[woodcote]

   

I was chatting to Andrea at NSR a couple of months ago about an article I was writing for Slot Car Magazine. I asked him about some of the rather tasty authentic liveries that have appeared on NSR cars over recent years - and he admitted the company do have half an eye on the "collection side" of their range, although their primary focus remains "making slot cars as fastest as possible" - that's the raison d'être of NSR and always will be. Given the string of historically important - and sometimes historically quirky - liveries on their classic Porsches and Ford, including numerous limited edition models and twin packs, I was surprised to see the launch of a new 'Historic Line' range this week...

       

NSR claim the range comes from a desire to celebrate cars and personalities that have contributed to motorsport history on tracks like the Nürburgring, Le Mans, Daytona and Sebring. Each release comes in a collectors' box and contains an information card with a silhouette drawing and short technical description of the car and its history in the race the livery is from. The first two cars pay tribute to Can-Am privateer Vasek Polak - the Czech-born Porsche dealer, racer and team owner being a perfect subject for any historic collection...

       


These two 1973 Can-Am Porsche 917/10k cars are offered individually as limited editions of 999 units each. There's the #0 driven by Jody Scheckter all season and the #3 driven by Brian Redman at the final race at Riverside...

       

Although the race these cars appeared at is not specified on the NSR website, on Facebook it's claimed the cars are "driven by Jody Scheckter and Brian Redman on the 1973 Can-Am Championship Road Atlanta circuit. Scheckter finished third while Redman failed to finish the race." Scheckter certainly did finish third at Road Atlanta - the second race of the season, but Redman only appeared at the final event at Riverside. It was Steve Dunst who drove the #3 Vasek Polak Racing car at Road Atlanta, albeit with different bodywork to the NSR 917/10k. Redman did have the updated body for Riverside and NSR have captured the livery perfectly, so that makes it an authentic model for that race. At Riverside, Redman ran a strong second, until  broken suspension gave him a nasty fright - whereas Scheckter had mangled the front of his 917 early on, preventing a shot at third place in championship.

And price? These Historic Line releases are going have a collectors' premium. Both the Vasek Polak Porsches are listed at £100 on the UK distributor's website - that compares with £87.95 for last year's Vaillant Interserie livery. The latter is arguably a rather more attractive colour scheme and of equal historic importance - three-time Interserie champion Herbert Müller did win the 1975 title with that car. To be honest, I'm still scratching my head a little... It seems NSR are already cashing in on a growing collectors' market for their models - particularly the classic Porsches and Fords. I guess this will be testing the water on whether those collectors will pay an extra 15% premium on what's already an expensive car - expensive because it's a premium slot racing car rather than a detailed scale model. The subject of this first release might also indicate where that potential market is located.

This pair of 'Historic Line' Vasek Polak Porsche 917/10K models are on their way to distributors and retailers now.

[Anthony B]

Hmmm Jody Scheckter - might have to get these - pity about the helmets....

[Alcopa]

Hello -- Thanks for the great write up -- I believe it was Steve Durst who drove at Road Atlanta - he had been a privateer in the Can Am for quite some time.  And the drivers -- good god - why do they persist with these 1/43 spacemen???  Luckily there are replacements...   I will get Jody's car for certain as I was planning on building from white version anyway ----