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Post by raceoddity on Feb 11, 2023 23:37:29 GMT -5
Lovely little model Martin. Amazing how they could develop 400+ hp out of 1.5 liters. Fangio didn't hurt their effort either.
all the best from the not quite Frozen North!!
Scott
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Post by Alfaholic on Feb 12, 2023 19:38:42 GMT -5
Lovely little model Martin. Amazing how they could develop 400+ hp out of 1.5 liters. Fangio didn't hurt their effort either. all the best from the not quite Frozen North!! Scott Italian ingenuity at its best Scott. I was lucky enough to see one of these cars run at the Phillip Island Classic historic meeting back in 2010 as part of Alfa's Centenary Celebrations - what a treat that was!
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Post by Alfaholic on Feb 17, 2023 23:23:06 GMT -5
On my recent trip to Mount Panorama for the Bathurst 12 Hour race, I bought a couple of souvenirs – I guess I got caught up in the excitement of being at a racetrack, along with the lack of new models making their way to our shores. There were two model car sellers in merchandise alley, one guy from Sydney who has a lot of stock, most of which has fairly high prices, and another guy who I often buy from at the annual Auto Italia car show. He had more variety this time, rather than concentrating on Italians, and this one caught my eye. The Fiat 131 Abarth stands tall when it comes to rallying vehicles, and I have often looked at the “CMR” versions on various websites, however I hadn’t added one. The CMR models look to be based on IXOs and are similar prices. I believe this is from a Walter Rohrl Collection they have done – From memory, Tom may have added a Rohrl Porsche 924 recently from the same series? As I am a sucker for anything 131 Abarth related I was happy to pick this model up, especially as it is in the classic Alitalia livery. Rohrl’s Italian adventure had started late in 1977 with a couple of WRC outings, plus an ERC round, with a 131 Abarth. For the 1978 season he was fully ensconced with the Fiat Group and split his time between their two rallying legends, the 131 Abarth and the Lancia Stratos. Rohrl tended to be behind the wheel of a Fiat in the WRC, while taking the controls of a Stratos for ERC and German Championship rounds. As was usual in those days, the manufacturers didn’t use the same drivers on all events, and in some cases didn’t enter every round of the Championship. In 1978 there were 11 WRC rounds that counted towards the Manufacturer’s Championship, and while Fiat were present on all 11, Rohrl was only entered on six. The third of these events was the Acropolis rally held in Greece. Prior to the Greek event, Rohrl’s two WRC outings had netted a 4th place finish in Monte Carlo and a DNF (clutch failure) in Portugal. Fiat sent a full squad to Greece which included Markku Alen and Sandro Munari alongside Rohrl. The Italian team would face opposition from Ford, Opel, Datsun, and Toyota amongst others. Walter won the first stage but would then play second-fiddle to his teammates, with first Munari and then Alen leading up until the end of stage 15. Rohrl then hit the front and went on to win 21 of the 54 Stages. Munari retired with suspension failure on SS17 and Alen won 13 Stages to end the rally just over 10 minutes behind Rohrl. This was Walter’s second WRC win, his first being on the same event three years earlier, at the wheel of an Opel Ascona. The points gained in Greece also helped Rohrl to 6th place in the 1978 FIA Cup for Drivers, which was won by Alen. Fiat wrapped up the Manufacturers Title at years end, 134 points to Ford and Opel’s 100. CMR Fiat 131 Mirafiori Abarth 2.0 Fiat Corse – Walter Rohrl & Christian Geistdorfer 1978 Acropolis Rally - Winner
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Post by oldirish33 on Feb 17, 2023 23:58:06 GMT -5
Excellent addition Martin!
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Post by WallOfCars on Feb 18, 2023 0:42:22 GMT -5
Absolute rally icon of its time! Up there with the Audi Quattro of the 1980s and Subarus of 1990s onward! A+ addition Martin.
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Post by DeadCanDanceR on Feb 18, 2023 0:47:23 GMT -5
Nice looking Fiat model!
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Post by Tom on Feb 18, 2023 1:56:58 GMT -5
I have the same model and I love it. Great buy!
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LM24HRS
Member
Paul - "Collecting Motorsport in Miniature; for the passion and its history".
Posts: 451
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Post by LM24HRS on Feb 18, 2023 2:29:27 GMT -5
Oh yes very nice. Square box with big wheel arches. Perfect.
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Post by Scalainjridesagain on Feb 18, 2023 4:45:50 GMT -5
Let me see - it's a square Fiat from the 70s of the 131 variety with Abarth accoutrements covered in Alitalia colours and driven by Herr Rohrl. It's almost perfect
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Post by reeft1 on Feb 18, 2023 8:02:06 GMT -5
Yes please. Great add.
