Friday, November 30, 2012

More Racer Group 5 Models in 2013

Encouraged by the brisk sales of the 1/32 Ford Capri and Lancia Beta Group 5 "Sideways" cars, RACER have announced the intention to expand their Group 5 offerings with previously unannounced decorations of the BMW M1 and the Porsche 935 and 935L.

Racer's newly announced liveries will include Preston Henn's 1983 Daytona 24 hours 935 "Moby Dick" driven to a dominant victory by "Brilliant" Bob Wollek, Claude Ballot-Léna, Preston Henn and A. J. Foyt Jr. sponsored by Henn's T-Bird Swap Shop. Foyt was added to the team after his originally-assigned Aston-Martin Nimrod expired around the 12 hour mark. The Daytona triumph was the last International endurance victory for a Porsche 935.

Porsche 935L IMSA 0027 (prototype)















Also planned from RACER are these additions to the Group 5 line which will be all new tooling (actual race car photos shown).

Toyota Celica Group 5 0032

Ferrari 512BB 0033

Nissan Skyline Group 5 0031














Lancia Stratos Turbo 0030

My best guess is that the first of this newest Group 5 series will arrive in the shops late 1st Quarter 2013

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

New 1/32 Cheetah Versions From Carrera


These should be at your local hobby shop this week...




























Photos by D. Kennedy 

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Carrera 1/32 Shelby Cobra 289



















Shelby Cobra 289 available from Carrera in both D132 and EVO.

Photos by D. Kennedy

Sal Tovella Stock Car Coming in 1/32 from Carrera

















The Plymouth Superbird driven in USAC stock car racing by Sal Tovella, coming from Carrera in both D132 and EVO. My research shows this to be the car run by Sal at The Milwaukee Mile July 9, 1972.

Photos by D. Kennedy

Porsche 917K Coming in Carrera D124




















Carrera's Porsche 917K "1st Daytona 1971" J. W. Engineering Oliver / Rodriguez No. 23777 expected in North America before the end of the year.

Photos by D. Kennedy.

Monday, November 19, 2012

“On the Road” with M.G. Brown

For this installment of “On the Road” we visit Thazer Raceway in South Bend Indiana.

Thazer Raceway has been in operation in Northwest Indiana since the mid 1970’s and has one of the few remaining American Raceways commercial tracks set up and in operation in North America.

Thazer’s track is the 135 foot “Aristocrat”; owner Dave Geerhing has nicely framed copies of American Raceways catalog illustrations, showing not only the Aristocrat, but other American Raceways tracks, decorating the walls of the raceway. On the "back" wall there are a number of nicely reproduced and framed examples of the great box art that was a part of the Revell kits of the 1960’s.

The Aristocrat track features the original American Raceways style drivers panels and is largely original with the exception of being resurfaced, re-wired, re-braided and having some minor repairs in the last few years. One of the interesting features of the Aristocrat is that in two places on the track, the inner and outer 4 lanes “cross over”. It takes some getting used to driving a track like this when all 8 lanes are operating.

Thazer has a modern PC-based race director system and modern power supplies, but the original American Raceways lap counter and power supply / time seller are on display above the parts counter. All I can say is, “my how times have changed”.

In addition to the parts that you would expect from contemporary 1/24 slot car companies such as Parma, Champion, Outisight, Red Fox, etc., Thazer has a good stock of 1/32 RTR’s and parts from Scalextric, SCX, Slot.it, and Racer/Sideways. They have rental cars and controllers available as well as track time if you have your own "stuff".

The surrounding area reminds me of the sort of middle class neighborhood that most slot car raceways that I ran at in my youth were located. While you're at Thazer, It’s easy to imagine yourself back in a more innocent era of sock hops and rock and roll.

I certainly had a lot of fun visiting with Dave at Thazer raceway- I’d encourage you to break out your vintage 1/24 race cars and visit some weekend too.

Thazer Raceway
2925 Mishawaka Ave
South Bend, Indiana
46615
574-232-2118