[woodcote]

GT fans have been waiting for the Sideways BMW M6 GT3 for a couple of years, but the release of the white kit is not far away now. Despite current delays in China, all the parts for the kit are now in France - ready for assembly and shipping to retailers in March/April 2020. Sideways published these pictures on their Facebook page this week...

       

       

       

The fantasy Jägermeister livery looks like it might be one of the first fully-decorated M6 releases, but there are loads of potential real-life liveries for Sideways to choose from. In terms of the white kit, I counted twenty-nine sets of BMW M6 GT3 decals ready to order at Pattos Place. Since 2016, the M6 GT3 has been raced in GT series in all corners of the world, including in the IMSA GTD class. The only GTD M6 in 2020 is the Liqui Moly-sponsored Turner Motorsport car...

       

The M6 GT3 has also participated in the FIA GT World Cup in Macau - the #42 car pictured above at the 2018 race was driven to victory by Augusto Farfus.

The Sideways car is not the first 1/32 scale BMW M6 slot car. Carrera's M6 has features some nice liveries, including the 2016 Spa 24-hour winner...

       

Apart from the white kit (SWCAR03K), a competition rubber rear wing (SWM6/C1) and Lexan cockpit (SWM6/E) will be available. Details of prices have not been announced as yet. Sideways have gone public to say that the coronavirus outbreak will further delay their long-awaited Nissan Skyline and Toyota Celica models. Keep an eye out on the Sideways Facebook page for more news.

[Savage GT]

I am really hoping these are just a matter of a few days away, already have a livery in mind for the M6.
The Skyline could possibly be first or maybe in the same shipment judging from their post on the 16th March.
The latest post approx. 3 hours ago does have a Skyline prominent in the picture ...

I am only to happy to see the Skyline, but as I have searched high and low and only found 2 real life liveries, and they are not dissimilar to each other, I can only imagine Sideways plans a good few fantasy liveries to get some of that investment back. Mind you charging the same price for the Group 5 as the technically superior GT3 cars helps I guess ;)

[slotloco]

Mind you charging the same price for the Group 5 as the technically superior GT3 cars helps I guess ;)

I am curious Savage.  What do you think are the differences that make the GT3 models "technically superior" to the group 5 cars.

[Tamar]

Totally missed this topic here on Slotracer online, but made some extensive post on..well you know 

First of all thanks Andy for composing a thorough post with good pictures and text, much appreciated.
If you have good contact with the guys at Sideways, please convey the following... a copy of what I've already posted on SF

"Based on their accurate Gr-5's and the wonderful Lambo, I was really looking forward to this car when they announced it. 
Was expecting a light and well proportioned M6, no need to spend hours with the Dremel, no need to buy an aftermarket chassis.
But as the Sideways M6 GT3  is now...with the roof chop and the increased width....said proportions are really stretched to the limit of what I would call acceptable

Its a shame though, Sideways has a very good reputation where it comes to "True Scale" models. And besides the roof chop the M6 really looks good and accurate.
I don't know, maybe someone at Sideways got cold feet, worries that the M6 might be too tall to be competitive in the GT3 field, or maybe too over ambitious, trying to out perform their own Huracan.
Whatever the reason, from a competition point of view the ≠ 2,5 mm roof chop is overkill, totally unnecessary. The amount of material that's lowered to improve the Centre of Gravity minimal.
(as the main mass of the car body remains unchanged)

On a slot car a higher CG is not always a disadvantage, as we found out while testing our Scalex Ford GT LM. "Ultra Leggere"
After all the efforts I made to get the bodyweight down so we could place ballast down low...we noticed that it actually ran faster with ballast mounted high in the body.

I.m.o a missed opportunity, as Sideways has the tools and parts to make good competitive slot cars with respect of the overall proportions.
The M6 is a big and tall car, but it also has a long wheel and guide base. So it will never be as nimble on turn in as a Mclaren or a Huracan...

...but coming out of a corner...you would be able to floor it earlier. 
Ask me how I know  "

I also posted that there is a precedent where a major manufacturer responded to critique about a model...NSR's Ford GT40 MKII.

@ Slotloco: 
Gr5 was top of the line in the 70's, that's half a century ago. As such so are the car models and their scaled down Slotcar bodies.
Most of the Gr5 cars were basically touring cars with monstrously flared wheel arches, "silhouette" Tech rules implied that roofline and windows must maintain original from.
As such most of Gr5 cars are higher than current GT3 cars.
On the Slotrace Technical side both the Huracan and the M6 have "slotted" chassis. The intention of these is to create a form of adjustable flex in the chassis.
Although stock chassis "just" have open slots...its a plug & play set up to mount some form of spring or retainer nuts to stiffen or loosen the flex of the chassis to reduce or increase grip.


