Friday, October 28, 2011

The Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR (W196S) 1955 Mille Miglia Escala 1:18 Maisto












The Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR (W196S) was a 2-seat sports racer that took part in the 1955 World Sportscar Championship before a catastrophic crash and fire at Le Mans later that year ended its domination prematurely.

Designated "SL-R" (for Sport Leicht-Rennen, eng: Sport Light-Racing, later condensed to "SLR"), the 3-litre engine was derived from the company's Mercedes-Benz W196 Formula One racer. It shared most of its drivetrain and chassis with the 196's fuel-injected 2,496.87 cc straight 8 bored and stroked to 2,981.70 cc and boosted to 310 bhp (230 kW).

The W196s monoposto driving position was modified to standard two-abreast seating, headlights were added, and a few other changes made to adapt a strictly track competitor to a 24-hour road/track sports racer.

Two of the nine 300 SLR rolling chassis produced were converted into 300 SLR/300 SL hybrids. Effectively road legal racers, they had coupé styling, gull-wing doors, and a footprint midway between the two models.

When Mercedes cancelled its racing programme after the Le Mans disaster, the hybrid project was shelved. Company design chief Rudolf Uhlenhaut, architect of both the 300 SLR racer and the hybrids, appropriated one of the leftover mules as his personal driver. Capable of approaching 290 km/h (180 mph), the Uhlenhaut Coupé was far and away the fastest road car in the world in its day.

Friday, October 21, 2011

1993 Chevrolet Montecarlo Nascar Terry Labonte Racing Champions 1:24









Terrance Lee Labonte (born November 16, 1956) is an American former stock car driver who raced from 1978 to 2014 in the former NASCAR Winston Cup and Sprint Cup Series (now called the NASCAR Cup Series). A two-time Cup Series champion and 1989 IROC champion, he is the older brother of 2000 Cup Series champion Bobby Labonte, and the father of former Nationwide Series driver Justin Labonte. He also co-owns a Chevrolet dealership in Greensboro, North Carolina with Rick Hendrick. He appeared on the CBS series The Dukes of Hazzard in 1984, where he played an unnamed pit crew member. After leaving Hagan Racing in 1993, Terry Labonte was signed to Hendrick Motorsports in 1994, where he began driving the No. 5 Kellogg's-sponsored Chevrolet Lumina. In 1995, the team switched to Chevrolet Monte Carlos and won three races including the fall Goody's 500 event at Bristol, where the front of Labonte's car was wrecked after Dale Earnhardt crashed into him in the final lap. In 1996, he broke Richard Petty’s streak for consecutive races after winning at North Wilkesboro. Despite only two victories, Labonte went on to win the championship, a record-setting twelve years after his first. Driving with a broken hand during the last two races of the season, Labonte and his younger brother Bobby were able to perform a dual victory lap at Atlanta Motor Speedway in the last race of the season; Bobby won the race and Terry won the championship on this race, making it the only time a driver and his sibling won the race and the championship at the same time.

Friday, October 14, 2011

1993 Mazda RX-7 Motormax 1:24










The Mazda RX-7 is a front/mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive, rotary engine-powered sports car that was manufactured and marketed by Mazda from 1978 to 2002 across three generations, all of which made use of a compact, lightweight Wankel rotary engine.

The first generation of the RX-7, SA, was a two-seater 2 door hatchback coupé. It featured a 12A carbureted rotary engine as well as the option for a 13B with electronic fuel injection in later years.

The second generation of RX-7, known as the FC, was offered as a 2-seater coupé with a 2+2 option available in some markets, as well as in a convertible bodystyle. This was powered by the 13B rotary engine, offered in naturally aspirated or turbocharged forms.

The third generation of the RX-7, known as the FD, was also a 2-seater coupé. This featured a sequentially turbocharged 13B REW engine. This also featured the 2+2 seating option in some markets.

The RX-7 made Car and Driver magazine's Ten Best list five times. More than 800,000 were manufactured over its lifetime.

Friday, October 7, 2011

1980 Chevrolet Corvette C3 Stingray Hot Wheels Mattel Inc. Hong Kong 1:64











The Chevrolet Corvette (C3) is a sports car that was produced from 1967 to 1982 by Chevrolet for the 1968 to 1982 model years. Engines and chassis components were mostly carried over from the previous generation, but the body and interior were new. It set new sales records with 53,807 produced for the 1979 model year.[4] The C3 is the third generation of the Chevrolet Corvette, and marks the second time the Corvette would carry the Stingray name, though only for the 1969 - 1976 model years. This time it was a single word as opposed to Sting Ray as used for the 1963 - 1967 C2 generation. The name would then be retired until 2014 when it returned with the release of the C7.