[Tamar]

Hello gents, this thread contains a series of articles I've posted on several other fora, This was the first post on me and my team's "Road to Le Mans" , well at least to the 1/32nd version of it, the DiSCA 24hrs Le Mans race at Henley in Arden, April 2019. To support Slotracer online I though it might be good to repost it here as well. 

With kind regards
Tamar



The Ford GT LM (3rd Gen) 1/1
Ford returned to Le Mans in 2016 as a factory team  in a blaze of glory, its modern GT winning the GTE LM class exactly 50 years after the original GT40's 1-2-3 in 1966.
Although it was always intended to take its place among the world’s most desirable ultra-high performance sports cars,
make no mistake, the third generation Ford GT was conceived, designed and built with one priority in mind:
Win the 24 Hours of Le Mans on the 50th anniversary of Ford’s fabled victory at le Sarthe in 1966. So for that one..mission accomplished.



Some may say that the Ford GT LM is a masterpiece in design, echoing the iconic shape of the Ford GT40 that Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon piloted to victory in the “ronde infernal”,while taking every possible advantage of the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile’s regulations to create another Le Mans winner.
With a miniscule frontal area and dramatic “flying buttresses” the Ford GT cuts through the air on the Mulsanne Straightaway like the proverbial knife through butter
with plenty of of help from a 3.6 liter, twin turbo Ecoboost V6 engine producing 530 horsepower and 494 ft-lb torque.

Some may say that by doing so Ford has moved the goal post in GT "beyond" what was intended by the "spirit of the rules". That it is a prototype clad in GT bodywork.
In any case the combination delivered a dramatic Le Mans win in the car’s inaugural campaign, along with several other victories in World Endurance Cup and IMSA competition, indelibly stamping the Ford GT as worthy successor to its legendary namesake...and that of other goal post movers like the (mid engined) Porsche 911 evo and Toyota TS020 GT-One of two decades ago.

The Ford GT LM (3rd Gen) 1/32
With such a new Icon on the racetracks it didn't take long before both the major players in the slot, Carrera and Scalextric announced that they would do the GT LM.
As did the small volume 3DP manufacturers The Area 71 and Arrow slot. With both of them acquiring and entry for the 2017 Oxygen LM 24hrs it was the latter that was to give the Ford GT its debut in DiSCA competition (TA71 withdrew its entry two months for the race). Alas no copy of a debut victory like its big brother. 
The Arrow slot Ford faired well, the 3D printed body and chassis finishing second in class and 5th overall, but major succes came a year later when Spanish team Ditslot i3D entered a development 3DP chassis with simple slot.it pod and a similar 3DP body. They not only took first in class but also 1st place overall.

Does this make the Ford GT LM an absolute winner in the slots as well? Well it definitely has potential, its low, wide and has a long wheelbase. With slotcars in general running with the same engines and weights that's definitely an advantage. But Ditslot i3D did not claim its victory by having a much fast(er) car.
By times our Corvette C7R was faster and by a large margin Rockingham's Toyota LMP1 had the legs on the Ford GT.. at least over a single lap. 
The true merit of the Iberian team was its incredible consistency, punching out fast times lap after lap (with a slight punch left right and center), staying on track all the time and only pitting half a dozen times to change tires. It was an impressive Team result, not specifically down to the fast pace of the Ford itself.
 



The Road to Le Mans, [b]1/32[/b]
As I post this its just 9 weeks till the 8th edition of the DiSCA Le Mans 24hrs, some of you that have read my other post will know that for the past six months "my road" to Le Mans was heading in a totally different direction, or should I say a totally different car. Although good progress has been made on the BMW M8 GTE  project, the M6 GT LM test car winning its class and 3rd overall @ the Suzuka 6hrs, we've got some the delays on the M8 that will curtail the R&D program to such an extent that we decided to switch to plan B. And Plan B is to stick the #18 on the #68 Ford GT-LM and run that car @ the Le Mans 24hrs.

Here's an "artist impression" on what's going to be the #18 Ford Monkeytown Team NL Ford GT-LM.

 
 
#18 Ford MonkeyTown Team NL, Ford GT LM GTE
Part of the reasoning behind this late switch to another car is that we're not totally starting from scratch. The Ford GT has been on the workbench next to the BMW M6 for some weeks now a


Via this topic I hope to keep you updated on what work will be done to get our Ford which will be based on the Scalex RTR car..with a Prospeed chassis in the following 9 weeks on our road to Le Mans 1/32



To be continued
with kind regards
Tamar