Nissan R390 GT1

The fastest and most expensive Nissan road car ever developed was created to comply with the 1998 Le Mans GT1 Class regulations which required manufacturers to build at least one street-legal version of the race car. The concept behind the creation of the Nissan R390 GT1 was to push reliability and dynamic performance to the absolute limit without compromising the driveability of a street car.

Unlike many others, Nissan built the road car first and built the racing version from it. The R390 GT1 design was the work of Ian Callum at Tom Walkinshaw Racing, previously acclaimed as the designer of the Aston Martin DB7.

At the front, Mr Callum used headlamps from the 300ZX production sports car and the distinct twin front grilles which gives the R390 GT1 a Nissan family look. The R390 GT1's long-tail carbon fibre shape was honed during extensive scale model wind-tunnel testing in England and full-size testing of the actual vehicle at Nissan Technical Centre in Atsugi, Japan.

Behind the driver sits the heart of this true supercar Nissan's VRH35L twin-turbocharged 3.5-litre double-overhead-camshaft V8 engine with electronic sequential port fuel injection which produces 410kW at 6800 rpm while complying with all European market exhaust gas regulations.

Getting that power to the ground from a standing start, out of corners or in damp conditions is a challenge and the R390 GT1 features a launch control system and traction control which, when encountering wheelspin, reduces power by limiting fuel to individual engine cylinders.

R390 GT1 performance as one would expect is staggering and includes a sub-4.0 second zero to 100 km/h time. Inside are normal road car appliances such as full instrumentation and leather-covered driver and passenger racing seats. The short-throw gear lever for the Xtrac six-speed sequential gearbox and tiny racing steering wheel are reminders of the close alliance between the road car and the vehicle which captured four out of the top-ten spots in the 1998 Le Mans 24-hour race.

Underneath the all-carbon fibre chassis is upper and lower A-arm suspension with coil springs at all four corners, inboard shock absorbers and front and rear anti-roll bars. Braking is handled by huge AP 14-inch vented front and rear disc brakes with six piston calipers and ABS.

Lola B08/60

Got the Aston Martin powered Lola B08/60 LMP1 Le Mans 24 Hours car from Diecastbase recently. Another fine model by Spark, great detailing and excellent finishing. As usual, Spark were putting every effort to make sure their customers always getting the best quality models. So let's the photos do the talking...


The Lola B08/60 is a Le Mans Prototype built by Lola Cars International. Through the vision of Lola Executive Chairman, Martin Birrane, Lola announced the project just before Le Mans in 2007. There was instant attraction between Lola engineers and potential entrants. By February 2008 the Charouz Racing system team were testing the new look package and just 7 weeks later were challenging the Audi and Peugeot LMP’s at the season opening Le Mans Series event at Barcelona.

The sportscar fraternity was duly impressed when the Lola LMP1 Coupe out qualified one of the R10 Audi’s at La Sarthe in 2008. But for an accident in the second hour, a top six finishing position was achievable in the designs first ever 24 Hour race.

2009 saw more success with the Aston Martin Racing team taking two overall wins on its way to taking the Le Mans Series title. The same team also finished an excellent 4th overall at the world famous Le Mans 24 Hours. Speedy Sebah Racing also showed immense pace with their Aston Martin engined Lola. The team finished 2nd at the Silverstone 1000kms after leading convincingly during the final hour.

Coming soon...

My next posts will featuring these models.

Spark to release 1/43 scaled 2009 Audi DTM cars

I was trilled after been informed that Spark going to release DTM models soon for the first time. No wonder I couldn't found any Audi DTM 1/43 in 2010 Minichamps catalog. So the truth is, Spark takes over to produce the 2009 Audi DTM cars. On the other hand, Minichamps only concentrate to produce the 2009 Mercedes DTM cars. So for DTM in general or Audi fan in particular, this is very good opportunity to grab one. As we all know, Spark produces some of the finest 1/43 scaled models. So you don't wanna miss this golden chance to add one into your collection.

