[GDSLOT]

Got lucky some months ago and fetched some Indycals for a pair of 956 K that I haven’t got in the paddock yet.

The Lemans Winner has eluded me for so long wether the scarce of the model or the scarce of money 😅, for its a pricey car.

The Nurburgring car was unknown to me till this year that saw some pics and vids of it and being a Senna fan, had to get it on my paddock.

So, with the full intention to get them finished asap, put my hands to world, sanding and priming was a must and in the Senna model had to add a bit of plasticard to make the wing actually look bigger (I believe it was a long wing or high wing as Laurence pointed out about short and long wing differences.)

Then came the masking which I hate as it’s the hardest part of any paint job and if not done properly, the risk of leaks messing with other layers is high.

Then yellow and black as a second color, here had an accident with the black paint on the Lemans Winner, seems it’s not to good the quality of the rattle Can I used (a cheap one I forgot it was for scenery😬) and didn’t adhere to the model; had to sand a bit and clean with IPA and then use the airbrush with Tamiya Black; at the end it almost got it right but perhaps will need a bit of fine sanding (3000grit) before applying the urethane clear.

For now it’s all I have as I have to prepare some cars for an endurance race being held tomorrow at ArrowSlot track, will update as soon as posible.

Cheers

 

[Quark]

A comment regarding "leaks" creeping under masking. Apply a thin coat of clear, airbrush preferably, against the edge of the masking. That helps a great deal in sealing it against potential leaks.

 

[Trisha]

Nice progress, Daniel. The bodyshells look wonderful. The perfect pair of Group C cars.

 

[GDSLOT]

A comment regarding "leaks" creeping under masking. Apply a thin coat of clear, airbrush preferably, against the edge of the masking. That helps a great deal in sealing it against potential leaks.

Yep, did it as you said mate, I read about that trick some months ago and have been doing so since 😉

 

[GDSLOT]

Nice progress, Daniel. The bodyshells look wonderful. The perfect pair of Group C cars.

Thanks Laurence! 😉
Is it just me or the wing of the Senna car was bigger and taller than any standard high wing Porsche ?

 

[GRUNZ]

I second Quark comment. SInce doing that, all my masking jobs have worked pretty well.
Good progress so far. Not an easy livery.

 

[Trisha]

As far as I recall, Daniel, the height of the Senna tail wing was the same as the standard wings. Reinhold used to moan about the cost of Porsche components, so I can't imagine that he paid for a special tail to be built.

 

[Trisha]

The 1984 Le Mans winning car in 1:43-scale I bought at Le Mans nearly 20 years ago. Glad that slot cars aren't this detailed. Jus' sayin'.

 

[tangerinedream]

Very nice car the Joest 956, 1984 was my first visit to LM, went on a five day coach trip via Goodwood travel, doesn't seem that long ago, already got accomodation booked for next year.

 

[Trisha]

Henri Pescarolo en route to his fourth Le Mans win in 1984. A truly great year in Porsche Sarthe lore.

 

[driver#8]

Thanks Laurence! 😉
Is it just me or the wing of the Senna car was bigger and taller than any standard high wing Porsche ?

The short answer is no, there was never a taller rear wing because the high downforce body was already at the maximum height within the regs.

Joest, though, did some clever stuff. The 'Senna car' is chassis 956-104, one from first batch of customer 956s built for 1983 were sold as 'the same specification that crossed the line 1-2-3 at Le Mans' in 1982. And this was an accurate sales pitch - what the teams collected from Weissach was a low downforce 956 sitting on Dunlops with the basic analogue fuel injection. Spares package? Nil.

High downforce noses and rear bodywork would add close to £10,000 a set in 1983. Everything needed to get your 956 up to spec was available from the special service department set up and run by Jurgen Barth. At a price widely described by customer operators as 'astronomic'.

When Senna drove with Joest it was in one of the original 1983 builds, chassis 104, suitably updated. He didn't like driving the car at all, he complained it was too soft, too heavy and understeered a lot. But it gave him some valuable seat time on the new Nurburgring in a high performance machine prior to the German GP (having previously won the Mercedes 190 one-make race when the new 'Ring was officially opened).

