[woodcote]

   

As I rapidly became obsessed with Le Mans during my teenage years, I devoured history books and fell in love with the Ferraris that dominated the race between '58 and '65 - achieving seven victories in eight years. The Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa won three - in '58, '60 and '61 - and Le Mans Miniatures' latest adventure in 1:32 slot car modelling is to recreate those fabulous red cars from the 1960 Le Mans 24 hours.

   

That's no mean feat - the five Testa Rossas from 1960 (pictured above) are all slightly different and Le Mans Miniatures have produced five different models, of course...

• 132091-9M Ferrari TR59/60 #9 Le Mans 1960 - Phil Hill and Wolfgang von Trips - retired (out of fuel, 3 hours)
  
• 132091-10M Ferrari TR60 #10 Le Mans 1960 - Richie Ginther and Willy Mairesse - retired (gearbox, 17 hours)
  
• 132091-11M Ferrari TR59/60 #11 Le Mans 1960 - Olivier Gendebien and Paul Frère - 1st place
  
• 132091-12M Ferrari TR59/60 #12 Le Mans 1960 - Ludovico Scarfotti and Pedro Rodríguez - retired (out of fuel, 3 hours)
  
• 132091-17M Ferrari TR60 #17 Le Mans 1960 - Ricardo Rodríguez and André Pilette - 2nd place
  

Only two of the Testa Rossas made it to the end - in first and second place - with Clark and Salvadori's Aston third and then five Ferrari GTs...



Two cars due to arrive very soon are the #12 and #17 cars, showing Scarfotti and Rodríguez driving...

       

There's a new-style box, similar to that used for the recent Peugeot J7 Team Matra Sport van. The detail - as always - is simply breathtaking...

       

       

These are ready-to-run 1:32 scale slot cars...

       

The bodies are made of polyurethane resin, the chassis is injected ABS plastic, there are aluminium rear wheels, a front inline motor and a Slot.it offset crown gear...

   

Also coming soon is a re-working of the  132067/10M Ferrari 250 TR61 that won the 1961 race, driven by Olivier Gendebien and Phil Hill. This is a completely different mould...

       

All five of the 1960s cars and the TR61 are available for pre-order from Pendle Slot Racing and other Le Mans Miniatures stockists. The #12 and #17 cars - plus the #10 TR61 - are expected this month. The RRP in the UK is £115 - Pendles standard price is £99.95.