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Topic starter
15/06/2021 9:58 am
I collect Le Mans Winning cars. Many of these were purchased as you see them but a significant number of mine were self built from Provence Moulage, Starter and Automany resin kits produced in France. All the winners that I will show over the next few weeks were hand built by me. I'll fill in the missing years later with other hand builds, not built by me.
1949 24 Hours of Le Mans
The 1949 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 17th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 25 and 26 June 1949. Luigi Chinetti won the race for a third time in the first Ferrari 166 MM barchetta by driving 22.5 hours.
This was the first race held at the circuit following the end of World War II. Even though the war had ended four years prior, major infrastructure reconstruction throughout France meant that the return of the race was of secondary concern, and thus was not run until after France had established itself again. Following the end of the war the circuit needed extensive repairs. During the war the RAF, then the Luftwaffe, had used the airfield by the pits, as well as the 5 km back straight as a temporary airstrip (thereby also making it a target for Allied bombing). So it was four years before the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) was in a position to revive the great race. Assisted with money from the government, the pits and grandstand had been rebuilt, a new 1000-seat restaurant and administration centre built and the whole track was resurfaced.
For the Italian-born Chinetti, who had emigrated to America after the war, this was his third Le Mans victory (the second man to do so after Woolf Barnato’s trio of victories for Bentley). He had driven for nearly 23 hours – no mean feat for the 47-year old – which was the reverse of his first win in 1932, when he had been ill and Raymond Sommer had to do most of the driving. Mitchell-Thompson, after finishing 4th in the 1939 race and victory here, won the Biennial Cup.
It was the first victory for a V12 engine, and until the Porsche victory in 2015 with its 2.0L hybrid-turbo, the Ferrari 1995cc engine was the smallest engine to win Le Mans outright. Such overachievement also meant a clear victory in the Index of Performance, giving a clean sweep to Ferrari of all the silverware – a spectacular effort for a company competing in its very first Le Mans, not matched until McLaren’s comprehensive win at first attempt in 1995.
15/06/2021 10:22 am
Great job on the Starter kit! Are the wheels from the kit too? They are nice!
Topic starter
15/06/2021 10:31 am
The wheels here are from the kit. I have noted a variation in wheel quality over the years in the kits. I suspect they were by a third party for Starter.
15/06/2021 1:17 pm
Ixo made a very fine diecast of the Selsdon-Chinetti winner. I like the dash and its steering wheel with the rivets picked out. My skills would not have been up to the task on a kit.
I have a few of the also-rans by Spark - the 2nd and 4th place Delages and the 6th place Bentley Emiricos. Only pic I have is the 4th place car.
Topic starter
15/06/2021 4:57 pm
Hi Harv,
That IXO Ferrari is a very nice model. I have it also along with the Art Model version and a still to be built MG Models white metal kit. I note the different coloured seats on the IXO. It seems, like the 1951 Jaguar winner, there are no definitive colour photographs of the seats so seat colours in models vary.
A few years ago, I had a spray booth and lots of practice and I was quite pleased with my work, especially with resin. Now, not so much with my current building with painting being less pleasing. I've been buying more ready-builts which have improved greatly.
I neglected to credit Lord Seldon as the other driver of this winning Ferrari. Peter Michell-Thompson, the 2nd Baron Seldon was owner of the #22 Ferrari, had driven a few laps during the night, but some sort of weird racing karma had visited Chinetti. Selsdon was unwell and Chinetti began his semi-solo grind driving all but 90 minutes of the 24 hour race.
15/06/2021 6:58 pm
Great series of models and really looking forward to all of them!
Topic starter
16/06/2021 9:57 am
Here are two more models from the 1949 Le Mans Race.
First is the 1939 Embiricos Bentley #6 made by Lansdowne Models (LDM105B) that came in 6th overall.
Next is the Art Model (Diorama ART909) Ferrari 166 MM Spider Car #22 winning car.
Art Models made this one with black seats.
Topic starter
23/06/2021 10:04 am
I collect Le Mans Winning cars. Many of these were purchased as you see them but a significant number of mine were self built from Provence Moulage, Starter and Automany resin kits produced in France. All the winners that I will show over the next few weeks were hand built by me. I'll fill in the missing years later with other hand builds, not built by me.