Senna may not have liked it but 104 had the most amazing career, competing in every round of the World championship from 1983-86, winning the 1983 European championship with Bob Wollek and the 1986 Interserie in the hands of 'John Winter' (Louis Krages).

Joest's double Le Mans winner was 956B chassis 117. These cars were built and sold for 1984, featuring 1983 works Le Mans spec with electronic fuel injection to help meet the more stringent fuel economy regs.

In 1984, Joest won Le Mans because the factory withdrew in a huff but in 1985 the team spent a lot of money on a major development programme. New turbos, fuel injection and underbody aero were paired with some - ahem - innovative pit strategies. Working in tandem with Richard Lloyd's number 14, fuel mileage was further eked out by slipstreaming each other like a pair of NASCARs and, sure enough, victory was achieved.

117 was completely rebuilt and redesigned for 1986, the last year in which the 956 would be eligible to compete. Drivers much preferred the 956 to the 962 and the car was well placed to bid for a record-breaking third successive Le Mans win until Jo Gartner's tragic accident, after which the field was forced to trudge round behind the Safety Car forever. The unique engine that Joest had concocted for the race couldn't cope with so little air passing through it and blew up.

Fittingly, however, 117 did win the last World championship race at which the 956 was permitted to run, the 1986 Kyalami 500 km. Joest retained the car until 2018, when it was sold privately for an undisclosed sum well north of £20m to a British collector. Ol' 104 resides in Germany, where it is run in a few historic events per year wearing the Senna livery.

Only Joest and RLR modified their 956s away from factory spec - causing much annoyance in Weissach. Joest focused on the engine and underbody, RLR replaced the chassis with a stiffer honeycomb copy, added their little nose wing to the high downforce bodywork, making the rear wing a twin rather than single element to help trim this out. But in both cases the bodies retained their original shape.

With that in mind, I would be seriously tempted to find a 956 KH body kit to build your Senna car. I applaud the work done to create one from an LH body, but the length of the cars was the same, it was the profile of the rear overhang that was quite different (as well as the height of the wing). You're certainly creating something unique and wouldn't want to detract from that, but it will look rather different to the car you're trying to model!

Totally agree with you on the masking, by the way. Took a lot of retouching but I'm still sane(ish).

 

[tangerinedream]

And Maurizio is giving us the short tail centre rear wing 962 for further panzer variations, hopefully later this year.
1986 was my third year at the Sarthe,seems like yesterday.

 

[GDSLOT]

Drivers much preferred the 956 to the 962

Interesting that slot car pilots also prefer the 956 over the 962…

 

[GDSLOT]

The short answer is no, there was never a taller rear wing because the high downforce body was already at the maximum height within the regs.

Joest, though, did some clever stuff. The 'Senna car' is chassis 956-104, one from first batch of customer 956s built for 1983 were sold as 'the same specification that crossed the line 1-2-3 at Le Mans' in 1982. And this was an accurate sales pitch - what the teams collected from Weissach was a low downforce 956 sitting on Dunlops with the basic analogue fuel injection. Spares package? Nil.

High downforce noses and rear bodywork would add close to £10,000 a set in 1983. Everything needed to get your 956 up to spec was available from the special service department set up and run by Jurgen Barth. At a price widely described by customer operators as 'astronomic'.

When Senna drove with Joest it was in one of the original 1983 builds, chassis 104, suitably updated. He didn't like driving the car at all, he complained it was too soft, too heavy and understeered a lot. But it gave him some valuable seat time on the new Nurburgring in a high performance machine prior to the German GP (having previously won the Mercedes 190 one-make race when the new 'Ring was officially opened).

Senna may not have liked it but 104 had the most amazing career, competing in every round of the World championship from 1983-86, winning the 1983 European championship with Bob Wollek and the 1986 Interserie in the hands of 'John Winter' (Louis Krages).

Joest's double Le Mans winner was 956B chassis 117. These cars were built and sold for 1984, featuring 1983 works Le Mans spec with electronic fuel injection to help meet the more stringent fuel economy regs.

In 1984, Joest won Le Mans because the factory withdrew in a huff but in 1985 the team spent a lot of money on a major development programme. New turbos, fuel injection and underbody aero were paired with some - ahem - innovative pit strategies. Working in tandem with Richard Lloyd's number 14, fuel mileage was further eked out by slipstreaming each other like a pair of NASCARs and, sure enough, victory was achieved.

