stage wins out of 12 and Stephane Peterhansel claiming victory for Peugeot.

Well that's it for another monthly update. August will be a busy month with the Granville fair on 12 August and then the Shannon's Classic at Eastern Creek on 14 August. Then I will be at the All British Day at The Kings School on 28 August. I hope to see you there.

Formula One

• 1979 Arrows Ford A1B, J.Mass (30) 6th Monaco GP "Warsteiner" (Spark)
• 1967 Brabham Repco BT19, J.Brabham (1) 2nd Dutch GP (Spark)
• 1982 Brabham Cosworth BT49D, R.Patrese (2) 1st Monaco GP (Spark)
• 1967 Cooper Maserati T81, J.Siffert (18) 4th French GP (Spark)
• 1972 Darnval-Connew Ford PC1, F.Migault (29) Austrian GP (Spark)
• 1991 Footwork Porsche FA12, S.Johansson (10) Canadian GP (Spark)
• 1979 Ligier Ford JS11, J.Ickx (25) Dutch GP 5th (Spark)
• 1974 Lola Ford T370, G.Hill (26) 6th Sweden GP (Spark)
• 1962 Lotus Climax 24, M.Trintignant (30) Monaco GP (Spark)
• 1963 Lotus Climax 24, J.Siffert (25) British GP (Spark)
• 1971 Lotus Cosworth 69, E.Fittipaldi (3) 1st Albi GP F2 (Spark)
• 1979 Lotus Ford 80, M.Andretti (1) Test car (Spark)
• 1971 Matra MS120B, C.Amon (20) 3rd Spanish GP (Spark)
• 1966 McLaren Ford M2B, B.McLaren (17) Mexican GP (Spark)
• 2015 Mercedes AMG W06, L.Hamilton (44) 1st Japanese GP (Spark)
• 1989 Minardi Ford M189, P.Barilla (23) Japanese GP (Spark)
• 1973 Tyrrell Ford 006, J.Stewart (5) World Champions Collection (Minichamps)
• 1981 Tyrrell Ford 010, M.Alboreto (4) San Marino GP (Spark)

American Racing

• 1987 Audi Quattro S1, W.Rohrl (1) 1st Pikes Peak (Spark)
• 1961 Epperly Offenhauser, B.Marshman (31) Indy Rookie of the year "Hoover" (Replicarz)
• 1967 Lola T70, D.Gurney (36) Riverside Can Am (Spark)
• 1974 McLaren Offenhauser M16C, J.Rutherford (3) 1st Indy 500 (Spark)
• 1957 Salih Offenhauser, S.Hanks (9) Indy 500 winner "Belond" (Replicarz)
• 1958 Salih Offenhauser, J.Bryan (1) Indy 500 winner "Belond Special" (Replicarz)

  Le Mans

• 1968 Alfa Romeo T33/2, Casoni/Biscaldi (40) 6th Le Mans (Spark)
• 1978 Porsche 935, Garretson/Earle/Akin (91) Le Mans (Spark)
• 2008 Peugeot DKR16, Dakar Rally Test car (Spark)

Road cars

• 1977 Cadillac De Ville Sedan in light blue/white roof (PremiumX)
• 1933 Duesenberg SSJ in cream/black (Atlas)

ATCC

• 2002 Commodore VX  M.Skaife/J.Richards (1) winner Bathurst 1000 (AUTOart)

 After thoughts: The 1961 Indy 500 race was on face value pretty much like previous Indy 500 races where front-engined roasters were the mainstay of Indy racing since 1953. For the record books, A.J. Foyt won the race in his "Bowes Seal Fast" Offenhauser powered Trevis roadster and of the 33 entrants, 32 were front-engined roadsters all using the big, powerful "Offy" engine.

Bobby Marshman, driving an Epperly - Offy "Hoover Special" (pictured above) started in last position and finished on the lead lap in 7th place and was awarded the Indy 500 Rookie of the Year for finishing highest of the eight rookies to start the race. But there was one other notable rookie in the race who finished in 9th place, also on the lead lap. His name was Jack Brabham and his car was the only non-front engined roadster. For the first time since 1951 a rear engined car competed in the famous race; it was an F1 based Cooper - Climax. The car was considered an oddity and no one gave the then two time F1 World Champion, Brabham any serious chance in the race even though he qualified a respectable 13th. The Cooper was a modified version of the F1 car with a longer wheelbase and the Climax engine had been bored out from 2.5 to 2.7 litres. It also sported a rollbar which was mandatory at Indy but not in F1. Even though the Cooper was under-powered compared to the roadsters, its superior cornering speed compensated for its lower speeds down the long straights. During the race Brabham drove conservatively hoping to make only 2 pit stops but unusually high tyre wear forced him to make an extra stop thus negating his strategy. Jack Brabham's Cooper was to mark the beginning of the end for the Offy powered roadsters and was the start of the "British Invasion" of Indy. In 1963, two Lotus Fords were entered in the 500 mile race with Jim Clark finishing 2nd (he would win in 1965).  By 1968 of the 33 Indy 500 entrants, 32 were rear-engined cars and the only roadster retired after nine laps. This was the front-engine roadsters swansong.

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New Additions: July 2016

Welcome the another monthly update. It's been another month of interesting new model releases especially from Spark.  I don't often feature a rally car in the monthly updates but Spark's release of the 1984 Paris-Dakar Rally winner is worth a mention. This gruelling, car busting race was won by a Porsche 953 (also called a 911 SC/RS 4x4) driven by Rene Metge and Dominique Lemoyne and it was the first Dakar win by a Porsche. Metge went on to win the 1986 event as well in a Porsche 959. Spark have as usual included the missing tobacco decals.

Replicarz, an American company have a great range of Indy 500 winning cars and their March Cosworth 85C is a beautiful model. The Penske March was driven by Danny Sullivan to victory in the 1985 Indy 500 and is famously called the "spin and win" car due to a spectacular 360 degree spin (it was closer to 420 degrees before Sullivan got it under control). Footage of the spin can be viewed on YouTube which shows Sullivan spinning on lap 120 just after passing Mario Andretti for the lead and somehow missing the wall and Andretti, using all his skills and experience narrowly avoiding a collision. Andretti eventually finished second to Sullivan at the end of the 200 lap race.

Bentley, the luxury British car manufacturer (currently owned by Volkswagen) was founded in 1919. The company was bought by Rolls-Royce in 1931 when Bentley went into receivership. Rolls then sold Bentley to Vickers plc (the remanents of the Vickers-Armstrong group) when RR themselves went into bankruptcy in 1980. Finally in 1998 Vickers sold Bentley to it current owners and who knows, after a few more successful class actions against VW, Bentley may again change ownership? During Bentley's ownership by Rolls-Royce, the company produced the T2 series between 1977 - 80 which was powered by a 6750cc V8 engine giving it a maximum speed of 118mph.  The T2 was essentially a badge-engineered version of the Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow II with just the bonnet altered to accept the Bentley radiator grille and the "Flying B" bonnet ornament. The 1:43 T2 model by Neo in metallic green/white faithfully reproduces this car.

Well that's a wrap for this month but just a reminder there are two model car fairs this month. The usual Friday night event at Granville on 8 July and the big Collectormania Toy Fair at Penrith on 10 July. Hope to see you at both these shows!

