28th-Aug-20, 08:32 AM
Racer Sideways SW-67 Toyota Celica LB Group 5 Turbo - DRM Championship 1977 - Harald Ertl. Available very soon. RRP £72.95
The first models of the new Toyota Celica LB Turbo are now shipping out from Racer Sideways HQ in France and should be arriving with retailers over the next couple of weeks. It is a fabulous-looking model and an excellent addition to the Sideways Group 5 grid...
The Group 5 Toyota Celica LB Turbo was built and prepared for Toyota Deutschland by Schnitzer to compete in the 1977 Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft (DRM) series. Plagued by reliability issues, the Celica was only entered for the final three races of the ten-race DRM season. It proved no match for the dominant Porsche 935s, although it did pick up a non-championship race win at Zolder and finish fourth in the DRM Division 1 class at the final Nürburgring race in October. Driven by Harald Ertl, the car carried the #56 number and blue Rodenstock-sponsored livery at Hockenheim in July and Zolder in August - managing a total of seven laps across the two races.
Things didn't get much better for the Schnitzer Celica in 1978, Ralf Stommelen taking the start of five of the eleven races and finishing just one. The #1 car had changed from the blue to a red and white livery for the new season - a livery already planned for release by Sideways. In 1978, the LB Turbo was shipped to Japan where it was raced by TOM'S Nobuhide Tachi in the Fuji Super Silhouette series. Tachi won in the Celica's third race, but retired in all the others. The bodywork had been extensively modified - particularly at the front - but was reverted back to the Schnitzer set-up when the Trust team bought the car in 1981 and was raced for two season with moderate success by Kaoru Hoshino. With the collapse of the Silhouette series in 1984, the car disappeared - only to be discovered in the early 2000s in a Japanese junkyard.
The Celica LB Turbo was always one of the best-looking Group 5 cars in my opinion and I drooled over the various Tamiya model kits and RC cars when I was growing up. MRRC have already produced a 1/32 scale slot car version in the early 2000s, featuring several different DRM liveries - #56, 60 and 68 in blue and the #1 in red and white - and I expect to see those on the Sideways car at some point.
Underneath, the Sideways Celica features their usual Group 5 layout...
There's no doubt in my mind that it'll be another great racer on the track. To assist with racing, a number of Celica-specific accessories will be available...
SWTC/A - Sideways Celica Chassis (standard)
SWTC/A1 - Sideways Celica Chassis Flex
SWTC/B - Sideways Celica Parts (detailing parts for chassis)
SWTC/C - Sideways Celica Spoiler (standard)
SWTC/C1 - Sideways Celica Spoiler Flex
SWTC/D - Sideways Celica Transparent Parts
SWTC/E - Sideways Celica Cockpit Lexan
There is also a white kit and a separate white body kit expected soon.
The #56 Celica is available as a Pre-Order now at MRE and will be available at Gaugemaster, Pendles and other Sideways retailers soon.