1:20 SCALE WOLF WR1 RACING CAR FROM TAMIYA

SMN report

Racing car enthusiasts are well catered for with this neat built-up 1:20 scale black-and-gold Wolf WR1, a racing car that the South African Jody Scheckter drove to victory in the 1977 Argentina Grand Prix. Experts of the time reckoned it was something of a lucky first outing for the car - Scheckter started in 10th place, but had to pass only three cars, as the other six retired during the race. But lucky or not that first time, the Wolf-Scheckter combo proved a winner, with victories at two other F1 races in 1977, Scheckter coming second in the World Championship, going on to be outright champ in 1979.

BRAWN GP TRIUMPHANT PARADE THROUGH BRACKLEY

Jenson Button was testing tyres in Japan, so we didn't manage to see him yesterday. Even so, Brackley town centre came to a cheerful halt as just about every spare body in the town turned out to cheer on Team Principal Ross Brawn and CEO Nick Fry, plus three open-top buses loaded with smiling members of the Brawn GP race car team.

Strictly speaking this is not a ‘model fan’ video, but we thought you’d enjoy a look even so. Locals I spoke to all reckoned that Ross Brawn is a decent guy, and the team has certainly put this sleepyish market town on the map. After the speeches, the cameras went among the fans to peek at Ross signing some autographs.

Visit Brawn GP here.

Have a look at some F1 diecast models here.

And some Jenson Button stuff here.

JENSON BUTTON AND BRAWN FORMULA ONE TEAM CRUISE THEIR HOME TOWN

The Formula One world champions this year are UK driver Jenson Button and his Brawn GP race car team. Home town for this winning crew is the market town of Brackley, Northamptonshire, where Brawn’s gleaming new high-tech HQ has been rising during the last few months. And after lunch today, Brackley’s main street will host a homecoming parade and presentations from the town’s worthies to its local heroes. The event should be great fun, and if the weather’s good for the calvacade, we’ll be posting a video here ASAP.

However, Brackley is also home to a model fan or two, including ace designer David Bartlett, who has created some superb paper-engineering projects. Among them is a pair of classic F1 racing cars from the early 1990s, Michael Schumacher’s Benetton B192, and Nigel Mansell’s Williams FW14. These are big models - the Benetton is some 600 mm (23.6 in) long, while the Williams measures 450 mm (17.8 in). The FW14 is one that you could build yourself, for David has made it available as a downloadable pdf on his fascinating paper sculptures website.

The pictures above show:
1 Jenson Button powering to victory in his Brawn F1 car.
2 Benetton B192 paper sculpture.
3 Williams FW14 paper sculpture.

Visit David Bartlett’s paper sculptures here.

Visit Brawn GP here.

Have a look at a mouthwatering range of F1 diecast models here.

And there’s a 1:43 Minichamps diecast in the markings of Button’s teammate, Rubens Barichello here.

SUPERB ‘RED SHARK’ FERRARIS FROM CMC

Talking of Ferraris (see Puma video, 27 September) here’s a feast for the prancing horse aficionado. Marketed by manufacturer CMC as ‘The Red Sharks’ for their distinctive twin-nostril nose intake design, the three Ferrari Dino diecast models are simply mouthwatering. To 1:18 scale, they represent slightly differing versions of the Model 156 from 1961, depicting the cars of US driver Phil Hill (Numbers 2 and 4) and the German Wolfgang von Trips (Number 3). The models are produced in a (somewhat expansive) edition of 6000 each.

According to CMC, the replicas are hand-assembled from 1450 parts, with ‘hand laced’ spoke wheels. The detail is breathtaking, with engine, cables, pipes, cooling systems and more, produced in luscious detail. Definitely IWOOT replicas.

And even if you can’t stretch to a CMC model, do take a look at the luscious pdf catalogue, which reveals 76 pages of gorgeousness. It’s a big download (18 mb) but well worth it - and when you've got it on-screen, turn to page 54 to see SMN’s blue-and-silver retro-fave from the CMC list.

The pictures above show, top to bottom:
1 CMC pdf catalogue cover shows a 1:18 scale 1957 Maserati 250F.
2 Red Sharks promo material.
3 Phil Hill’s Ferrari Dino.

Click the ‘Catalog’ button at top right on the opening page here to download the CMC catalogue.

Visit Amazon here to buy one - they’re not cheap, but are fair-value for the quality workmanship involved.

ASTON-MARTIN TO RACE IN FORMULA 1

There’s winning news for Aston-Martin fans today - the company is planning to enter Formula One (F1) racing from 2012. It’s exciting too for SMN, as Aston-Martin is based at Gaydon, not too far from the SMN workbench, near Oxford, UK.

A-M is already into sportscar racing in a big way, and this will continue, with preparation by top racing outfit Prodrive. In fact, A-M cars will be running in F1 from 2010 under the Prodrive label, before changing to the fully-fledged Aston-Martin F1 name two years later.

For Aston-Martin model fans, there's plenty of choice out there, and one of the nicest diecasts around is the big 1:18 scale Autoart DBR9 in Le Mans racing finish (top picture). It’s a jewel-like production, packed with detail, and just made for display. In 1:43 scale, an attractive James Bond DB5 from the movie Goldfinger (lower pictures) was offered with an Italian partwork that has since included a whole range of well-known and not-so-well-known vehicles from the Bond movies - from a Lotus submarine-car to a Citroen 2CV.

These come up from time to time on eBay, so it’s worth keeping an eye open. Dozens of Bond vehicles have already been released so it’s probably a bit late to subscribe to the whole series.

Details of the Aston-Martin’s F1 ambitions are at Autocar magazine’s website here.

Autoart’s Aston-Martin racers can be viewed here.