Formula One

• 1969 Brabham Repco BT20, P.de Klerk (19) South African GP (Spark)
• 1981 Brabham Cosworth BT49C, N.Piquet (5) 1st Argentina GP (Spark)
• 1974 Lola Ford T370, P.Gethin (27) British GP (Spark)
• 2015 Marussia Ferrari MR03B, A.Rossi (53) US GP (Spark)
• 1966 Matra Ford MS5, J.Ickx (67) First heat Monaco GP F3 (Spark)
• 1968 Matra Ford MS9, J.Stewart (16) South African GP (Spark)
• 1988 McLaren Honda MP4/4, A.Senna (12) Senna Collection (New series) (Minichamps)
• 1977 Surtees Ford TS19, V.Brambilla (19) 4th Belgian GP (Spark)
• 1971 Tyrrell Ford 003, J.Stewart (2) World Champions Collection (Minichamps)

Le Mans/Rally

• 1968 Alfa Romeo T33/2, Baghetti/Vaccarella (41) Le Mans (Spark)
• 1975 Alfa Romeo 33 TT/12, Pescarolo/Bell (2) Team WKRT 1st Spa 1000 (Minichamps)
• 1959 Aston Martin DB4GT, Patthey/Calderari (21) Le Mans (Spark)
• 1939 Bugatti Type 57C, Wimille/Veyron (1) Le Mans winner (Spark)
• 1966 Ford GT40, K.Miles (2) Le Mans test (Minichamps)
• 1966 Ford GT40 Mk1, G.Ligier/B.Grossmann (15) Le Mans (Spark)
• 1966 Ford GT40 Mk1, P.Sutcliffe/D.Spoerry (14) Le Mans (Spark)
• 2015 Nissan GT-R LM Nismo, Matsuda/Shuizhitskiy/Ordonez (21) Le Mans (Spark)
• 2015 Nissan GT-R LM Nismo, Tincknell/Krumm/Buncombe (22) Le Mans (Sparks)
• 1966 Porsche 906/6L, Klass/Stommelen (58) Le Mans (Spark)
• 1977 Porsche 934/5, Schornstein/v.Tschimhaus (6) Nurgburgring 1000km (Spark)
• 1977 Porsche 936/77, Ickx/Haywood/Barth (4) winner Le Mans (Spark)
• 1962 Sunbeam Alpine, Hopkirk/Jopp (33) Le Mans (Spark)
• 1984 Porsche 953, Metge/Lemoyne (176) 1st Dakar Rally (Spark)

American Racing

• 1967 Ford GT40, Ickx/Thompson (11) Class winner Daytona 24 hr (IXO)
• 1985 March Cosworth 85C, D.Sullivan (5) 1st Indy 500 "Penske Racing" (Replicarz)
• 1968 Porsche 907 LH, J.Schlesser/J.Buzzetta (51) 3rd Daytona 24 hr (Spark)
• 1973 Porsche RSR 2.8 Long tail, Gregg/Holbert/Donohue Watkins Glen Can Am (Spark)
• 1973 Porsche 911 Carrera RSR, P.Gregg/H.Haywood (59) 1st Daytona 24h (Spark)
• 1974 Porsche 911 Carrera RSR, P.Gregg (59) Trans Am Champion (Spark)

Road Cars

• 1952 Bentley MkVI in metallic green (Spark)
• 1977 Bentley T2 salon in metallic green/matt white (Neo)
• 1949 Buick Roadmaster Riviera in calvert blue (TSM)
• 1955 Chrysler Ghia Falcon (concept) in dark blue (BoS)
• 1960 Chrysler 300F in black (Neo)
• 1960 Chrysler Dual Ghia L6.4 in light yellow (Neo)
• 1966 Dodge Dart in metallic purple (White Box)
• 1958 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa in red (IXO)
• 1938 Ford Eifel in black/white (Neo)
• 1951 Kaiser Henry J in red (Neo)
• 2007 Nissan Skyline GT-R in metallic red (Ebbro)
• 1970 Opel Commodore A Coupe GS in metallic blue/black (Whitebox)
• 1962 Porsche 356 Carrera 2 (Cabrio) in silver (Spark)
• Porsche 959 Sport in white (Spark)
• 2016 Porsche 911 (991)GT3 RS in ultraviolet (Spark)
• 1959 Triumph Herald in dark brown (PremiumX)
• 1954 US Dream Car in bronze (Neo)
• 1972 Volvo P1800 ES in metallic light blue (Whitebox)

After thoughts: Continuing with the theme from the previous months of celebrating significant anniversaries, 2016 sees the 50th anniversary of the first running of the 24 hours of Daytona. This first "twice around the clock" race for sports cars was held on 5th February 1966 and was won by Ken Miles and Lloyd Ruby driving a Ford GT40 Mk2 (incidentally, the first ever win for the GT40 was at Daytona in 1965 in the 1240 mile race also driven by Miles). The 24 hour race is held at the Daytona International Speedway in Florida, on a tri-oval track which was built in 1959 for the NASCAR Daytona 500 race. The sports car race, however is run on a 3.56 mile (5.73 km) combined road course which incorporates sections of the tri-oval and an in-field road section.

The Daytona race is also one leg of the informal "Triple crown of endurance racing", the other two being the Sebring 12 hour and the Le Mans 24 hour races. These 3 races are considered the most challenging endurance races of all time. The triple crown has been achieved by a number of drivers but none have won all three in the same year (although Ken Miles came heartbreakingly close in 1966).

Sports car racing has been held at Daytona since 1959 but were shorter in duration (three hours, six hours and 1240 miles) before being extended to 24 hours in 1966. In 1972 the race was shortened to 6 hours due to the energy crisis and was cancelled in 1974 for the same reason. Up to 1982 the race had been part of the World Sportscar Championship but was dropped to save travelling costs for the European teams. It then became part of the IMSA GT Championship up to 1998 when it became part of the US Road Racing Championship and later the Rolex Sports Car Series.

Porsche has the best winning record at Daytona with 18 victories followed by US race car manufacturer Riley with 10 wins and then Ferrari with 5. To date, no Australian has won the 24 hours of Daytona but three New Zealanders have been successful; Chris Amon (1967), Steve Millen (1994) and Scott Dixon (2006, 2015).

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New Additions: June 2016

Welcome to the June update; as with the previous two updates, this month sees the addition of a host of road cars and just a relatively small number of race cars. The most interesting F1 car this month is the Amon Ford that Larry Perkins tried unsuccessfully to qualify for the 1974 German GP. This was Perkin's first Formula 1 appearance in a spasmodic F1 career that spanned 3 years in which he failed to qualify 4 times, retired 6 times and classified out of the points 5 times.

It's almost 50 years ago to the day that Ford celebrated a famous and controversial victory at Le Mans with Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon crossing the finish line side by side with their sister GT40 car. Ford's quest to vanquish Ferrari at Le Mans had started several years earlier when the GT40 made it's race debut at the Nurburgring 1000km in 1964. Prior to this race two GT40 cars were sent to Le Mans in April for the official test weekend but the cars had an aggregate of only 4 hours running time with no high speed runs at all. The development program was seriously hampered after Jo Schlesser crashed his #9 GT40 at 160mph along Mulsanne Straight on the first day. The #10 GT40 test car driven by Roy Salvadori crashed the following day and this car has been faithfully modelled by Bizarre (without the crash damage).

With so many interesting road cars to choose from this month, I've decided to feature a couple that I hadn't heard of before. The first is the Brasinca 4200GT which was a GT class sports coupe made in Brazil between 1964 - 66. The car had a hand-built steel body powered by a 6 cylinder 4271cc Chevrolet engine and only 77 examples were ever built due to high production costs.

The second car is the Gutbrod Superior Coupe manufactured in Germany by the Gutbrod Motorenbau Company. About 7000 were produced between 1950 to 1954 and the small two seat car was powered by a 2 cylinder 2 stroke 600cc engine. Maximum speed was 90 kph. Model is by BoS.

