[woodcote]

   

As someone who has a copy of The Unfair Advantage by my bedside and a few Sunoco #6 slot cars on my shelves, this car is so very wrong (Ford? Mustang?!), but is also so very right. Sideways have come up with a fabulous tribute livery and it has me drooling. Donohue didn't live to see the IMSA GTX Mustang Turbos race - he died forty-five years ago this summer. If he had survived his accident at the Österreichring, perhaps he would have ended up in a Ford - with Sunoco sponsorship and the #6? The Racer Sideways model is certainly a striking and imaginative tribute to one of the great American racing drivers...

       

Ford introduced the Mustang to take on the all-conquering Porsche 935s in the 1981 IMSA Camel GT series. A Zakspeed Capri underneath, the revised bodywork paid a speculative nod to the Mustang road car. Maybe an acquired taste for some, but I love these big, boxy silhouette Group 5 cars. Klaus Ludwig was scheduled as the star driver and produced some outstanding performances for the Zakspeed-Roush team. However, reliability issues meant he finished a lowly tenth in the standings. With an upgraded 675bhp engine the factory Ford car continued to race and win in 1982.

Only 696 of the HC08 Mustang Turbo - Sunoco Decoration Edition Limited have been produced -  and some of those are available now in the UK - RRP £72.96 - at Gaugemaster, Pendle Slot Racing and MRE.