Post by LM24HRS on May 8, 2022 12:39:30 GMT -5
I am some what behind with my additions so the word "new" could be a bit misleading! Anyway, without further a do let me make a start with the first which did actually arrive recently, the other week in fact. This one has jumped the queue a little but felt is worth making a start with.
PORSCHE 962C – Silverstone 1990
Who remembers Tic Tac refreshment mints? Yes, those small sweets in a convenient pack with the recognisable rattle. Apparently, they are still available and not just in mint flavour. There are now many more numerous colourful flavours to tempt you these days.
Back in 1990 if you were at the Shell BRDC Empire Trophy 480 kilometres at Silverstone you could well have seen the Tic Tac logo plastered all over an aged Porsche 962C, driven by Henri Pescarolo and Derek Bell. With a driver line up of such quality the expectation was reasonable high for a good result. However, the 962C in its eighth year of competition was aged in comparison to the other Group C machinery such as Jaguar XJR-11’s and Mercedes C11’s.
Even with what you would expect to be a reliable sportscar after eight years of development the weekend was never one to remember. As Derek describes in his book All my Porsche races, he starts by explaining, “I don’t even know where to start describing what happened!”
In practice they suffered with excessive under steer. Then in the first timed qualifying session with Derek driving the turbo boost would not respond when attempting to put in his first fast lap. Then come the Saturday morning Henri took the car out only for a stone to shatter the windscreen, after which, and not connected, the in-car extinguisher went off.
Qualification was recorded as a very lowly 24th position. Then to top it all the car didn’t make the start as during the pre-race morning warm up a mounting where the rear suspension connected to the gearbox sheared off. There was simply not enough time before the start of the race to make the necessary repairs, so the pair were recorded in the results as a DNS.
I suspect due to the DNS this Porsche was way off my Derek Bell collection radar. That was until a close friend of mine introduced me to Vectis auctions. Vectis, if you have not heard of the company are a very well-established auction house up in the north-eastern part of England. I was aware of them but for reasons more associated with auctions for model railways, dinky and corgi toys, plus numerous other toys and models of years gone by. Not until recently had I seen them ever advertising a sole auction for the likes of Spark, Minichamps, IXO and all the other model manufacturers we are accustomed to see these days. At the end of the day the temptation not to bid was far too great to miss. This model is the result of my first Vectis bid. I did win another model which is waiting in the wings for this thread later.
This is a Spark Model but with a reference of MX 010, a number sequence I'm not familiar with. There is no "Spark" impression on the base when I turn the model over, it is just blank. However it is on a Spark base and came in the usual Spark box with the old silver cardboard outer case. If anybody has ideas why this has such a reference I would be interested to know why.
This model now obviously sits within my Derek Bell collection. 50 and counting so far with 4 kits waiting to be built, plus 2 more kits to source as I obtained the decals for them recently. Lots to do.
PORSCHE 962C – Silverstone 1990
Who remembers Tic Tac refreshment mints? Yes, those small sweets in a convenient pack with the recognisable rattle. Apparently, they are still available and not just in mint flavour. There are now many more numerous colourful flavours to tempt you these days.
Back in 1990 if you were at the Shell BRDC Empire Trophy 480 kilometres at Silverstone you could well have seen the Tic Tac logo plastered all over an aged Porsche 962C, driven by Henri Pescarolo and Derek Bell. With a driver line up of such quality the expectation was reasonable high for a good result. However, the 962C in its eighth year of competition was aged in comparison to the other Group C machinery such as Jaguar XJR-11’s and Mercedes C11’s.
Even with what you would expect to be a reliable sportscar after eight years of development the weekend was never one to remember. As Derek describes in his book All my Porsche races, he starts by explaining, “I don’t even know where to start describing what happened!”
In practice they suffered with excessive under steer. Then in the first timed qualifying session with Derek driving the turbo boost would not respond when attempting to put in his first fast lap. Then come the Saturday morning Henri took the car out only for a stone to shatter the windscreen, after which, and not connected, the in-car extinguisher went off.
Qualification was recorded as a very lowly 24th position. Then to top it all the car didn’t make the start as during the pre-race morning warm up a mounting where the rear suspension connected to the gearbox sheared off. There was simply not enough time before the start of the race to make the necessary repairs, so the pair were recorded in the results as a DNS.
I suspect due to the DNS this Porsche was way off my Derek Bell collection radar. That was until a close friend of mine introduced me to Vectis auctions. Vectis, if you have not heard of the company are a very well-established auction house up in the north-eastern part of England. I was aware of them but for reasons more associated with auctions for model railways, dinky and corgi toys, plus numerous other toys and models of years gone by. Not until recently had I seen them ever advertising a sole auction for the likes of Spark, Minichamps, IXO and all the other model manufacturers we are accustomed to see these days. At the end of the day the temptation not to bid was far too great to miss. This model is the result of my first Vectis bid. I did win another model which is waiting in the wings for this thread later.
This is a Spark Model but with a reference of MX 010, a number sequence I'm not familiar with. There is no "Spark" impression on the base when I turn the model over, it is just blank. However it is on a Spark base and came in the usual Spark box with the old silver cardboard outer case. If anybody has ideas why this has such a reference I would be interested to know why.
This model now obviously sits within my Derek Bell collection. 50 and counting so far with 4 kits waiting to be built, plus 2 more kits to source as I obtained the decals for them recently. Lots to do.