There are two model car fairs on this month; the regular Friday night swap at Granville on 10 June and the Collectormania Fair at Hornsby on 26 June. Hope to see you there. Also a reminder of the BIG Collectormania Fair on 10 July. Until next month, happy collecting.

Formula One

• 1974 Amon Ford AF1, L.Perkins (30) Practice German GP (Spark)
• 1989 Ferrari 640/F189C, N.Mansell (27) Hungarian GP (Hot Wheels)
• 1986 Lotus Renault 98T, A.Senna (12) Senna Collection (Minichamps)
• 1977 McLaren Ford M26, J.Hunt (1) "Marlboro" (Eidai Grip)
• 2015 Red Bull Renault RB11, D.Ricciardo (3) (Minichamps)
• 1981 Theodore Ford TY01, P.Tambay (33) 6th Long Beach GP (Spark)

Le Mans

• 1964 Ford GT40, R.Salvadori (10) Le Mans test April (Bizarre)
• 1967 Ford GT40 Mk llB, F.Gardner/McCluskey (5) Le Mans DNF (IXO)
• 1952 Mercedes 300SL, Lang/Riess (21) Winner Le Mans  (Spark)
• 2015 Nissan GT-R LM Nismo, Pla/Mardenborough/Chilton (23) Le Mans (Spark)
• 2009 Peugeot 908 HDI FAP, Brabham/Gene/Wurz (9) winner Le Mans (IXO)
• 1951 Porsche 356 SL, Veuillet/Mouche (46) Le Mans (Museum Model) (Welly)
• 1977 Porsche 935, Schenken/Hezemans/Heyer (38) Le Mans (Spark)
• 1984 Porsche 953, J.Ickx Dakar test (Spark)

Road Cars

• 1967 Alfa Romeo 2600 SZ in red (Neo)
• 1961 Austin A60 Cambridge Traveller in dark red/white roof (Neo)
• 1939 Bentley Embiricos in dark blue (Minichamps)
• 1939 Berliet 11CV Dauphine in red (White Box)
• 1965 Brasinca 4200 GT in red (White Box)
• 1953 Bristol 404 in light metallic green (Neo)
• 1936 Buick Special in dark red (White Box)
• 1957 Buick Roadmaster convertible in light blue/white (Neo)
• 1933 Cadillac Fleetwood Phaeton in dark blue (Neo)
• 1954 Chevrolet Corvette Corvair concept car in metallic red (BoS)
• 1959 Chevrolet Corvette C1 in black/white (Neo)
• 1958 Chevrolet Bel Air Impala 2-door hard top coupe in black (Neo)
• 1952 Chrysler SS in metallic blue (BoS)
• 1974 Citroen SM Opera Henri Chapron car in metallic gold/light brown (BoS)
• 1978 De Tomaso Deauville in metallic grey (Neo)
• 1959 Dodge Royal Lancer convertible in red/white (Neo)
• 1960 Ford Thunderbird convertible in red (Neo)
• Falcon XW Ph 1 GTHO in surfer orange (Classic Carlectables)
• 1965 Ford Mustang in metallic light green (White Box)
• 1966 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 in white/blue stripes (Spark)
• 1953 Gutbrod Superior Coupe in blue (BoS)
• 1949 Hotchkiss 686 GS in black/light blue (White Box)
• 1954 Jaguar MK VII in dark red/black (White Box)
• 1962 Osca 1600GT Zagato in red (Neo)
• 1965 Pontiac Bonneville in metallic light blue (Neo)
• 1973 Pontiac Grand Am 2-Door in dark red/matte white (Neo)
• 1935 Rolls Royce Phantom 1 Jonckheere Aerodynamic Coupe in black (BoS)
• 1951 Rometsch Beeskow Coupe in blue (Neo)
• 1948 Porsche 356 No.1 in silver (Welly)
• 1965 Porsche 356C cabrio in slate grey (Minichamps)
• 1987 Porsche 928 H50 Concept in metallic dark red (BoS)
• 1990 Porsche 911 (964) Targa in white (Spark)
• 2010 Porsche 911 GT2 RS in white/carbon (Minichamps)
• 1953 Studebaker Champion in dark red/light ivory (Spark)
• 1969 Triumph Vitesse Mk 2 in red (Neo)
• 1973 Triumph Dolomite Sprint in white/matt black (Spark)
• 1974 VW Karmann Ghia Coupe in metallic light blue (Neo)

After thoughts:  Last month I mentioned 2016 marked the 100th running of the Indy 500 but this year also celebrates another significant milestone; the 50th anniversary of the creation of the Can-Am series. The Canadian-American Challenge Cup (Can-Am) was run under the FIA Group 7 rules and the cars were defined as "two-seater competition vehicles built exclusively for speed races on closed circuits". Group 7 rules allowed teams great freedom but there were a few basic requirements ... the cars had to have fenders, a windscreen, two seats, two doors, head and tail lights, a roll bar and use commerical gasolene. Aside from these, there was no limitation on engines, tyres, aerodynamics and no minimum build quantities. The first Can-Am race, the Player's 200  was held on 11 September 1966 at the Circuit Mont-Tremblant (also known as St. Jovite) in Canada and was won by John Surtees driving a Lola T70 Mk2-Chevrolet. The first season of Can-Am consisted of 6 races (2 Canadian and 4 American) and was dominated by the Lola T70 (5 wins) with Surtees winning 3 races and the inaugural Challenge Cup.

The next 4 years from 1967 to 1970 became known as "The Bruce and Denny Show" due to the utter dominance of the works McLaren cars. The NZ drivers Bruce McLaren and Denny Hulme each won 2 championships and together won 26 out of 33 races during this 4 year period. Tragically Bruce McLaren lost his life in 1970 while testing his M8D Can-Am car. The works McLaren driver Peter Revson won the championship in 1971 before the Porsche 917 took over as the unbeatable marque. The racing in Can-Am was rarely close as one marque usually dominated but the spectators just loved the sound, the speed and the spectacle of these technologically advanced cars. Can-Am cars were among the first cars to sport wings, to adopt ground effects aerodynamics and to incorporate areospace materials like titanium. The high development costs of these cars ultimately led to their downfall.

The 1974 season was the ninth and final season of the "original" Can-Am racing series. The series was cancelled after the 5th race due to the energy crisis and the spiralling cost of developing a competitive car. The Can-Am series was revived in 1977 but was a fundamentally different series based on converted Formula 5000 cars with closed wheel bodies. This 2nd generation Can-Am series gradually faded in popularity as IMSA and C.A.R.T. racing gained in prominence and eventually the series ceased for good at the end of the 1987 season.

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New Additions: May 2016

Welcome to another monthly update. Having just come back from the Porsche Rennsport event held at the Sydney Motorsport Park this weekend I feel inspired to feature a few new Porsche models that have recently arrived. First is the Porsche 911 Club Sport which is a special Porsche museum workshop edition by Provence Moulage. The Club Sport model built in the 1980's was a stripped down version of the standard Carrera and with engine and suspension modifications, was purposely built for club racing.

The second featured Porsche is the 934 driven by Bob Wolleck to first place in the 200 mile Norisring DRM race in 1976. This car was run by the Valliant Kremer Team in their distinctive green and orange livery.  The 934 was introduced for the 1976 racing season and at least 400 were manufactured from 1976 -77.  This model is from Minichamps.

While on the subject of Minichamps, they have just released a few interesting F1 models. Minichamps seem to have been over shadowed by Spark recently so it's good to see some new models from this manufacturer. It has been a while since a Michael Schumacher 1994 Benetton B194 has been released and never one from the Monaco GP.  1994 was the year of Schumacher's first world championship, albeit in controversial circumstances and this particular model comes with the extended rear wing used at high down force street circuits.