1951 24 Hours of Le Mans
The 1951 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 19th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 23 and 24 June 1951. It was won by Peter Walker and Peter Whitehead in their works-entered Jaguar C-type, the first Le Mans win for the marque.
The arrival of Jaguar's and Cunningham's first purpose-built racers in direct competition with Ferrari, and the first showing for Porsche and Lancia, marked the beginning of an era of intense competition between manufacturers of sports cars. The more powerful new sport racers would develop rapidly and put a final end to luxury touring cars and their derivatives as top contenders at Le Mans. It was the final outing for Delahaye and Bentley (for 50 years) and the sports prototype tide would overwhelm Talbot-Lago in the next couple of years.
In the end, the Jaguar won at a canter, with a 9-lap lead over the Talbot. Despite 16 hours of rain, the Jaguar easily broke the distance record, covering over 3600 km.
The popular American adage of the time – “Win on Sunday, sell on Monday” – was particularly apt for Jaguar. It was later estimated that extra sales of US$12 million were generated in the USA alone from their Le Mans win.
Here is the Peter Walker and Peter Whitehead Winning #20 Jaguar C-type by Provence Moulage as built by me from resin kit.
23/06/2021 12:54 pm
David skipped 1950, but here is the winner, the Talbot-Lago T26 GS driven by Louis and Jean-Louis Rosier. This was a modified version of the 4.5-liter grand prix car, with cycle fenders, lights, and what could be considered seating for two, as Le Mans required. A similar car placed second. An excellent replica by Spark.
Briggs Cunningham brought two Cadillacs, a sedan nicknamed 'Petit Petaud' (small puppy) and a slab-sided aerodynamic two-seater nicknamed 'Le Monstre'. The sedan placed 10th (Collier brothers), ahead of the 11th-place open car (Cunningham/Walters), which suffered some accident damage. Models by Spark and Bizarre, respectively. Note the exhaust soot on the side of Le Monstre - a nice touch and authentic based on race photos. Those radio antennas are for what may be the first use of driver-pit communications in an auto race.
I have a few other 1950 entrants, but only these two with available pics. Three of the new Jaguar XK120s made the race, all privately entered. No. 15, driven by Peter Clark and Nick Haines, placed 12th. Ferrari showed up with both 166 MM and 195 S entrants, but did not do so well. No. 26 was a DNF, with clutch failure after 44 laps.
23/06/2021 1:11 pm
I have photos of four of the 1951 cars in my collection. Quartzo made some nice diecasts of the XK120 C-Type, and I have not felt compelled to upgrade to the Spark version.
Chinetti's entry of a 166 MM coupe placed 15th (Art Model). Bizarre made the MG Ex172 entered by George Phillips which DNF'd. This was a rebodied MG TD, but the shape foretold the MGA that would come three years later.
Topic starter
24/06/2021 10:49 am
1951 Cunningham C-2R #4 Le Mans car by Provence Moulage.
American sportsman, Briggs Swift Cunningham, was determined to win the 24 Hours of LeMans race with an American car. Cunningham had made his first attempt to do so with Cadillac cars in 1950.
Cunningham decided to build his own cars and established the B. S. Cunningham Company in West Palm Beach, Florida in late 1950. There he built a prototype car, known as the Cunningham C-1 to develop the basics for the LeMans car, and from that car, he then went on the build the Cunningham C-2R.
By the time work began on the C-2R, a supply of engines and the expected help from Cadillac had evaporated, so Briggs Cunningham called on an old Yale classmate, Bob Keller (the son of K.T. Keller, who had succeeded Walter P. Chrysler as president of the company), and suddenly Chrysler engines were made available to Cunningham at a 40-percent discount.
Chassis details of the C-1 and C-2R were identical, with Cadillac drum brakes, Chrysler Oriflow shock absorbers backed up by Houdaille lever-action units, and Chrysler worm-and-sector steering, modified to provide 2.75 turns lock-to-lock.
As delivered, the Chrysler engines produced 180 HP, but compression was raised from 7.5 to 8.6:1 (using Cadillac rods and pistons!) and a log-type manifold carrying four downdraft Zenith carbs was installed, resulting in 220 HP. Additional testing and development of cam timing, plus intake and exhaust porting, raised power to 270 HP by the time the cars ran to victory at Watkins Glen and Elkhart Lake in 1951. Cunningham never produced cars in high numbers. Cunningham only built a total of three C-2R cars all of which he entered into the 1951 24 Hours of LeMans.
