Welcome
Digest 12
Published by JasonB on Mar 24, 2024
Let’s take a rummage through the week’s news.
This week we feature a trio of Ford Rangers, a pair of Porsche rally cars, a Schumacher Mercedes, a BRM P153, a Porsche 956, and a Reims-Gueux Dunlop bridge. We also have the lowdown on tyre truing machines, the latest events from the calendar, and our usual video selections.
Slot Cars
Now Available
- Slot.it Mercedes 190E The new Mercedes 190E from Slot.it is now available from retailers. The model recreates the car driven by Michael Schumacher in the 1991 DTM, at Norisring.
Coming Soon
- George Turner Ford Ranger George Turner has posted photos of the finished Ford Ranger kits which he started work on two years ago. There are three different versions, each with removable rear covers, and they are expected to be available later in the week.
- Fly Porsche 911 Fly have announced more Porsche 911 models. Like the Hobbyclassic exclusive models we reported last week, these are slightly more than just new liveries as they include 3D printed parts and come in either clean or weathered versions. The #19 car models the 1971 East African Safari Rally car driven to fifth place by Sobiesław Zasada & Marian Bień, and the #58 car recreates the 1968 London-Sydney Marathon car driven to fourth place by Sobiesław Zasada & Marek Wachowski.
- Policar BRM P153 Policar have announced that the next livery for the BRM P153 will be released on April 5th. The model recreates the 1970 South African GP car which was driven by Pedro Rodríguez and finished ninth.
- Slot.it Porsche 956 Also expected from April 5th is a new livery for the Slot.it Porsche 956 KH, which models the second placed car at the 1984 1000km of Monza, which was driven by Jonathan Palmer and Jan Lammers.
- Magnetic Racing Dunlop Bridge As part of their Reims-Gueux range Magnetic Racing have released a well detailed model of the Dunlop Bridge. A 1:32 scale version is available now, with 1:43 and 1:64 scales coming very soon.
Racing
- Slot Car Tyre Truing Machines Mr Flippant has put together a comprehensive and useful list of slotcar tyre truing machines. The list is divided into machines designed for metal wheels, usually only truing one wheel/tyre at a time, and machines that are designed to hold the whole axle of the car with both wheels still attached. Each list is then divided by whether the machine is still available on the retail market in some capacity, and those which are no longer being manufactured.
Events
- Worthing HO Wednesday – 3rd-Apr-24
- Bury St Edmunds club night 5-10pm – 6th-Apr-24
- WSR Policar Classic F1 Event – 6th-Apr-24
- WHO Digital GT – 17th-Apr-24
- Slot Rally GB – Round 3 – 20th-Apr-24
- Can-Am Race with TRUSPEED Presentation – 27th-Apr-24
- Worthing HO Wednesday – 1st-May-24
- WHO Digital GT – 15th-May-24
- Bury St Edmunds club night 5-10pm – 25th-May-24
- WHO Slot Rally – Spring Stages – 29th-May-24
Videos
More Issues
Updates
Scalextric Range Launch
Jan 8, 2024
Calendar 2024
Dec 11, 2023
BRM, the Inside Story
May 5, 2023
Calendar
Dec 12, 2022
On This Day in History…
28-03-1959 |
Features
BRM, the Inside Story
Published by JasonB on May 5, 2023 in Features, Updates
We have a new and fairly substantial motor racing history section which we’ve added to the site. It could be encapsulated by just three letters, BRM, but in truth the full story would make a decent sized book.
The inspiration for our new section came from a British Racing Motors team mechanic, Dennis ‘Sheriff’ Perkins who worked for the team for well over a decade from the mid 1950s onwards, and who took photos throughout his time with the team.
Of course Perkins wasn’t a professional photographer, he was first and foremost a BRM mechanic. In fact he was so good at his job that he was elected to membership of the BRDC, being proposed by Graham Hill and seconded by Jackie Stewart.
But he took photos of some important motor racing events, and he took his photos from a different angle to the press, or the spectators. He snapped his pics from behind the scenes, from the oil stained pit boxes, from the workshops, or even from the team transporter which he drove across the continent in his slippers.
Through his photos we will tell the story of British Racing Motors, from the disastrous and all too obvious failings in the early days, through to being world champions and one of the most consistently successful teams in Formula One at their peak, before they were brought back down to earth with a bump, as the team declined.
BRM had always set out to match and beat the best in Formula One. To do that, they absolutely insisted that they should build their own engines as well as the chassis. They wanted to take Ferrari’s approach, and when it worked, it really worked, but when it didn’t, it really didn’t.
Nowadays of course, we can expect a netflix documentary for every F1 race, no matter how insignificant. But in those days there were a very limited cohort of press reporters and photographers. So this little treasure trove of photos from the pit lanes and paddocks of the 1950s and 1960s are important.
We’ve tried our best to tell the stories of not just BRM, but of the individual races for which we have photos, many of which have their own fascinating tales to tell.
We’ve tried to tell the story of the BRM drivers and the BRM cars. We’ve used a wide variety of sources for all of the information, including contemporary reports.
We’ve also included slot track plans for every circuit, and a comprehensive list of BRM slot cars.
So there you go, that’s a rough outline of what we’ve got for you, hope you enjoy having a look and a read.
Many thanks to John Perkins, son of Dennis, for his kind permission to use these photos. Many thanks also to Dennis ‘Sheriff’ Perkins himself, not just for his sterling work with BRM, but also for recording his time with the team.