The other F1 model of interest is the 1972 McLaren Ford M19 driven by Jody Scheckter at the US GP.  This was Scheckter's first ever GP race where he finished a creditable 9th place having been lapped by the winner, Jackie Stewart.  McLaren gained the sponsorship of Yardley, the cosmetic and perfume company in 1972 and the cars were painted white with only the side fuel tanks continuing to be painted in the traditional McLaren orange.

Well, that's it for another month but just a reminder of the Granville swap meet on 13th May. I hope to see you there, until then happy collecting.

Formula One

• 1979 Alfa Romeo 177, B.Giacomelli (35) Belgium GP (Spark)
• 1994 Benetton Ford B194, M.Schumacher (5) 1st Monaco GP (Minichamps)
• 1973 Brabham Ford BT42, C.Reutemann (10) 3rd US GP (Spark)
• 1967 BRM P261, J.Stewart (4) Monaco GP (Spark)
• 1972 Lotus Ford 72D, E.Fittipaldi (5) "JPS" 1st Spanish GP (Spark)
• 1972 McLaren Ford M19, J.Scheckter (21) 'Yardley' USA GP Ed.43 No.152 (Minichamps)
• 1989 McLaren Honda MP4/5, A.Prost (2) 1st British GP (TSM)

American Racing

• 1968 Eagle Ford MK4, D.Hulme (42) 4th Indy 500 (Spark)
• 1969 Mercury Cyclone, D.Gurney (121) Riverside 500 (Spark)
• 1989 Nissan GTP ZXT, G.Brabham/Robinson/Luyendyk (83) 1st Sebring 12h (Spark)
• 1976 Porsche 935/76, Stommelen/Schurti (4) Winner Watkin Glen (Minichamps)

Le Mans / Rally Cars

• 1967 Alfa Romeo 33.2 Fleron, Rolland/De Adamich (170) Targa Florio (M4)
• 1937 Bugatti Type 57G, Wimille/Benoist (2) Le Mans winner (Spark)
• 1949 Cisitalia 202 SC Coupe, Tattoni/Gialluca (448) Mille Miglia (Starline)
• 1976 Porsche 934, B.Wollek (6) 1st DRM 200mi Norisring "Vaillant" (Minichamps)
• 1970 Porsche 911 S, W.Rohrl (7) Rally Bavaria Rohrl Collection (IXO)
• 1999 Subaru Impreza WRC, Burns/Reid (5) Rally Finland (HPI Racing)
• 1999 Subaru Impreza WRC, Kankkunen/Repo (6) Rally Finland (HPI Racing)

ATCC Cars

• 1985 BMW 635 (E24) CSi, J.Richards (62) "JPS" ATCC Champion (Spark)

Road Cars

• 1930 Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 GS in white (Minichamps)
• 1956 Alfa Romeo 1900CSS in red (Neo)
• 1964 Alfa Romeo Canguro in red (BoS)
• 1985 Alfa Romeo 6 2500i in metallic dark red (Neo)
• 1978 Alpina B7 Turbo (E12) in red (Spark)
• 1981 Alpina B7 S Turbo (E12) in metallic dark blue (Spark)
• 1933 Auburn Boat Tail Roadster in red (Whitebox)
• 1951 Bentley MkVI Cresta II in metallic light blue (BoS)
• 1957 Beutler Porsche Coupe in light red (Neo)
• 1959 BMW 3200 Michelotti Vignale in red (BoS)
• 1957 Borgward Isabella Coupe in red/cream (Whitebox)
• 1965 Chevrolet Corvair Corsa in red (BoS)
• 1946 DeSoto 6 Suburban in red/white (Whitebox)
• 1958 Facel Vega in metallic dark red (Whitebox)
• 1976 Ford Taunus TC2 S in white (Neo)
• 1983 Ford RS 200 in white (Whitebox)
• 1954 Glockler Porsche 356 Coupe in silver (BoS)
• 1964 Gordon-Keeble GK1 in dark red (BoS)
• 1993 McLaren F1 GTR in metallic blue (Minichamps)
• 2001 Mercedes SL-Class Convertible in obsidian black (dealer box) (Minichamps)
• 1986 Porsche 930 Turbo SE Flatnose in metallic dark blue (Neo)
• 1993 Porsche 964 Speedster in silver (Spark)
• 2001 Porsche 911 (996) Coupe in coral metallic (Minichamps)
• Porsche 911 Club Sport in white, spec edition by Porsche (Prov. Moulage)
• 2009 Porsche 911 (997) GT3 RSR Promotional version in white/black (Minichamps)
• 2011 Porsche 911 (997II) GT3 R Presentation version by Porsche (Minichamps)
• Porsche GTStreet RS (GT2) TechArt GTStreet RS in white (Spark model)
• Porsche GTStreet 911 (977 II) Tech Art road car in green/flat black (Neo model)
• 1955 Talbot Lago 2500 Coupe in red (Whitebox)

After thoughts: The month of May sees the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500 motor race. Although the first race was held in 1911 there were several years during the World Wars that the event was not held so 2016 will be the 100th race. It therefore seems appropriate to reflect on some of the more interesting stories from the last 100 years of this iconic American event.

• Of the 23 car marques that raced in the inaugural 500-mile race, only Buick, Fiat and Mercedes survive today. Those that no longer exist include Marmon,Simplex, Alco, Jackson and National.
• In 1913 Frenchman Jules Goux quaffed champagne during his six pitstops, thus refreshed he dominated the race in his Peugeot with an average speed of 75.9 mph. He was the first European winner and the first to go 500 miles without a relief driver. In 1914 alcohol consumption was banned whilst racing.
• World War 1 kept the European entries away and in 1916 with the grid down to 21 cars (smallest ever), the race distance was shortened to 300 miles; so for the purists 2016 is actually the 99th running of the 500 mile race.
• In 1936 Louis Meyer won his 3rd Indy 500 and established the tradition of drinking milk in the winner's circle.
• The only six-wheeled car ever to race at Indy was a modified Kurtis-Offy roadster in 1948 and again in '49. The car qualified 20th and finished 12th in its first race.
• Tony Hulman acquired the dilapidated Speedway in 1945 and turned it into a world class facility. He made "Gentlemen, start your engines" the preface to all Indy 500 events.
• In 1952 Ferrari made its first and only appearance at Indy with Alberto Ascari qualifying 19th but crashing out on lap 41 after a wheel hub broke.
• Jack Brabham, in 1961 showed the shape of Indy cars to come by driving his mid-engined Cooper-Climax to 9th place in a field full of Offy-powered roadsters.
• The 1967 race is remembered for Andy Granatelli's Pratt & Whitney turbine powered four-wheel drive car. Parnelli Jones qualified 6th and led the race until lap 196 when the gearbox failed. Granatelli entered 3 Lotus turbines in 1968 with Joe Leonard leading late race until the fuel system failed while Graham Hill crashed on lap 110. In 1969 turbines were banned.
• Janet Guthrie became the first woman to race at Indy in 1977. Mechanical issues put her out after 27 laps. In 2005 Danica Patrick became the first woman to lead the 500 and finished in 4th.

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New Additions: April 2016

Welcome to the April update. Firstly thank you to all who dropped by my stand at the Collectormania Fair last month and I hope you enjoyed the day. By the way, the next Collectormania Fair is on 10th July so mark it on your calendar. There will be only one swap meet this month; the regular Granvillle Fair on the 8th. Racing cars are a bit light on this month so April's featured cars are all road going vehicles, starting with the quirky Fuldamobil S7, a mirco car made in Germany in 1957. The shape of this two-seater, three-wheeler was believed to have inspired the term "bubble" car. The single rear wheel was driven by a number of engines ranging from 200 - 350cc and was built under licence in a number of countries including the UK, India, Greece and Chile. This model is made by BoS (Best of Show).