117 was completely rebuilt and redesigned for 1986, the last year in which the 956 would be eligible to compete. Drivers much preferred the 956 to the 962 and the car was well placed to bid for a record-breaking third successive Le Mans win until Jo Gartner's tragic accident, after which the field was forced to trudge round behind the Safety Car forever. The unique engine that Joest had concocted for the race couldn't cope with so little air passing through it and blew up.

Fittingly, however, 117 did win the last World championship race at which the 956 was permitted to run, the 1986 Kyalami 500 km. Joest retained the car until 2018, when it was sold privately for an undisclosed sum well north of £20m to a British collector. Ol' 104 resides in Germany, where it is run in a few historic events per year wearing the Senna livery.

Only Joest and RLR modified their 956s away from factory spec - causing much annoyance in Weissach. Joest focused on the engine and underbody, RLR replaced the chassis with a stiffer honeycomb copy, added their little nose wing to the high downforce bodywork, making the rear wing a twin rather than single element to help trim this out. But in both cases the bodies retained their original shape.

With that in mind, I would be seriously tempted to find a 956 KH body kit to build your Senna car. I applaud the work done to create one from an LH body, but the length of the cars was the same, it was the profile of the rear overhang that was quite different (as well as the height of the wing). You're certainly creating something unique and wouldn't want to detract from that, but it will look rather different to the car you're trying to model!

Totally agree with you on the masking, by the way. Took a lot of retouching but I'm still sane(ish).

View attachment 310349

Thanks a lot for the brief history of the model mate, yours looks superb btw.

I’ll do my best to try to get mine as it should, but as you have pointed out the model limits some of the looks , unfortunately couldn’t get any of the 956 white kits, slot car distributor crisis around here so not many options at the moment.

Im about to put the decals so I’ll have some update soon.

Cheers

Daniel

 

[Trisha]

New Man-liveried cars at Le Mans, 1984.

 

[Quark]

@Trisha

Why does the Number 8 Car ( middle picture ) Have it's headlights taped over ? I would assume that it would have to be removed before dark ? And why do the other cars not have theirs taped ?

 

[Trisha]

It could be that the headlamp covers had, for some reason, worked loose in practice. It's always to be borne in mind that these cars were handmade, and completely rebuilt between races - with all the inevitable probs that come with that process.

At Le Mans particularly, each component is subject to abnormal stress. I've thought for years that a car that's pounded around the Sarthe for 24 hours probably does the equivalent in a road car of 250-300,000 miles, which is just one reason why cars that finish well are so very expensive to build.

Imagine what sort of windscreen wiper, for example, has to endure the weight of two Auto-Union GP cars pressing on it down the Mulsanne straight for lap after lap...

This is not a full explanation but I hope it helps.

 

[tangerinedream]

Just keeps the acrylic clean and scratch/bug free until about 9:30 pm when they needed the lights.
The race in 1984 was in sweltering temperatures,but went very cold in the night, remember it well it was my first visit to the Sarthe.

 

[GDSLOT]

Well, at last some advance, spent almost 3 hours cutting and putting the decals on the body of the 1984 Lemans Winner, not bad Imho, I really like the model.

As was noted by @driver#8 the 962 base model it’s a bit diferent from the 956 that should be used, but, managed to fit the decals almost correctly 😅

As I said, only expert eyes like the colleagues from SF would note the difference 😉

Still have to finish the windshield and headlights, and some minor details and the cockpit, but almost done here.

Also will need another coat of urethane clear to protect the decals from the perils of slot racing😀

Funny thing, today was offered to me an original 1984 model, I was about to buy it but someone got it first, so at the end, it’s good that I made myself this slot car 😁

Still in the to do list the Senna car, but after the Lemans Winner, seems a bit easier.😉

Cheers

 

[GDSLOT]

Not a fan of the 956/962 cars, not even a Porsche fan, but is the oficial GDS pet, plus it’s a fan of the Cheesecake as you can tell by the face 🐶

Cheers

Ps. Little dog it’s not grumpy at all.