With kind regards
Tamar

[slotloco]

@ Slotloco: 
Gr5 was top of the line in the 70's, that's half a century ago. As such so are the car models and their scaled down Slotcar bodies.
Most of the Gr5 cars were basically touring cars with monstrously flared wheel arches, "silhouette" Tech rules implied that roofline and windows must maintain original from.
As such most of Gr5 cars are higher than current GT3 cars.
On the Slotrace Technical side both the Huracan and the M6 have "slotted" chassis. The intention of these is to create a form of adjustable flex in the chassis.
Although stock chassis "just" have open slots...its a plug & play set up to mount some form of spring or retainer nuts to stiffen or loosen the flex of the chassis to reduce or increase grip.


With kind regards
Tamar

Savage was talking comparative price of two slot cars. - Nothing to do with the era the models reproduce.
Therefore I took his comment to mean that the GT3 cars are technically superior to the Group 5 cars, so the Group 5 models should be cheaper

Hence my query

I'm pretty familiar with the actual cars, I have watched them race

Savage ?

[Savage GT]

Mind you charging the same price for the Group 5 as the technically superior GT3 cars helps I guess ;)

I am curious Savage.  What do you think are the differences that make the GT3 models "technically superior" to the group 5 cars.

Hi sorry for the late reply, without the email notification now I have to remember to check the threads !
Where I feel the GT3 cars are technically better over the GRP5 (in Sideways slot form).
1. Much better/stronger pods system IMO.
2. Air hub rear wheels
3. Rear rubber that does not need changing for competitive traction on routed "wood" tracks.
4. Flex cut out lines in the chassis.

Now, I wouldn't want Sideways to change anything on the group 5's because its good (IMO) to have all cars in that series to be on as equal footing as possible OOTB.

Our club runs Grp5 and GT3 in one class, with a restricted list of allowed motors and must be inline.
I can just swap to inline and use all other standard parts on the Lambo and it will be on pace.
The Grp5 I have to swap rears for air hubs and install either the Sideways Gt3 tyres or NSR ultras.
Again not complaining as I like the reasons why Sideways build them like that, but I would personally feel the Grp5 should be a little bit cheaper.
Or it may be that the GT3's are getting the other parts free, then again, I guess the actual cost to Sideways for the parts is a lot less than the difference we pay ;)

[Savage GT]

And yes the BMW has been visibly squashed at the roofline, much as I don't mind a little bit of fudging to keep performance, to me, its a little overdone.
I am sure they could be close enough in performance to the Lambo without quite such a serious chop.
But hey, I will still get one.
They are in stock in Spanish sellers, so hopefully the UK deliveries will be arriving anyday (along with the Grp5 Skyline, which TBH I am looking forward to more) 

[Tamar]

Regardless of Sideways roofchop, I'm also looking forward to receive my copy.
But for me the challenge will be more to see if I can match or even better the Sideways M6 performance with my
"modified" Carrera M6 and Prospeed chassis ;)

with kind regards
Tamar

[Tamar]

Look what DHL dropped in front of my door yesterday (corona procedures) 

In the mean while I have unwrapped the box, and did some trail fitting of the M6 White kit. 
Have some assessments and could write a post with some assembly tips
as there are certainly some points of attention on how to assemble the white kit.
If attended to properly, these will correct/improve some of the alleged "off scale" appearances of the Sideways M6.

Although I still feel that most of the "slottification" on the Sideways M6 was unnecessary, now that I have had it in my hands and been able to compare it with the Carrera M6...
...the "slottification" is in the range of the SCX AstonMartin DBR9 vs the Black Arrow, or the Scalex AMG GT3 vs the NSR.

I will prepare a post on the Sideways BMW M6 in the review section. Will post a link when it goes online.

With kind regards
Tamar





 
with kind regards
Tamar
 

[slotloco]

Mind you charging the same price for the Group 5 as the technically superior GT3 cars helps I guess ;)

I am curious Savage.  What do you think are the differences that make the GT3 models "technically superior" to the group 5 cars.

Hi sorry for the late reply, without the email notification now I have to remember to check the threads !
Where I feel the GT3 cars are technically better over the GRP5 (in Sideways slot form).
1. Much better/stronger pods system IMO.
2. Air hub rear wheels
3. Rear rubber that does not need changing for competitive traction on routed "wood" tracks.
4. Flex cut out lines in the chassis.

Now, I wouldn't want Sideways to change anything on the group 5's because its good (IMO) to have all cars in that series to be on as equal footing as possible OOTB.

Our club runs Grp5 and GT3 in one class, with a restricted list of allowed motors and must be inline.
I can just swap to inline and use all other standard parts on the Lambo and it will be on pace.
The Grp5 I have to swap rears for air hubs and install either the Sideways Gt3 tyres or NSR ultras.
Again not complaining as I like the reasons why Sideways build them like that, but I would personally feel the Grp5 should be a little bit cheaper.
Or it may be that the GT3's are getting the other parts free, then again, I guess the actual cost to Sideways for the parts is a lot less than the difference we pay ;)

Gotcha, good comparison list
Some relevant to our local racing, some not, so I hadn't thought about comparing the two ranges like that.

Tamar - I look forward to your review and especially the tips on assembly - will save me having to unpack my 3 remaining brain cells to figure it out :)