Another BoS model of interest is the Studebaker Champion which was redsigned in 1947. This 3rd generation Champion was given a new wraparound "greenhouse" rear window and in 1950 was given its own trim line called Starlight Coupe. The spinner grille was also introduced In 1950.

Finally I must finish on a cautionary note; I've been receiving emails sent from myself (i.e. from info@f1scalemodels.com) with no text and a zip file attached which most certainly contains a malicious virus.  Please DO NOT open the zip file!!!! I will never send out unsolicited emails; I only respond to your legitimate inquires. Well that wraps it up for another month so happy collecting.

Formula One

• 1967 BRM P83, J.Stewart (14) 2nd Belgium GP (Spark)
• 1982 Theodore Ford TY01, D.Daly (33) South African GP (Spark)
• 1987 Lotus Honda 99T, A.Senna (12) Monaco GP winner (Reve Collection)

American Racing

• 1970 Plymouth Superbird, P.Hamilton (40) Daytona 500 winner (Spark)
• 1953 Porsche 356, M.Lippmann (162) Carrera Panamericana IV (TSM)
• 2009 Porsche 928 SC, Fausett (928) Pikes Peak fastest 2WD (TSM)

ATCC

• 1973 Falcon XY GTHO, A.Moffat (9) ATCC winner (AUTOart)
• 1992 Nissan Skyline GT-R R32, Skaife/Richards Bathurst winner (1)  (ApexReplicas)

Le Mans / GT Racing

• 1983 BMW 635 (E24) CSi, Tassin/Hahne/Heyer (21) 1st Spa 24 hour (Spark)
• 1947 Cisitalia 202 Spyder, Nuvolari/Carena (179) Mille Miglia (2nd) (Starline)
• 1965 Ford GT40 Mk ll, K.Miles/L.Ruby (73) Winner Daytona (1200 miles) (Spark)
• 1961 Ferrari 250 TR61, Gendebien/P.Hill (10) 1st LM [Partworks Ferrari Collection]
• 1967 Porsche 911S, Cahier/Killy (46) 7th (class winner) Targa Florio (Spark)
• 2015 Rebellion R-One AER, Imperatori/Kraihamer/Abt (13) Le Mans (Spark)

Road Cars

• 1959 AC Greyhound in metallic grey (Neo)
• 1937 Adler 2.5L Autobahn in light blue (Neo)
• 1947 Alfa Romeo 6C Freccia d'Oro in silver (Minichamps)
• 1959 Austin Healey Sprite Mk1 in dark red (Whitebox)
• 1989 Bentley Turbo R LWB in black (Spark)
• 1974 Buick Le Sabre in white (Neo)
• 1957 Cadillac Series 62 Coupe in metallic blue (Neo)
• 1936 Chrysler Airflow in black (Whitebox)
• 1973 Dodge Dart Swinger in light blue/white (Neo)
• 1948 Ferrari 166M in red [Partworks Ferrari Collection]
• 1951 Ferrari 340MM in red [Partworks Ferrari Collection]
• 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO in red [Partworks Ferrari Collection]
• 1957 Fuldamobil S7 in white/orange (BoS)
• 1962 Iso Rivolta GT in metallic dark green (Neo)
• 1981 Mitsubishi Galant 2000 GLX (A160c) in metallic blue (Neo)
• 1976 Reliant Scimitar SE 6 in metallic blue (Neo)
• 1963 Rolls Royce Silver Cloud III in white (TSM)
• 1957 Porsche 356A Speedster in white (Spark)
• 1983 Porsche 959 in pearl white (Spark)
• 1986 Porsche 959 Sport in white (Spark)
• 1990 Porsche 911 Turbo in black (Minichamps)
• 2011 Porsche 911 Carrera S in white - Martini Racing Edition (Spark)
• 2015 Porsche 911 (991) Targa 4S in metallic light blue (Spark)
• 1951 Studebaker Champion Starlight coupe in red (BoS)
• 1954 Triumph TR2 Long Door in green (Spark)
• 1968 Triumph 2000 Mk1 2.5 PI in light mint/black roof (Neo)
• 1978 Volvo 244 GL in red (Whitebox)
• Volvo S40 in metallic dark green (Minichamps)
• Volvo S80 in metallic light grey (Minichamps)
• VW T2a Camper flatbed platform trailer Tischer Camper (Premium Classixx)

After thoughts:   Theodore Racing was one of those small, struggling teams that littered the Formula One landscape in the 1970's and 80's, making very little impression other than being the nursery for aspiring world champion drivers. Theodore Racing was formed in 1976 by Indonesian born, Dutch national, Hong Kong based businessman Teddy Yip (b.1907 - d. 2003).

Yip was an amateur racer before turning to sponsoring drivers with real talent; in 1974 he sponsored Vern Schuppan in Formula 5000 and then paid his drive with Ensign in F1. In 1976 Yip supported Alan Jones in the US Formula 5000 series and in the same year established his own F1 team using a March chassis powered by a Cosworth DFV engine. His drivers, Ronnie Petersen and Hans-Joachim Stuck raced in only one unsucessful GP that year. In 1977 Theodore Racing switched to an Ensign N177 chassis with Patrick Tambay assigned the driving duties and scoring 5 championship points. After a troubled season with the Ensign, Yip commissioned Ron Tauranac to design the Theodore TR1 for 1978 but it was a terrible car and Eddie Cheever failed to qualify the car; by mid-season the TR1 was dumped in favour of a Wolf chassis but replacement driver, Keke Rosberg only managed a tenth place finish.

In 1979 Yip withdrew his team from F1 and instead funded the Ensign outfit but the car was not successful. Then in 1980 Yip bought the Shadow team but the results of the team were poor and at the end of the year, Yip decided to shut down the Shadow operation to concentrate his resources on returning to F1 with Theodore Racing in 1981. Yip then recruited designer Tony Southgate to produce the Theodore TY01 and Patrick Tambay to drive it. In Tambay's first race with the TY01 he finshed 6th, scoring the team's first and only constructor's point for 1981. At mid-season Tambay defected to Ligier and was replaced by Swiss driver Marc Surer who failed to finish in the points. The TY01 was further developed in 1982 but scored no points for their drivers who included Derek Daly and Jan Lammers. In 1983 Yip merged his Theodore operation with Mo Nunn's Ensign team and the Ensign N183 became the Theodore N183 with drivers Johnny Cecotto and Roberto Guerrero. Cecotto scored the teams' second ever constuctors point coming 6th in the USGP. However at the end of the season Teddy Yip decided small teams such as his, didn't have a future in the new turbo era and he closed down the F1 Theodore Racing team for good.

Although the F1 team closed down in 1983, Theodore Racing continued racing at the Macau GP until the late 1980's fielding F3 cars for such drivers as Aryton Senna and Stefan Johannson. Teddy Yip also funded many Indy Car teams between 1977 - 83 and in 1981 entered the Indy 500 with his own Theodore Racing McLaren M24 with Vern Schuppan finishing a fine 3rd. There is one thing for certain, F1 will never see the likes of Teddy Yip again; a true motorsport enthusiast who was willing to support drivers and teams financially.