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Post by jager on Feb 18, 2023 17:56:09 GMT -5
Great looking iconic car. I guess a ‘must have’ for the collection.
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Post by JSB33 on Feb 19, 2023 7:46:20 GMT -5
Perfection!
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Post by Alfaholic on Feb 19, 2023 20:26:01 GMT -5
Excellent addition Martin! It's right up there as far as rally cars go for me Jerry. Absolute rally icon of its time! Up there with the Audi Quattro of the 1980s and Subarus of 1990s onward! A+ addition Martin. I might argue that the Lancia Delta was the car of the late 80s / early 90s Brookes, but then I don't want to incur the wrath of Andy The basic road car was a nice simple design Julio, so the addition of go-faster flares can only enhance it . I have the same model and I love it. Great buy! I seem to recall you may have others from the CMR Rohrl series Tom? Oh yes very nice. Square box with big wheel arches. Perfect. I couldn't have put it better myself Paul . Let me see - it's a square Fiat from the 70s of the 131 variety with Abarth accoutrements covered in Alitalia colours and driven by Herr Rohrl. It's almost perfect Spot on - substituting Mr Alen for Mr Rohrl (no disrespect intended) would make it perfect Do you have any of these CMRs in your vast rally car collection? They are not too bad for the price. Great looking iconic car. I guess a ‘must have’ for the collection. "Must have" may be too strong of a statement Ian, but "want", very much Yes! That's it, job done - I can retire from collecting now......... oh, hang on there are another couple i need to post
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Post by Alfaholic on Feb 19, 2023 20:28:28 GMT -5
Along with the Alitalia Fiat 131 I also picked up this one which fills a place in my “Ferrari at Le Mans” collection. Over the past year or so I have been lucky enough to pick up a couple of the excellent Red Line Ferrari F40s that raced at Le Mans and other events. This particular car was also done by Red Line many years ago, however as these models are hard to come by and quite pricey, this more than acceptable PW will do the job for now. The model comes from one of the many Ferrari Racing Collection magazine series that have been released around the world. Ferrari never really intended for the F40 to be used in racing from a factory perspective, however their customers did. Having already provided some “F40 LM” racers in the early ‘90s, Ferrari again engaged Michelotto to build a further run of racing F40s, this time known as “F40 GTE”. A total of seven F40 GTEs were built, the first two being updated F40 LM cars. This car, chassis 88779, was the 5th of the GTEs to be built and went straight into the hands of the Italian “Team Ennea” in time for the 1996 BPR Global GT series. The car made its debut in the third round, the 4 Hours of Jarama in Spain. Entered by Ennea under the name of the Ferrari Club Italia, the drivers were Luca Drudi, Piero Nappi and Mauro Martini. Unfortunately for these drivers, the car’s gearbox gave up the ghost after 41 of the 147 laps. The next appearance for the car was Prequalifying for Le Mans, with Nappi at the wheel. Another BPR GT outing at Silverstone (Nappi and Max Angelelli finishing 36th out of 56 starters) preceded the running of the Le Mans 24 Hours. For the twice round-the-clock classic at La Sarthe, Italian Nappi was joined in the car by Englishman Robin Donovan and Japanese Tetsuya Oota. The three drivers of #59, while all competent behind the wheel, were never likely to challenge the front of the GT1 field that year, but they did manage to qualify 31st of the 48 starters, ahead of seven of the other GT1 cars. Ennea/Ferrari Club Italia had two other more highly-developed F40 GTEs in the race, alongside a fourth F40, an “LM” entered by Stephane Ratel. None of the four made the end of the race, with the #59 GTE being the last to fall. The car had made a good start to the race but at around dusk the clutch started to fail. They carried on but at 2:50am the clutch came apart, pitching Donovan into the gravel. Their race was over after 129 laps. After Le Mans, “88779” appeared in three more BPR GT rounds, scoring a best of 5th place in the 4 Hours of Nurburgring. With Luciano Della Noce and Mimmo Schiattarella driving, the car then won the non-championship Vallelunga 6 Hours. “88779” was then sold to Frenchman Francois Schreiber who entered it into several rounds of the French GT Championship over the next two years, scoring several podium placings. PW – Ferrari Racing Collection
Ferrari F40 GTE 3.5 Turbo
Team Ennea – Ferrari Club Italia
1996 24 Hours of Le mans – DNF, Clutch
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Post by DeadCanDanceR on Feb 20, 2023 0:24:29 GMT -5
Quite nice!
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