Sideways Porsche 935/78
SWLE02 'Moby Dick' Limited Edition
For a few years now there have been 2 leading manufactures on the slot car market that have dominated with a winning formula of quality, high detail and finish, great engineering, blistering on-track performance and let's not forget, slots that capture our imagination. These 2 manufactures are of course Slot.it and NSR. Well the world is a dynamic place and things change, it turns out their is now a third leading manufacture, enter Racer's Sideways slot range.
2009 and Racer slot cars decides to diversify and produce a cost competitive plastic bodied slot car as an alternative to Slot.it, in fact their first range of 'Daytona Prototypes' use Slot.it running gear. The 'Daytona Prototypes' are well engineered, highly detailed and well finished slot cars but fail to capture mass appeal world wide. I have one and its a great track car (the second fastest slot to ever grace ManicSlot track) but despite this I only have one, to be honest the DP cars are a little on the ugly side and that's a problem.
2009 and Racer slot cars decides to diversify and produce a cost competitive plastic bodied slot car as an alternative to Slot.it, in fact their first range of 'Daytona Prototypes' use Slot.it running gear. The 'Daytona Prototypes' are well engineered, highly detailed and well finished slot cars but fail to capture mass appeal world wide. I have one and its a great track car (the second fastest slot to ever grace ManicSlot track) but despite this I only have one, to be honest the DP cars are a little on the ugly side and that's a problem.
Well Sideways have wised up to that limitation and have moved to a Motorsport era with mass appeal, FIA's Group 5. Hot on the success of their Ford Capri and the Lancia Beta releases, Sideways have recently released the Porsche 935/78. The 935/78 has been previously released by Carrera but not to this level, the Sideways offering is a stunning slot car in every respect. This is the Martini chrome limited edition of the 935/78 and only 1008 of them will be produced. Detail level remind me of Racer's insane attention to detail, just look at the detail on the 935's bonnet.
I'm typically not one for chrome slot cars but for some reason this one really works and I didn't hesitate when given the opportunity to add one to the collection. In the slot car aesthetics department it doesn't get any better in my opinion, well done Sideways.
From Wikipedia: 'For 1978, a third and final version of the 935 was developed, the 935/78, intended only for Le Mans. At this stage, the company leaders had decided to neglect the 15-year-old 911, Porsche had introduced the water-cooled front engine Porsche 928 and Porsche 924 models, similar to Volkswagen, which had replaced the Beetle with the Golf.
Due to the head gasket failures of the 1977 biturbo, Porsche parted with their air cooling tradition and introduced water-cooled cylinder heads in the 1978 engine, and equipped them with four valves, too. The capacity was enlarged to 3.2 L, increasing its output to typically 750 hp. The weight, which was less important on the Le Mans straights, had to be 1030 kg now.
As this track was run clockwise, the driver seat was moved over to the right side for better weight distribution and sight in right-hand corners, like Dunlop, Tertre Rouge and Mulsanne, another distinctive feature of the 1978 model.
The new car again took full advantage of a new loophole in the Group 5 rules, introduced for BMW, allowing to cut the floor to accommodate the exhaust of the front engine. As this rule applied also for the rear engine Porsche, the whole floor pan of the 911 was cut away, and the body was lowered by 10 cm (3.9 in).
The gearbox was mounted upside down to reduce the angle of the drive shafts. As the rules did not limit the forward extension of the rear aerodynamic devices, Porsche even added fairings to the doors, bridging the gap between the front and rear fenders. These were shortened later, covering only the front third of the doors.
Because of its white color and long tail shape optimised for low drag, the 935/78 was often nicknamed Moby-Dick.'
I'm typically not one for chrome slot cars but for some reason this one really works and I didn't hesitate when given the opportunity to add one to the collection. In the slot car aesthetics department it doesn't get any better in my opinion, well done Sideways.
From Wikipedia: 'For 1978, a third and final version of the 935 was developed, the 935/78, intended only for Le Mans. At this stage, the company leaders had decided to neglect the 15-year-old 911, Porsche had introduced the water-cooled front engine Porsche 928 and Porsche 924 models, similar to Volkswagen, which had replaced the Beetle with the Golf.
Due to the head gasket failures of the 1977 biturbo, Porsche parted with their air cooling tradition and introduced water-cooled cylinder heads in the 1978 engine, and equipped them with four valves, too. The capacity was enlarged to 3.2 L, increasing its output to typically 750 hp. The weight, which was less important on the Le Mans straights, had to be 1030 kg now.
As this track was run clockwise, the driver seat was moved over to the right side for better weight distribution and sight in right-hand corners, like Dunlop, Tertre Rouge and Mulsanne, another distinctive feature of the 1978 model.
The new car again took full advantage of a new loophole in the Group 5 rules, introduced for BMW, allowing to cut the floor to accommodate the exhaust of the front engine. As this rule applied also for the rear engine Porsche, the whole floor pan of the 911 was cut away, and the body was lowered by 10 cm (3.9 in).
The gearbox was mounted upside down to reduce the angle of the drive shafts. As the rules did not limit the forward extension of the rear aerodynamic devices, Porsche even added fairings to the doors, bridging the gap between the front and rear fenders. These were shortened later, covering only the front third of the doors.
Because of its white color and long tail shape optimised for low drag, the 935/78 was often nicknamed Moby-Dick.'
Want to find out more about Sideways slot cars?
No comments:
Post a Comment