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New Additions: March 2016

 It doesn't seem possible but it's already March!! Anyway, welcome to another monthly update. There are two events this month; the usual Friday swap at Granville on 11th March and the first 2016 Collectormania Toy and Hobby Fair at Penrith on 20th March. Although the Collectormania Fair is on the same day as the Australian F1 GP remember the race starts at 4:00pm so plenty of time to check out the models before the race starts (unfortunately I'll have to record it). Okay, so what are the highlights of the new models this month? I've always had a soft spot for race transporters and Neo have released an execellent model of the 1934 NAG-Bussing used by Auto Union. It comes with a wooden ramp and would look great with an Auto Union Type A race car being unloaded.

Bburago, who now has the Ferrari licence has just released the 43rd scale 2015 Ferrari SF15-T and I have to say it is terrible; it's passable as a toy but nothing else. If you collect Ferrari F1 cars, as I do, then the options are Looksmart, BBR or Tameo, with the cheapest one being the Looksmart versions. I have one of each driver in stock but the pricing may come as a shock if you are used to Mattel Hot Wheel prices!

It's taken a little while but the 2015 Le Mans winning Porsche has been released. The release is actually a Porsche Dealer release in a special Porsche box but the model is made by Spark. Under such arrangements Spark can only release their own version some months after the Porsche Dealer release so if you prefer the Spark packaging, then you'll have to wait just a little while longer. The 2nd placed Mark Webber car is also available.

There's a number of interesting road cars from Dutch model maker Neo this month, including this elegant 1982 Bentley Mulsanne in dark red. The name "Mulsanne" was derived from Bentley's famous history at Le Mans which included five victories between 1924 - 1930. The Mulsanne used a 6.75 L Rolls-Royce V8 engine and was produced from 1980 to 1987.

Well that's it for another month and I hope to see you at Granville and Penrith. Until then, happy collecting.

 Formula One

• 1979 Alfa Romeo 177, V.Brambilla (36) Italian GP (Spark)
• 1973 Brabham Ford BT42, W.Fittipaldi (11) Monaco GP (Spark)
• 2015 Ferrari SF15-T, S.Vettel (5) Malaysian GP winner (Looksmart)
• 2015 Ferrari SF15-T, K.Raikkonen (7) 2nd Bahrain GP (Looksmart)
• 2013 Force India Merc VJM06, P.di Resta (14) (Minichamps)
• 1977 Ligier Matra JS7, J.P. Jarier (27) Japanese GP (Spark)
• 1969 Lotus Ford 59B, J,Rindt (4) F2 1st Pau GP (Spark)
• 1977 Shadow Ford DN8, J.P.Jarier (16) USA GP East (Spark)
• 1934 NAG-Bussing, Auto Union Renndienst (Race Transporter) (Neo)

American Racing

• 1972 Chevrolet Corvette L88, Heinz/Johnson (57) 4th Sebring 12 hour (TSM)
• 2013 Norma M20FC, R.Dumas (911) Pikes Peak (Spark)
• 2014 Norma M20RD Honda, R.Dumas (30) Pikes Peak winner (Spark)
• 2012 Porsche 911 (997) GT3 R, R.Dumas (47) 2nd overall, 1st open cat. Pikes Peak (Spark)

Le Mans / GT Racing

• 2011 Audi R8 LMS GT3, O'Young/Basseng/Mies (8A) 1st Bathurst 12 hr (Spark)
• 2011 Audi R8 LMS GT3, Eddy/Lowndes/Luff (7A) 2nd place Bathurst 12 hour (Spark)
• 2012 Audi R8 LMS GT3, Mies/O'Young/Joens (1A) 1st Bathurst 12 hour (Spark)
• 2012 Audi R8 LMS GT3, Lowndes/Luff/Eddy (2A) Bathurst 12 hour (Spark)
• 1968 Ford GT40 Mk1, Hawkins/Hobbs (10) "John Wyer" DNF Le Mans (Spark)
• 1968 Ford GT40 Mk1, Oliver/Muir (11) "John Wyer" DNF Le Mans  (Spark)
• 1969 Ford GT40 Mk1, Hobbs/Hailwood (7) 3rd Le Mans (Spark)
• 2012 HPD ARX 03a Honda, D.Brabham/Chandhok/Dumbreck (22) 6th Le Mans (Spark)
• 1966 Lotus Type 30 S2, B.Muir (17) Silverstone "Team Willment" (Spark)
• 2005 Lotus Exige, P.Stokell/T.D.Ley (110) 300 Zhuhai FIA GT (Spark)
• 1977 Porsche 911 Carrera RS, Gouttepifre/Malbran/Leroux (61) 10th Le Mans (Spark)
• 2010 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, H.Hassid (24) Carrera Cup B-Champion France (Spark)
• 2015 Porsche 919 Hybrid, Webber/Hartley/Bernhard (17) 2nd Le Mans (Spark; Porsche box)
• 2015 Porsche 919 Hybrid, Hulkenberg/Bamber/Tandy (19) 1st Le Mans (Spark, Porsche box)
• 1992 Toyota TS010, Lees/Brabham/Katayama (7) Le Mans (Spark)

Road Cars

• 1971 Bentley Corniche FHC in metallic dark grey/black (Neo)
• 1982 Bentley Mulsanne in dark red (Neo)
• 1955 Bristol 405 Sports Saloon in metallic grey (Neo)
• 2013 Pagani Huayra in metallic turquoise (Spark)
• 1982 Peugeot 504 Coupe Ph2 in metallic dark red (Neo)
• 1977 Porsche 928 in metallic blue (Spark)
• 1993 Porsche 968 Turbo S in yellow (Spark)
• 1989 SAAB 9000 CDE in metallic dark red (Neo)
• 1983 Toyota Celica ST Mk3 in metallic dark red (Neo)
• 1994 Venturi 400GT in yellow (Spark)

After Thoughts:  The month of March always means one thing ... the start of another F1 season!  So now is the time to summarise some of the major changes to the new season which as usual, kicks off in Melbourne on 20th March:

• New team - 2016 sees an American team for the first time in 30 years; the Haas F1 team will be using a car designed by Dallara and powered by a 2015 spec Ferrari engine. The drivers will be Romain Grosjean and Esteban Gutierrez.
• New team names - the 2015 Lotus team will now be Renault Sport F1 after being purchased by the French automaker and will of course continue using Renault engines with development by Ilmor.  Drivers will be Kevin Magnussen and rookie Jolyon Palmer. The Manor Marussia squad will now be known just as Manor Racing MRT and will swap from Ferrari to Mercedes engines. The driver lineup will be rookies Pascal Wehrlein and Rio Haryanto (Indonesia's first F1 driver).
• Engine swaps - Manor will now use Mercedes instead of Ferrari engines. Toro Rosso has dumped Renault for Ferrari engines and most controversially Red Bull will use "Tag Heuer" engines which are bascially rebadged Renault engines.
• New races - The "European GP" returns to the calendar and will be held in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. The German GP returns after being dropped last year and will be held on the Hockenheim circuit. There will be 21 races this year making it the longest season in the sports  history.
• 2016 will again see the sons of three former F1 drivers competing; Max Verstappen, Nico Rosberg and Jolyon Palmer. Also Carlos Sainz Jr. is the son of a former World Rally Champion. The last time 3 sons of former drivers raced in the same season occurred in 2009 and 2008 with Nico Rosberg, Kazuki Nakajima and Nelson Piquet Jr and also in 2007 with Rosberg, Nakajima and Markus Winkelhock. I wonder if there has ever been more than 3 in the same season?
• Louder cars - twin exhaust pipes instead of a single pipe will make the cars much louder.
• New qualifying format - a bit complicated to explain but essentially slowest cars are knocked out after a pre-determined time has elapsed until only the two fastest cars remain. Then it's a shoot out between these two for pole.

