Author: ChiliBoy

We have uploaded the preorder lists for Spark’s 1/43 scale 2024 GT500 and GT300 Super GT models.

LookSmart is doing the Ferrari entrants. You can find them HERE.

Must reserve by May 29.

AVAILABLE JULY 2024 – $80.00 – Reserve HERE

by Peter Higham

Evro’s decade-by-decade series covering all Formula 1 cars and teams moves into the new millennium.

The first half of the decade brought the strongest domination in F1’s history from Michael Schumacher and Ferrari, with five consecutive drivers’ and constructors’ titles. Then came a changing of the guard when young new stars — Fernando Alonso, Kimi Räikkönen, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button — claimed championships.

Teams also reshuffled in the decade’s second half, as Renault and McLaren prospered again, and newcomers like Brawn and Red Bull came through, although major manufacturers such as Toyota and Jaguar always struggled. As ever, the cars became faster and technology moved on apace, such that regulations had to be tightened to rein them in, bringing smaller engines in 2006 and considerable aerodynamic constraint in 2009. F1 extended its worldwide reach with new races in Bahrain, China, Singapore and Abu Dhabi.

• Year-by-year treatment explores each season in fascinating depth, running through the teams — and their various cars — in championship order.
• Ferrari: Michael Schumacher finally delivered Ferrari’s first drivers’ title for 21 years in 2000 and reigned supreme for four more years, culminating with an unprecedented 13 wins in 2004; another title followed in 2007 for Kimi Räikkönen.
• Renault: after taking over Benetton, Renault broke Ferrari’s grip when, in 2005, Fernando Alonso became the youngest champion the sport had seen, and repeated his success the following year.
• McLaren-Mercedes: the team won races throughout the decade but 2008 was the big season with Lewis Hamilton’s title, a year after ‘Spygate’ inflicted a record $100 million fine and exclusion from the constructors’ championship.
• Brawn: arising from the ashes of Honda’s withdrawal, Ross Brawn’s eponymous team was a one-year wonder that gave the decade a feel-good finale when Jenson Button became champion.
• Other winning makes picking up crumbs were Williams-BMW, Honda, BMW Sauber, Toro Rosso-Ferrari and Red Bull-Renault. 

This authoritative and comprehensively illustrated book, which contains over 350 color photos from the world’s best Formula 1 photo archive, shows every type of car that raced during the decade, presenting a comprehensive survey.

Hardbound | 304 Pages | 350+ Color Photos

The latest 1/18 announcement from Tecnomodel features 5 versions of the Ferrari 125S and 195S circa 1947. Highlights include the #56 Franco Cortese 125S that scored the first victory for Ferrari in that year’s Circuito di Caracalla (above) and the Tazio Nuvolari driven 125S #70 from the Circuito di Livorno (below).

Details HERE.

The advance order deadline for this set is Friday, May 10.

We will be open this Saturday, April 27 from 10-3 after all.

Paul

Tecnomodel will produce 5 versions of the Maserati 450S from 1957, including the #19 of Jean Behra and Juan Manuel Fangio that was victorious in that year’s 12 Hours of Sebring. Details HERE.

Advance Order Deadline is Monday, April 29.

Spark Model has announced their initial range of 1/18 scale 2024 Formula 1 cars. Teams include Red Bull, McLaren, Mercedes, Stake, Alpine, VCARB, Williams, Haas and Aston Martin. Details HERE.

Must reserve by May 8.

Spark Model has announced they will produce the three 2023 Le Mans Porsche Penske Motorsport 963s in both 1/18 and 1/43 scale. Details HERE. Please reserve by Sunday, May 12.

The Official Biography by George Levy

The highly anticipated release of George Levy’s extensively researched 500 page official biography of Jim Hall and Chaparral cars has been confirmed for July 9, 2024. Reserve your copy HERE.

One of the greatest drivers of his generation, Jim Hall is even better known as an innovator. From tiny Chaparral Cars in Midland, Texas emerged a series of vehicles that changed the face of racing. His high-winged Chaparral 2E Can-Am car and 2F World Sportscar Championship contender may be the most influential race vehicles of the 20th century. Today, every Formula 1 car uses net downforce, driver-adjustable wings, composite chassis, side-mounted radiators, semi-automatic gearboxes and advanced telemetry to optimize vehicle performance — all things Chaparral pioneered in the mid-1960s.

• First-ever book in which Hall tells his own story.
• The massive influence of his introduction of net downforce to racing, which is now incorporated into the design of every major type of four-wheel competition vehicle.
• How Hall shocked the world with innovative designs that won in every series in which they competed, including Can-Am, Trans-Am, the World Sportscar Championship, Formula 5000, United States Road Racing Championship, Canadian Sports Car Championship and the Indianapolis 500.
• How Jim and John Barnard created the Chaparral 2K “Yellow Submarine” that won the Indianapolis 500 and USAC national championship, setting the template for the modern Indy car.
• The massive resistance Jim faced from teams and sanctioning bodies intent on outlawing his legal but game-changing innovations. 
• The connection to Chevrolet and the crucial role Chaparral Cars played in the defense of GM during the Corvair trials of the mid-1960s.
• How Hall became a national celebrity, with Newsweek and Sports Illustrated covers, Coca-Cola commercials, and millions of “Jim Hall Authorized” slot cars and model kits.
• Text based on the author’s extensive interviews with over 100 racing standouts, including Jim and Sandy Hall, Roger Penske, Jackie Stewart, Dan Gurney, Sam Posey, Brian Redman, Phil Hill, Al and Bobby Unser, Bernie Ecclestone, Johnny Rutherford, Gordon Murray, Adrian Newey, Gil de Ferran, Mario Andretti, Bob Lutz and Tony Southgate.
• Big, beautiful and packed with facts and anecdotes, the book is lavishly illustrated with period photographs by many of the world’s best motorsports photographers, including Pete Biro, Bernard Cahier, Hal Crocker, Dave Friedman, Pete Lyons, Dan Boyd, Lionel Birnbom and Pulitzer Prize winner Bob Jackson.

In Texas Legend, Jim Hall tells his story — his life, his cars, his relationship with Chevrolet, his partnership with Hap Sharp, his battles with sanctioning body bureaucracies — for the first time to award-winning author George Levy in this authorized biography.

We will reconfirm with everyone who has already placed an advance order over the next few weeks.

Today’s 1/18 scale New Product Announcement from Spark Model contains an impressive selection of Le Mans, Daytona, Dakar and Formula One winners, including the #5 Gurney / Bondurant Cobra Daytona Couple that took 4th overall and the 5.0 GT Class victory in the 1964 24 Hour of Le Mans, the Lotus 79s of 1978 World Champion Mario Andretti and Ronnie Peterson, a total of 3 GP winners from Williams, including Clay Regazzoni’s first GP win for the Marque in 1979 and a pair of FW11Bs driven by Nelson Piquet and Nigel Mansell in 1987. The list also contains the 1951 Le Mans winning Jaguar XK 120 C-Type of Walker / Whitehead, a pair of Gulf Porsche 917s that competed in the 1970 and 1971 24 Hours of Daytona and the works Porsche 911 RSR-19s from the 2022 24 Hours of Le Mans. The company also threw in the 2023 Dakar winning Toyota to round things out.

Advance order deadline is April 26. You can review the entire 14 car list HERE.