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Racer Sideways SWCAR01J Lamborghini Huracán GT3 #100 'Attempto Racing' 24 Hours of Spa 2016. RRP £74.95. Available July 2021.

I'm a big fan of the Sideways Lamborghini - it looks fabulous and is great fun to drive. The real-life Huracán GT3 has been an important part of the international GT scene since its introduction in 2015. Developed alongside Dallara, the GT3 is powered by a 5.2-litre normally-aspirated V10 which sounds utterly sublime. Although never dominating any series, the Huracán has picked up plenty of wins around the world - the highlight almost certainly the GTD class victory for Grasser Racing at the 2018 24 Hours of Daytona. An Evo version was with updated bodywork arrived for 2019, so Racer are confined to the 2015-2019 liveries for their Sideways Huracán models.

       

I make this the tenth livery on the Sideways Huracán. All are pretty special and make a very colourful grid. This latest addition is no exception - another Blancpain entry, this time specifically from the 2016 24 Hours of Spa. The German Attempto Racing team entered the blue NEC-sponsored #100 Huracán into the Pro-Am class, the car driven by Belgian Louis Machiels, Italian Giovanni Venturini, plus Dutch racers Jeroen Mul and Max van Splunteren. Early Pro-Am leaders, the Attempto Racing team ran comfortably in the top half of the field until an unfortunate collision on Sunday morning put them in the pits to repair front-end damage, as you'll see in the highlights video below (4m38s)...



The car rejoined the race and finished in fifty-second place on 415 laps - 116 behind the winners, the Rowe Racing BMW M6 of Alexander Sims, Philipp Eng and Maxime Martin.

   

The livery on the Sidewinder model is nice, but from the photos I've been able to find of the Spa race, it's only an approximation. The light blue areas are too light and should be a chromed/metallic paint. The darker blue areas should be a matt/satin finish. These complex paint jobs are common on the current crop of GT cars and slot car manufacturers successfully recreate them - the mix of different finishes certainly gives a satisfying 'wow' factor. Racer managed it on the wonderful metallic gold/matt black Raton Racing Huracán, so I'm not sure what happened here. The black areas on the #100 car do seem to be a matt finish, but no metallic blue. Putting that aside, there is plenty of detail on the car - and I do like it a lot.

   

Underneath is the the Racer Sideways GT layout that is carried through to the recent BMW M6 GT3, brand new Ford GT GTE and the forthcoming Aston Martin Vantage GT3/GTE. What you get is the 17k 'Baby Raptor' motor in an anglewinder motor mount - the mount has up to 7 anchor points to the chassis. Front axle height and body height (front and back) are easily adjustable - and the chassis stiffness can be adjusted via four clips. Front wheels are plastic and the rears are 'air system' aluminium hubs. The Huracán's wheelbase is 85mm, rear track 64mm and it weighs in at 85g.

The 17k motor is fun to drive on big club tracks - especially in single-make events - but is particularly suited for home layouts. It can be upgraded with any long-can or flat-can motor should you want to. There is no traction magnet included.

The Attempto Racing Huracán GT3 is expected to be with retailers next month. It is available for pre-order in the UK at Top Slots 'n' Trains and Gaugemaster.