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New Additions: February 2016

Welcome to my February update; I'm guessing you're all now back at work after the summer holidays and looking forward to resuming your collecting passion. The manufacturers have been relatively quiet over the new year period but still managed to release a few desirable models. Also over this period I've been sifting through some of their older offerings to add to my stocklists which I hope you'll find interesting as well.

Probably the highlight of the new releases is from Minichamps who released not one, but three versions of James Hunt's 1976 McLaren Ford M23. The first version is the highly collectable World Champions Collection with the high box and cardboard sleeve which depicts the Canadian GP winning car. The other two are the Dutch GP and Japanese GP versions. All three have removable bodywork and the Japanese GP version has rain tyres (of course) and some rain deflector plates near the radiators. The other two versions are almost identical (slick tyres) except for some minor differences in decal positionings. It's a pity I don't have any '76 Lauda Ferrari 312T's in stock as they'd look great together.

Minichamps have also released Fernando Alonso's 2005 Renault R25 in the World Champions Collection series. Not to be out done, Spark have released a couple of Audi R8 LMS Ultra's from the 2015 Bathurst 12 hour just in time to coincide with the 2016 race on 7 February. Both Bathurst cars are special releases from Audi. The most impressive of the two is the Baumgartner car with its colourful, eye catching crocodile livery which was inspired by the similar livery of the Audi R8 that appeared in the Adelaide ALMS race in 2000.

The most interesting road car this month has to be the Monica 560 V8, which was unveiled in 1972 and went into production the following year. Monica was a brand of luxury cars created in France by industrialist Jean Tastevin whose wife's name was Monica. Only eight production cars were completed before the company fell victim to the 1973 oil crisis and the factory closed its doors permanently in 1974.

Just one swap meet this month at Granville on 12th February (there's also the Sydney Sci-Fi/Pop Culture Fair on 21st February which I won't be attending). I hope to see you at Granville, in the meantime, happy collecting.

Formula One

• 1977 Brabham Alfa BT45B, J.Watson (7) "Martini Racing" (Minichamps)
• 1966 BRM P83, G.Hill (3) US GP (Spark)
• 1966 Cooper T81 Maserati, J.Bonnier (22) 6th Mexico GP (Spark)
• 2004 Ferrari F2004, M.Schumacher (1) (Hot Wheels)
• 1976 McLaren Ford M23, J.Hunt (11) World Champions Collection (Minichamps)
• 1976 McLaren Ford M23, J.Hunt (11) Japanese GP Ed.43 No.133 (Minichamps)
• 1976 McLaren Ford M23, J.Hunt (11) Dutch GP Ed.43 No.134 (Minichamps)
• 1983 McLaren Ford MP4/1C, J.Watson (7) 1st US GP West Ed.43 No.139 (Minichamps)
• 1998 McLaren Merc MP4/13, M.Hakkinen (8) Ed.43 No.25 (Minichamps)
• 2005 Renault R25, F.Alonso (5) World Champions Collection (Minichamps)
• 1981 Theodore Ford TY01, M.Surer (33) Dutch GP (Spark)
• 1979 Honda TN360, "JPS" Team Lotus truck with Ford engine (Spark)

American Racing

• 1967 Lotus Ford 42F, G.Hill (81) Indy 500 (Spark)
• 1965 Ferrari 275 P2, O'Brien/Richards (32) Sebring
• 1963 Ford Galaxie, D.Gurney (0) 5th Daytona 500 (Spark)
• 1968 Ford Mustang, Titus/Bucknum (1) 4th Daytona 24h (Spark)
• 1954 VW Beetle, J.Wiers/R.Wiers (262) Carrera Panamericana 80th

Le Mans / GT / Rally

• 2015 Audi R8 LMS Ultra, Mapelli/Vanthoor/Winkelhock (15A) 2nd Bathurst 12hr (Spark)
• 2015 Audi R8 LMS Ultra, Baumgartner/Haase/Ortelli (16A) Bathurst 12hr (Spark)
• 2011 Ferrari P4/5 Competizione, Salo/Larini/Cappellari/Giovanardi Nurburgring 24h (Spark)
• 2015 Porsche 911 (991) GT3 Cup, C.Baird (12) Carrera Cup Asia (Spark)
• 1987 Toyota Supra 3.0 Gr.A, Toyota Team Europe Presentation car (Bizarre)

ATCC

• 1974 Falcon XA GT, J.Goss/K.Bartlett (5) "McLeod Ford" 1st Bathurst (AUTOart)

Road Cars

• 1966 Austin Cambridge Traveller (RHD) in light yellow/white roof (Neo)
• 1959 Austin Healey 3000 convertible in Farina Grey/Ivory (Vitesse)
• 1924 Bugatti Type 35B in blue (White Box)
• 1960 Chrysler Dual Ghia 1.6.4 Hard top coupe in metallic dark red (Neo)
• 1979 Datsun Bluebird (U910) in metallic blue (Neo)
• 1973 Ford Landau Coupe Modified in black (ARMCO)
• 1981 Ford Escort Mk3 XR3 in prairie yellow (Vitesse)
• 2008 Lamborghini Estoque concept car in metallic grey (White Box)
• 1960 Maserati 5000 GT Allemano in white (Neo)
• Mercedes 220Sb (W111), Stevens/Tincknell "Bush Bash" yellow (Spec Ed) (IXO)
• 1971 Mercury Cougar Mk2 in red/black (American Excellence/Neo)
• 1974 Monica 560 V8 in metallic dark blue (White Box)
• 1949 Rover P4 75 (RHD) in light turquois (Neo)
• 1972 Skoda 110R Coupe in green (Neo)
• 1961 Volvo P1800 Jensen in metallic dark anthrazit (Neo)

After Thoughts: Last month I briefly mentioned the sad passing of Guy Ligier so I thought this would be an opportune time to celebrate his achievements as a race driver and F1 team owner. Born on 12 July 1930, Guy Ligier made his name playing rugby for the national team in the late 1940's. After his rugby career ended he started to race motorcycles and with his prize money he bought a bulldozer to start a business in the construction industry where he quickly learnt the importance of close political friends. At its height, his construction business employed over 1200 people and owned 500 earth-moving machines building motorways, bridges and dams around the country. Much of his success could be attributed to his friendship with Francois Mitterand who later became the French President.

Ligier was already a wealthy man when he started motor racing in 1957 with a Simca 1300. In 1964 he bought a Formula 2 car to compete at the top level and later, he purchased a Cooper-Maserati  followed by a Brabham-Repco to compete in F1 as a privateer for the '66 and '67 seasons. In all, he started in 12 Grand Prix races with a best finish of 6th in the 1967 German GP. In 1968 Ligier decided to form a partnership with Jo Schlesser (uncle of Jean-Louis Schlesser, he who famously punted Senna out of the 1988 Italian GP) and they bought a pair of McLaren Formula 2 cars. Unfortunately Schlesser was killed in his debut F1 race driving a Honda and Ligier decided to quit racing and build racing cars instead. Ligier began with building production sportscars and his first car was the Ligier JS1 (the JS designation was a tribute to Schlesser and would appear on all Ligier cars). The JS1 made its Le Mans debut in 1970 driven by Ligier and Andruet but failed to finish, however in 1975, a JS2 finished 2nd outright just one lap behind the winner.

In 1974 Ligier acquired the assets of Matra Sports which allowed him to form his own F1 team, Equipe Ligier, with driver Jacques Laffite and designer Gerard Ducarouge. In 1976, their first season in F1, the Matra powered Ligier JS5 scored 20 points which included one 2nd and two 3rd placings for Laffite. During the early 1980's Ligier was one of the top teams with a best finish of 2nd in the Constructors Championship in 1980. Ligier used his political connections to obtain sponsorship from national companies such as Gitanes, LOTO and Elf and it was also known that political pressure was put on Renault to supply Ligier with engines.  Realising the political scene was changing in France, Guy Ligier decided to sell his team in 1992 to businessman Cyril de Rouvre, the former owner of the AGS F1 team. The Ligier team was eventually sold to Alain Prost in 1997. During the 20 seasons in F1, the Ligier team scored 9 race victories and 50 podiums.

