OK, so maybe I overdid it a little; I admit, I bought a lot more of this new Road Race Replicas body than I can realistically add to the numbered racing fleet. In addition to the 4 cars I’ve already profiled, last weekend I built a patriotically colored trio of additional cars…well, ok, I built 2 more; the 3rd is a gleaming boxed original-the only one I bought as a “complete car,” which was intended at the outset to be a “shelf queen,” an unused, unmolested collectors’ piece. So, let’s say these are “overstock.”
First off we’ll look at the red one, which I think came out the best of this group. After removing the rear wing, I wrapped this one in masking tape and carefully edged around the hood then then took it out back and shot it with matte black paint. A little cleanup around the edges with the X-Acto knife after drying and it was time to hit the decal shop! RRR has made a nifty decal sheet for this car and chocked it full of all kinds of cool options, so I bought two of those sheets and went to town. The black rocker stripe with the PANTERA letting without the GT5 at the end is kind of cool way to make it look like an original mid-70’s Pantera with a body kit rather than an 80’s GT5, especially sans wing!
I did this bright blue one last. I have some mixed feelings about it; I love the yellow wheels and the white stripes across the roof and hood, but I might do some of the other detailing a little different if I had to do it over again. If course, there’s nothing that says I can’t do it over again if I’m willing destroy the decals, but they did apply pretty well overall so it will stay as-is for now.
Both the red and blue models ride on Ultra G’s with full sized Road Race Replicas silicone tires and thus have the shims on both the front and rear screw posts for clearance, and rear halves of the rear wheel arches needed a little “kiss” from the Dremel, but overall these went together with minimal fuss. Both use the long OS3 guide pins, and they run around the track just like they should!
The white car is the odd one out: this is the only one I bought from RRR as a “complete car,” and this time it came on a T-Dash Mondo Grip chassis, the type with the magnets. I have written about this platform extensively in a previous post, and I have acquired about half a dozen of them in various colors over the last year or so. Though I love and admire Dash Motorsports for their awesome T-Jet bodies, the T-Dash Mondo chassis is not for me: its great as an exact sized replica of the Aurora original and there’s no faulting the workmanship, but although they are certainly faster than the originals, they are not on the same playing field with the AW Ultra G in terms of performance, so this one will not see track duty in any way. This is how RRR provided it, and I’m keeping it just that way, in its original jewel case. I ordered the version with gold trim and gold wheels, and I think it’s so beautiful just the way it is that it needs nothing, so stock it stays!
So, none of these are getting names or drivers…at least, not yet; but I’m sure it didn’t escape you that the the cars that can race were giving racing numbers, and one of them isn’t even a dupe of an existing one! So, if I were to decide to add one to a tournament…well, it could happen! We’ll see!
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