These early Cunninghams were fast, a C-2R reportedly being clocked at 152 mph during the Le Mans race, but they were far too heavy and put an exorbitant load on tires, brakes and clutches – a problem the Cunningham crew could not solve with the state of the art at the time. The #4 Cunningham C-2R driven by John Fitch and Phil Walters was not classified as its last lap was too slow due to mechanical issues (Would have bee 15th is not disqualified) in 1951 while the other two failed to complete the race.
Here is the 1951 Cunningham C-2R #4 driven by John Fitch and Phil Walters. This was a build about 25 years ago by me from a Provence Moulage of France resin kit.
I used a clear coat on this one which thankfully did not yellow with age. I do not recommend clear coating. If you do it, make sure that you use the same type of paint as the colour coat. This one, I think, was acrylic. Even this with time has started to chip away on the underside of the model.
24/06/2021 11:36 am
I have the Bizarre model of C2-R #4, no pic yet.
Topic starter
28/06/2021 10:22 am
1952 24 Hours of Le Mans
The 1952 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 20th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 14–15 June 1952 at Circuit de la Sarthe.
After 22 years away, Mercedes-Benz returned in triumph, scoring a 1–2 victory with their new gull-wing Mercedes-Benz W194 which was equipped with a 3.0L S6 engine that had less power than the road car sold two years later (165 hp). Drivers were Hermann Lang and Karl Kling.
Aston Martin, with their DB3, joined Ferrari, Jaguar, Mercedes-Benz, and Cunningham in the top-level sports prototype game, setting the stage for the rivalries that provided so much drama during the rest of the decade.
This race was notable in that Pierre Levegh (Pierre Bouillin) attempted to drive the entire 24 Hours by himself – and almost won. Exhausted in the 24th hour, he missed a downshift in his Talbot-Lago and over-revved the engine, breaking a connecting rod. Antonio Lago carried a piece of the broken rod with him for several years thereafter as a keepsake.
By nightfall all three Jaguars were out of the race in a dramatic change of fortune to the previous year.
The race was quietly running down to its conclusion, with the home crowd looking forward to a second French victory in four years. But then suddenly, with just over an hour to go, "Levegh's" Talbot came to a halt at Maison Blanche about a mile from the pits. Driving without a working rev-counter, it is uncertain whether either the engine issues finally broke it, or through sheer exhaustion, he missed a gear-change and over-revved the engine catastrophically. But such was his lead it still took 20 minutes for the second-placed Mercedes-Benz to get ahead on distance. A final twist saw the Aston Martin retire, moving the Nash-Healey of Johnson/Wisdom up to 3rd ahead of Briggs Cunningham's own car and the recovering Ferrari of Simon / Vincent. Like many, Cunningham had been nursing a slipping clutch through most of the race, driving for 20 hours himself gradually moving up the order.
So Mercedes-Benz were as surprised as anyone to have the 1-2 victory. This was the first win for a closed-body car, and for a German manufacturer.
Here is my build of the Le Mans Winning #21 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL, driven by Hermann Lang and Karl Kling, from a STARTER resin kit.
28/06/2021 12:28 pm
Once again, a very nice summary of the race David. I once owned the horrid John Day kit of the winner, having an awful two piece-white metal body. I replaced this with his cleaner Equipe version, but before construction, sold this in favor of a French handbuilt resin version, the maker was probably Belle Epoque, though I am no longer sure. This gave way for the diecast zamac version by Max Models (made by PMA/Minichamps) putting a stop to all my upgrades through the years. Someone would have to make a high-grade one with operating features for me to go for a 5th version! When I sold the resin model, there was enough left over to get the other two tram 300SLs, No. 20 (2nd) and 22 (DNF), but no pics of these yet.
Topic starter
28/06/2021 7:24 pm
Hi Harv,
I really like that Max Models version. I have it too. One slightly different model of the winning 300SL was by Bang. During pit stops a handle was evidently attached to the car on the right rear to assist leaving the pits. This must have been easily removed or added as no racing images that I can can find, show it. The Bang version has the handle attached.
Here is image of the 1952 race start with no Mercedes-Benz in sight at this point..
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