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Whenever I get a spare moment I like to trawl through images of 1950s Le Mans (or similar) racers to try and get ideas for detailing my Spyder. It is the little scoops and louvers that have been added to solve on-track problems that give a car additional character.
I've drooled over the D24 pics that are available. This morning, I came across this Allard from 1952 -
This is from the Dutch HB Spezial that costs a fortune.
I think I'd crunch my fingers between dash and gear lever.
agree with the crunching fingers, but i really like the simple dash. If you look at the old racers like the suggested flickr link, they are all functional.
One thing that strikes me as interesting is that the seat and the head fairing don't line up. One or two people on the forum have commented about this on the Spyder body as if it's a design flaw. Clearly it isn't, it's just part of the design of racing cars of that era.
I agree about the simple functionality of the dash design too. Space permitting I'm hoping to achieve something akin to the three dial dash from 50's Porsches -
Looking around the kit car shows at rank upon rank of sevens and cobras with rank upon rank of gauges and switches peppered across their bechromed cockpits just reinforces the 'less is more' philosophy for me.
One thing that strikes me as interesting is that the seat and the head fairing don't line up. One or two people on the forum have commented about this on the Spyder body as if it's a design flaw. Clearly it isn't, it's just part of the design of racing cars of that era.
I agree about the simple functionality of the dash design too. Space permitting I'm hoping to achieve something akin to the three dial dash from 50's Porsches
I think , that like the Sammio , often the body design didn't allow the hump to sit perfectly sometimes....similarly , pedal position and steering column angles often mean we sit a bit sideways in many production cars but consciously you don't really notice it on many of them....The Triumphs pedals are no where near central to your seating position....
I don't know if you could use it or not , but before the 550 moulds went , I moulded a spare 550 dash for a future plan to maybe use it in a Sammio build....it would involve a bit of cutting and blending but isn't too far away from fitting ....just a thought ?
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I don't no if you could use it or not , but before the 550 moulds went , I moulded a spare 550 dash for a future plan to maybe use it in a Sammio build....it would involve a bit of cutting and blending but isn't too far away from fitting ....just a thought ?
Gary, I'd love to take it off your hands as I was going to make one myself and blend it in. Although I'm loving the experience of fabricating bits'n'bobs the process is eating up the time and I want it on the road this summer. PM me with a price and delivery options please.
When looking at early cars , what's great and def. to our advantage , is how basic they are in modern terms.....things like simple lighting and the pretty generous gap tolerances etc. all help the home builder....
Its quite easy to recreate a period car when you compare it to modern replica's.....using period donors helps too....it gives the car classic credibility as well as the obvious registration benefits , and the little bits like switches , gauges etc are all period correct....
I get asked fairly regularly about an MX5 version of the kit ....I can see the obvious advantages , the MX5 is a fantastic donor , simple and great mechanically , but as well as the IVA issue , I do feel the Sammio may lose something on a modern platform...
I have spent hundreds of hours pouring over every Google image I could find of pre-57 style race cars and will try to use lots of the little neat touches on the cars we are going to build in the near future....
I like it, mainly because it's a historic racing car. I can't help feeling that if Ferrari based their styling on a lithe, prancing racehorse, Connaught must have drawn their inspiration from the more, erm functional end of the animal kingdom -
Those wheels look like magnesium alloy, very similar to what was fitted to military aircraft of the time. It's light, strong and sure does burn well. I once accidentally set fire to a Vulcan bomber and the wheels were still burning fiercely the following day...
better close up shot
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