Author: ChiliBoy

Few remain. Order HERE.

Highlights from the latest 1/43 announcements from TSM Model include the #1 Paul Miller BMW M4 GT3 in their GTD class winning 2022 Long Beach livery and a rare diecast offering of the Bugatti Chiron Pur Sport in yellow.

Check out all 7 new items HERE and please reserve by Friday, October 21 to insure delivery.

Reserve your copy today!

by Pete Lyons & Jill Amadio

Raoul ‘Sonny’ Balcaen grew up in Los Angeles at a time when it became the epicentre of American motor racing, nurturing a vast talent pool of people whose influence has echoed through to today.

As a teenager, he successfully competed with his home-built Top Fuel dragster during the formative years of the sport. With Lance Reventlow, he worked on the famous Scarab sports cars and was standing in the dyno room when the team’s all-American Formula 1 engine was fired up for the first time. A period as Jim Hall’s crew chief and a close association with Carroll Shelby added to the know-how that guided him towards becoming a successful entrepreneur and led to all that followed.  

• Aged 17, Balcaen built his own Top Fuel drag racer, the ‘Bantamweight Bomb’, which he developed relentlessly and drove to many successes. 
• His role in the fabulous Scarab sports cars — the landmark all-American racers — and insights into life with their creator, the incomparable Lance Reventlow.
• Working as crew chief to the brilliant Jim Hall, preparing and running his Lotus Eleven and Lister-Chevrolet long before the famous Chaparrals emerged.
• A second spell with Scarab, this time with the Formula 1 project — the first American Grand Prix car — plus a special job for Reventlow converting a Scarab sports racer into a street car. 
• Onwards into setting up his own successful business, IECO (Induction Engineering Co), to create and sell high-grade performance and appearance accessories, with Chevrolets — especially Corvair and Vega — featuring strongly.
• His many-faceted dealings with Carroll Shelby, leading to consultancy and even assignments as occasional Shelby American company pilot.
• Along the way we meet many other big names of the era, including Chuck Daigh, Bruce Kessler, Warren Olson, Dick Troutman, Tom Barnes, Phil Remington, Ken Miles, Leo Goossen, Jim Travers, Frank Coon, Ed Donovan and Pete Brock. 

This engaging memoir is the very personal history of a momentous time and place in which we meet a who’s who of West Coast road-racing heroes.

Hardbound | 320 pages

$40.00 – Reserve HERE

Overnight, Tecnomodel announced a blizzard of 10 different 1/18 scale models, including a set of Jim Clark driven Lotus 30 variations – the 1964 Riverside #15 is shown above – along with no less than 6 different types of Ferrari F1 and Indy cars, a set of Lauda and Piquet Brabham Alfa Romeo BT48 and March 761 F1 cars and a lone set of DRM BMW M1 Turbo variations driven by Hans-Joachim Stuck.

On the 1/43 side, a set of Porsche 718 F2 cars from 1960, including the Rob Walker #7 driven by Stirling Moss at Aintree, seen above.

Dealer Deadline for everything is Friday, October 14.

Check everything out HERE.

Lots of new Announcements from Spark Model, LookSmart and Tecnomodel just posted, headlined by a set of Tecnomodel 1/18 Lotus 38s, which includes Jim Clark’s 1965 Indy Winner, Gurney’s Yamaha sponsored 1965 mount and the two STP cars of Clark and Al Unser from 1966. Tecnomodel will also do sets of Benetton B190 and March 731 GP cars. LookSmart is doing the 2022 Italian GP Ferraris in both 1/18 and 1/43. Spark announced two different Verstappen 2022 GP winners along with Hamilton and Russell Mercedes from the Belgian GP and half a dozen assorted race and road cars in 1/18 scale.

Dealer Deadline for everything is Thursday, October 11. Check everything out HERE.

We’ve just uploaded the latest 1/43 scale list from Spark Model. Highlights include the 1977 Monaco Grand Prix winning Wolf WR1 driven by Jody Scheckter (above), the Ford ‘J’ Car as tested by Bruce McLaren at Daytona in 1967 and the Lotus 18-21 driven to victory by Stirling Moss in what he described as his ‘Favorite Race’, the 1961 German Grand Prix (below).

The list also includes a nice selection of Le Mans veterans along with other significant F1 and Rally cars.

Dealer Deadline is Thursday, October 6. Check everything out HERE.

LookSmart has announced 1/18 and 1/43 scale Ferrari 488 GTE EVO entrants in the 2022 24 Hours of Le Mans. They will also release the 2022 British and Austrian Grand Prix winning Ferrari F1-75 of Carlos Sainz, Jr and Charles Leclerc in both 1/18 and 1/43 scale. Details HERE.

Please reserve by Monday, September 26,2022.

We’ve uploaded the Advance Order list for Spark’s 1/18 scale 2022 Spa 24h Collection. Orders must be received by Monday, September 26. Check out all 12 Limited Edition Belgium National Series models HERE.

TopSpeed will produce a 1/18 scale resin model of the #1 Copenhagen Porsche 962 driven by A.J. Foyt and Hurley Haywood to a fourth place finish in the 1988 12 Hours of Sebring. Get all the latest information from today’s Email Update HERE!

Spark Model has announced their 1/43 scale list for the 2022 24 Hours of Spa. A total of 38 cars will be produced, including the winning #88 Mercedes-AMG GT3 seen above. Dealer deadline is Wednesday, September 14.

The company also announced 1/18 scale models of three 2022 Nurburgring 24 Hour entrants and added the #43 Oreca from Inter Europol Competition to their 2022 Le Mans collection. Dealer deadline is Thursday, September 8.