With the money he received from the sale of his F1 team, Ligier invested it in a new business selling natural fertilisers and made yet another fortune. Guy Ligier continued his involvement in the automobile industry, building a series of microcars and later a range of small sports protoypes designed for gentlemen racers. Ligier died on 23 August 2015, aged 85.

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New Additions: January 2016

Welcome to the first update for 2016 and I hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable break. I've updated the swap meet page with confirmed dates but at this early stage, there are many events that still need dates to be announced. However, all the Sydney Model Auto Club's swap meets at Granville are confirmed with the first one on 8th January. This month's "new additions" sees quite a few F1 cars ranging from a 1962 BRM to a 2015 Marussia and I've featured a couple that caught my eye.

By 1994 Team Lotus was well past its zenith and in fact, almost at its use-by-date. The team which Colin Chapman established in the early 1950's would fold by the end of the year. Lotus, already in financial strife at the start of the '94 season gambled on the Mugen-Honda engine for the 109 chassis but despite the efforts of some talented drivers such as Zanardi, Herbert and Salo, the team failed to score a point. Tenth place for Salo at the Japanese GP was scant reward for such an illustrious team.

 Rene Arnoux's F1 career was coming to a close by 1986 when he joined the Ligier Renault team after an "amiciable" departure from Ferrari at the beginning of the previous season. His first of 4 seasons with Ligier was his best, scoring 14 points which included three 4th placings. In contrast, his final three years with Ligier yielded a total of 3 points. Arnoux retired from F1 at the end of 1989 with 7 wins to his credit. It would be very remiss of me not to mention the passing of Guy Ligier (1930 - 2015) last year at the age of 85; he was truly a giant of F1 motor racing.

Over the holiday period I was able to complete part 1 of my review of my visit to the National Automobile Museum of Turin, Italy in 2014. This can be found through the Motorsport Gallery link. I hope you find it interesting and stay tuned for part 2. I also visited the Ferrari museums at Modena and Marenello and I can't wait to show the photos that were taken. One final note, I'll be having a mini sale at the January Granville swap meet where I've reduced a few models to below cost as I need to reduce my stock levels. Well that's it for my first update of the new year; I hope everyone has a fantastic 2016 and I hope to see you all at Granville. Until then happy collecting.

Formula One

• 1981 Alfa Romeo 179C, M.Andretti (22) 4th Long Beach GP (Spark)
• 2009 Brawn Mercedes BGP001, R.Barrichello (23) Australian GP (Minichamps)
• 2009 Brawn Mercedes BGP001, J.Button (22) race car (Minichamps)
• 2009 Brawn Mercedes BGP001, J.Button (22) Malaysian GP winner (Minichamps)
• 1962 BRM P57, G.Hill (17) Dutch GP winner (Spark)
• 1971 BRM P160, P.Rodriguez (8) 2nd Dutch GP (Spark)
• 1986 Ligier Renault JS27, R.Arnoux (25) 4th British GP (Spark)
• 1979 Lotus Ford 79, M.Andretti (1) 4th Long Beach GP (Spark)
• 1994 Lotus Mugen 109, M.Salo (11) 10th Japanese GP (Spark)
• 2015 Marussia Ferrari MR03B, R.Merhi (98) Spanish GP (Spark)
• 1980 McLaren Ford M29, J.Watson (7) Brazil GP (Spark)
• 2009 McLaren Merc MP4/24, L.Hamilton (1) race car (Minichamps)
• 2011 McLaren Merc MP4/26, L.Hamilton (3) race car Ed.43 No.116 (Minichamps)
• 2012 McLaren Merc MP4/27, J.Button (3) race car Ed.43 No.125 (Minichamps)
• 2001 Minardi Cosworth PS01, A.Yoong (20) "European" (Minichamps)
• 1979 Tyrrell Ford 009, D.Pironi (3) 3rd Belgium GP (Spark)
• 1981 Tyrrell Ford 010, M.Alboreto (4) San Marino GP (Spark)
• 1985 Williams Honda FW10, N.Mansell (5) 1st European GP Brands Hatch (Minichamps)

American Racing

• 1926 Miller 91, Frank Lockhart (15) Indy 500 winner (Replicarz)
• 1929 Miller 91, Ray Keech (2) Indy 500 winner (Replicarz)

Le Mans / Rally

• 1951 Bentley Corniche, Hay/Clarke (14) Le Mans (Spark)
• 1973 Porsche 911 RS 2.7, #103 Tour de France, Les Charlots/Le Grand Bazar (TSM)
• 1977 Porsche 935, Schenken/Hezemans/Heyer (38) Le Mans (Spark)
• 1981 Porsche 936/81, Mass/Schuppan/Haywood (12) "Jules" 12th Le Mans  (Spark)

Road Cars

• 1958 Aston Martin DB4 in red (Spark)
• 1959 Aston Martin DB4 GT in green (Spark)
• 1958 Chevrolet Bel Air Impala Hardtop in black (Neo)

After Thoughts:  Harry Arminius Miller (1875 - 1943) has been described as the greatest creative figure in the history of the American racing car.  After dropping out of school Miller found work in a bicycle shop where he combined a gasolene motor with a bicycle to produce one of America's earliest motorcycles. During the early 1900's Miller had been developing an original design for an improved carburettor and after patenting the design in 1909 his business career took off. Miller continued to develop and patent carburettor designs and by 1915 the Harry A. Miller Manufacturing Co. was the place to go for performance parts for cars, boats and planes. In the same year the first original Miller aircraft engine was commissioned. During the years up to 1920 Miller had developed an alloy which he called Alloyanum to build lightweight pistons; he was the first to fit front hydraulic brakes to a race car and was the first to incorporated a totally enclosed valve gear in a twin-cam engine. These were just a few of his many early achievements.

1920 began the decade in which Miller became the dominant American race car builder. In 1921 he designed and produced a 183 cu.in (3 litre) engine and a racing car in which to mount his engine. In 1922 a Miller 183 engine was installed in a Dusenberg and won the Indy 500 and with that victory, Miller became a figure of international importance. From this breakthrough, Miller almost overwhelmingly reigned supreme at Indy through the 1920's. Miller cars won 6 Indy 500's and from 1926 to 1929 between 70 - 85% of the Indy starting grid were Millers. In 1927 a Miller 91 rear drive set an international speed record of 164.84 mph, including a one-way speed of 171 mph. In 1930 a Miller 91 front drive achieved 180.9 mph and many other international speed records were set.

In 1929, just weeks before the stockmarket crash, Miller retired from his business and he had enough to live a luxurious life but still full of energy and new ideas floating around in his head, he set up another company in 1930. But times were different during the depression years and Miller was bankrupt within three years. Before his company's demise, Miller was developing a twin cam 4 valve 220 cu in (3.6 litre) engine and when his company's assets were sold at auction it was Miller's long-time chief machinist, a man by the name of Fred Offenhauser who bought the engine design. Offenhauser continued to develop and refine the engine which became the indomitable "Offy", the most victorious racing engine of all time.

Even after bankruptcy, Harry Miller continued to build Indy cars including an ill-fated venture with Edsel Ford. The under-prepared Miller Fords all retired from the 1935 Indy 500.  A better engineer than businessman Miller was virtually penniless when he died in 1943.

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