There are more than 100 parts that required to build one of the 2009 Audi DTM cars... this is what we called realistic models... such awesome detailing Spark have put on every of it's model...

Some of my favorite cars
BIG TOM (Kristensen) Audi DTM - last race. 2009 DTM was his last as the eight-time Le mans 24 HR winner set to retired from motorsports. Thus this is a must collect model.
(Model code: S2514)


Top (Left) - S2509 Mike Rockenfeller Audi DTM #11
Top (Right) -S2506 Tom Kristensen Audi A4 DTM #2
Bottom (Left) - S2505 Timo Scheider - Audi A4 DTM #1 2009 DTM CHAMPION -
HOT ITEM!!!
Bottom (Right) - S2507 Mattias Ekstrom Audi A4 DTM #5

What are you waiting for, place your order now at cs@diecastbase.com
Please mention realcollector when you place your order. Thank you.

Greeting from Replicarz

OK, the holidays are behind us. We have also completed the daunting year end task of counting our inventory. The crazy work schedule will resume as usual. Mark will get back to updating his blog on regular basis.

A big thank you goes out to all of you that support us. Even with the craziness of the world economy, we still had an excellent year and we owe it to our good repeat customers. We look forward to serving you in 2010 and beyond.

Now let's get down to some of the important stuff: New Models! You all know I'm partial to motorcycles so let's start there.

BTW, I finally figured out how to put links into the pictures, so by clicking on the pix it will bring you directly to the site where you can get more info or purchase.

Some new arrival items:

1:6 scale Minichamps CB750/4

1:12 Auto Art Porsche 911 GT3 RS 997

1989 Batmobile

Some 1:43 gems

Aston Martin Vantage GT2

Let's me begin 2010 with the Aston Martin Vantage GT2. I believe the upcoming GT2 class battle is no longer between Ferrari and Porsche.... As BMW M3 GTR GT2 had make it's debut full ALMS season last year, the same goes to Corvette Racing. Both cars had performed very well in ALMS.

Meanwhile the Aston Martin also very keen to join the battle with their Vantage GT2. The Vantage GT2 has been specifically designed to compete in championships running to either FIA or ACO GT2 regulations and is the very first GT car to be designed at the outset in a bio-ethanol fuelled specification.

Aston Martin Racing engineers designed the Vantage GT2 with two principles in mind. First and foremost, the car hadto be competitive on the track, but it also had to be competitively priced and cost-effective to run. Under the bonnet, the engineis based on the standard 4.3 litre Aston Martin V8 retaining the road car’s cylinder block, heads and crankshaft, butusing competition components, including cylinder heads, connecting rods, valves, camshafts and a racing exhaust system. The engine capacity is increased to 4.5 litres and uses a dry sump lubrication system allowing the engine to bepositioned low in the chassis, for an optimised centre of gravity.

The Vantage GT2 has undergone extensive test and development by the works team in the hands of AstonMartin Racing driver, Darren Turner. It is hand-built by Aston Martin Racing, a partnership formed betweenAston Martin and world-leading motorsport specialist, Prodrive, and is finished to Aston Martin’sexacting standards.

The Vantage GT2 is also the first car Aston Martin Racing has designed specifically with bio-fuels in mind. Using the experience gained in converting a DBRS9 to run on bio-ethanol for competition in the British GTChampionship, the Vantage GT2 is the first GT car designed specifically to a bio-ethanol specification forracing in championships, including the American Le Mans Series.

You can find the model at Diecastbase/ Replicarz.
In case you can't find them please contact Ryan & Raymond via email cs@Diecastbase.com or mark@replicarz.com. (Do mention realcollector.blogspot when you place an order ).

2010 greetings

First of all I wish all the readers of realcollector blog a very happy new year. I've already listed out the number of race car models to collect in 2010.. Wow! the list is longer than last year. Can't wait to purchase these models and share them with you all here at @ realcollector.blogspot.com.

Thanks for your support. I hope 2010 will be a better year for us. Cheers.