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Post by jager on Feb 15, 2023 20:04:46 GMT -5
Interestingly the colour of the Spark is a little bit paler than the IXO version which this replaces, but that may not come out in my pictures. It depends a bit on your display settings...it looks paler on my laptop screen than it does on my desktop monitor at work. Either way, it looks good in the cabinet which is the main thing.
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Post by jager on Feb 18, 2023 9:52:24 GMT -5
I've had this one for a week, but held off posting it while I confirmed Martin (Alfaholic) had also had his order filled. In the 1930’s, the Alfa Romeo 8C had been the superior car at Le Mans winning four consecutive 24 hour races between 1930 and 1934. They were once again the favourites in 1935, with four cars fielded by privateers. One of those was this car entered by Raymond Sommer, a two-time race winner, who had gentleman-driver Raymond d'Estrez Saugé as his co-driver. They were up against five Bugattis, two Lagondas and a debut for French manufacturer Delahaye. Before the race even started, the big news was that Raymond Sommer's co-driver had been taken very ill and would be unable to do much driving. Sommer had found Christian d'Auvergne among the spectators, a veteran of four Le Mans in the 1920s. However, the ACO officials ruled it was too late for driver substitution, so Sommer was facing a long race on his own. Race day started grey and drizzly, however as the cars formed up on the grid, the rain eased. Sommer excelled as it got wetter and my 5pm was running in second place. By 7:00pm, he was not only leading, he had put a lap on the field, having completed 29 laps. By the time the rain stopped around 10pm, Sommer still held a comfortable lead when he stopped at Mulsanne corner with fuel-flow problems, possibly due to contaminated fuel. It took an hour for him to crawl his way back to the pits just on the electric starter motor to rectify the problem. At 1.15am, Sommer came into the pits, still with recurring engine issues. Now twenty laps behind, after driving solely for 9 hours he was exhausted. Encouraged on by the partisan crowd he went back out for two more laps, but facing a hopeless situation alone with a sick car, he pulled in again and retired. Car : 1935 #15 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300Team : Raymond Sommer Drivers : Raymond Sommer (F)/ Raymond de Saugé Destrez (F) Qualifying : N/A Result : 49th (DNF) Model : Spark (S3869)
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Post by DeadCanDanceR on Feb 18, 2023 10:06:38 GMT -5
That’s an extremely cool looking model! Great addition!
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Post by Alfaholic on Feb 19, 2023 3:09:35 GMT -5
Thanks for holding back on posting this one Ian. Yes, mine is on it's way after a few days of being stranded due to the devastating storms in Auckland. I am looking forward to receiving this one very much.
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Post by Tom on Feb 19, 2023 4:18:13 GMT -5
Heroic drive that deserved a better result. Excellent model, love it!
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Post by reeft1 on Feb 19, 2023 5:42:22 GMT -5
Wonderful
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Post by jager on Feb 19, 2023 19:32:19 GMT -5
That’s an extremely cool looking model! Great addition! It's pretty unusual Julio, but I guess that's the attraction. Thanks for holding back on posting this one Ian. Yes, mine is on it's way after a few days of being stranded due to the devastating storms in Auckland. I am looking forward to receiving this one very much. No worries Martin. It didn't seem fair to taunt you with mine while yours was in limbo. Hopefully you're now looking forward to yours even more. Heroic drive that deserved a better result. Excellent model, love it! Agreed Tom. It seems like their race was done anyway, but with two healthy drivers could they have nursed it to the finish? Thanks Paul.
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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 20, 2023 9:49:09 GMT -5
I will freely admit to focusing my LM collection post war. However, that is to my detriment I think. What a stunner.
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Post by oldirish33 on Feb 20, 2023 17:58:35 GMT -5
An exceptional looking Alfa, great add!
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Post by jager on Feb 21, 2023 23:15:58 GMT -5
I will freely admit to focusing my LM collection post war. However, that is to my detriment I think. What a stunner. I often think like you Paul, and as cabinet space gets tighter and tighter with each successive year, I'm occasionally tempted to drop the pre-war cars from my collection. Then something great like this Alfa or one of Spark's pre-war Bentley's come along again and I'm reminded why I shouldn't let these go. An exceptional looking Alfa, great add! I'd probably put it more in the "interesting" rather than "exceptional" catagory Jerry, but I know what you mean.
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Post by jager on Mar 1, 2023 7:52:25 GMT -5
These day Russian motorsport teams and drivers are heavily sanctioned by the FIA, but 5 years ago they were actively being courted in the motorsport world due to their deep pockets. Nevertheless, I decided to add this car to my collection because of the Jenson Button link, not the Russian link. In 2017, the Russian team SMP Racing were participated in the European Le Mans Series in the LMP2 class, fielding a Dallara P217 chassis. With the help of Dallara, BR Engineering and Russian university students, they designed and built a brand-new chassis, the BR1 for the LMP1 class in 2018. For the 2018-19 super season, SMP Racing entered two BR1 chassis, powered AER-built P60B 2.4 litre V6 turbocharged engines. The Russian based team’s focus was to promote Russian drivers, with car #11 being entered for Vitaly Petrov and Mikhail Aleshi and car #17 being entered for Egor Orudzhev and Matevos Isaakyan. Rounding out the driver line up for Le Mans, 2009 F1 World Champion Jenson Button joined the #11 car and Stephane Sarrazin joined the #17 car. Car #11 qualified in 7th position, while car #17 qualified 3 places higher. Unfortunately Le Mans was a difficult race for SMP. Car #11 had a difficult start to the race. Russian driver Vitaly Petrov pitted after 18 laps while running fifth, the car staying in the garage for over six hours which dropped it to the rear of the 60 car field. “There’s a sensor failure” Button had told Eurosport television. It eventually rejoined the race in the 8th hour, but around this time the #17 car had an accident at the Porsche curves on lap 123, severely damaging its rear. Matevos Isaakyan attempted to get it running again but the engine was damaged beyond repair, forcing the car to grind to a halt after rolling for a few metres. By the mid-point of the race, the #11 BR1 had picked up a few positions to be running in 54th position. By the 18th hour, the #11 BR1 had improved to be running in 49th position. It continued to pick up a handful of places, until the engine expired in the penultimate hour while running in 40th position. Car : 2018 #11 BR 1Team : SMP Racing Drivers : Vitaly Petrov (RUS)/ Mikhail Aleshin (RUS)/ Jenson Button (GB) Qualifying : 7th Result : 43rd (DNF - Engine) Model : Spark (S7008)
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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 Mar 1, 2023 10:04:21 GMT -5
I need to update myself but I believe Mr Button is linked to another LM project for this year.
Not a particular attractive livery on this one but for LM and Button history an important candidate.
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Post by Tom on Mar 1, 2023 13:41:54 GMT -5
I guess you had to have this one for Jenson Buttons' sake... not much else to recommend it. I remember their crash well, they kept showing it in the hourly reports over and over again.
As usual, great model.
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Post by Alfaholic on Mar 1, 2023 21:57:51 GMT -5
I need to update myself but I believe Mr Button is linked to another LM project for this year. Not a particular attractive livery on this one but for LM and Button history an important candidate. Is Mr Button not part of the (ridiculous) NASCAR effort at LM this year - no, I am not a fan when there are many worthy teams sitting on the Reserve List and this car brings nothing to the usual "Garage 56" remit. Back to the model, I actually quite like the livery, grubby cash notwithstanding.
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Post by Scalainjridesagain on Mar 2, 2023 6:07:01 GMT -5
I added this myself for the Button connection and was quietly hopeful it would do better. It was not to be
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