Leigh’s Diecast Diary

Yes, we do know that Rossi is running a special colour scheme in Assen this weekend and no, Minichamps haven’t confirmed a 1:12 replica of it yet! It’s been a whole 18 months since Rossi’s last special in Valencia 2005, and his paint job this weekend looks really dramatic, in light blue with the Italian flag down the front. It’s to promote Fiat’s new 500 road car.

As soon as anything is confirmed by Minichamps it will be featured on the front page of several of our websites. It will be so in your face that there will be no chance of you missing it! I’m sure our phones will be busy in the next few days though with customers anxiously enquiring as to whether we are going to see it replicated in 1:12. It wouldn’t hurt if Rossi actually won the race on Saturday too, he’s only been on that top podium step twice so far this season and Stoner’s gapped him quite a bit.

On the new delivery from Minichamps today we also got Fangio’s 1:43 1951 Alfa Romeo (P511224), which we weren’t expecting, along with Makinen’s 1:18 1973 Ford Escort (PG738113), de la Rosa’s 1:18 2006 Hungarian GP McLaren (DC2604H), and Alonso’s 1:43 2007 McLaren showcar (DC27401P). Hopefully the release of Alonso’s showcar will mean that we can expect to see Hamilton’s (DC27402P) before long, but it was not featured on Minichamps’ latest delivery schedule.

In about a month’s time you will be able to see a video of GPL staff going about their daily business on our website. It was filmed today at our office and warehouse in Guildford so we just had to act ‘normal’ while we had cameras thrust in our faces recording our every move! The idea behind it is to show that we are a ‘genuine’ company, not a ‘one man in his bedroom’ internet company.

It will be 2 – 3 minutes long and show our warehouse, offices and 25 or so staff working away. It’s just a bit of fun really, but with a serious message to show the huge amount of resources and effort that go into the running of Grand Prix Legends.

There won’t be an entry from me tomorrow or on Monday as I’m off on my next F1 trip of the season, to the French Grand Prix. Obviously that means that Raikkonen is going to have a disastrous race! As ever, if something truly groundbreaking is announced in that time then someone will fill in for me.

There were two new announcements today.

The first is an import from our friends across the pond. Greenlight manufacture the 1:18 Indy Racing League replicas, and we have managed to get our hands on 50 examples of Dario Franchitti’s 2007 Indianapolis 500 winning car. All 50 will be signed by Dario himself, the first Scot to win America’s biggest race since Jim Clark in 1965 (SG2007S).

The other release is from Kyosho. For the first time in a while they have announced a new item in their ‘modern Mini’ range, a 1:18 white presentation version of the one-make John Cooper Works Challenge racing series (KY8557W).

Today’s new release was the black 1:18 Super Elite Ferrari FXX Michael Schumacher car (HW7126). It actually comes in a sort of glittery finish, which I wasn’t expecting, which looks quite spectacular.

This is easily the best job Mattel have done yet on one of their Super Elite replicas. It comes mounted on an aluminium plinth instead of a carbon fibre one within the hinged display box, and the level of detail inside the cockpit and around the engine bay is very impressive.

In fact, the only blot on the copybook on this one is that the limited edition number has increased from the originally announced 3,030 pieces to 5,030 pieces. Other than that, this is a stunning replica.

Those of you who visited Goodwood at the weekend must have got very wet! I’ve been to 14 of the 15 Festivals of Speed, and never seen conditions like I saw over the last couple of days. It made Glastonbury look like a desert!

On Saturday the weather was fine in the morning, but there was a massive thunderstorm at lunchtime. I was working in our red vending trailer, while lots of punters sheltered underneath its canopy. You could also barely hear anyone who actually was trying to buy something at that time because of the noise of the rain and hail drumming on the roof. It carried on raining for the rest of the day.

Then yesterday there must have been about 20 minutes all day when it didn’t rain. The vending area was a complete swamp by the time we packed up for the day. It was easy to know when Hamilton went up the hill because the rest of Goodwood was completely deserted; everyone was lining the course to cheer the new British hero on his run. Forget Mansell Mania, we have Hamilton Hysteria! It would be fantastic if Minichamps did a Hamilton Goodwood special complete with wet tyres and arm raised waving at the crowd.

I also made sure we had a TV in our trailer so we could watch the Donington Moto GP. Stoner’s made the same sort of impact in that series as Hamilton has in F1 this year. You get the feeling that you’re watching the changing of the guard as the two future giants of these two disciplines come to the fore. With Rossi only finishing fourth and Stoner now having won five out of eight races, it looks like Ducati might have their first Moto GP World Champion this year.

Anyway, I do actually have some diecast news today as well as relaying my Goodwood exploits. We received Premium Classic’s 1:43 1940s Porsche transporter truck (PRE12452), as well as a couple of new signed items from Jason.

These are James Toseland’s 1:10 2006 Honda Fireblade (GY13718S), and the Roy Salvadori signed 1:43 Le Mans Aston Martin two car set of his 1959 winning DBR1 and the 2006 007 DBR9 (PD008S).

In all honesty, it’s been a quiet one today. There’s been no deliveries and no new announcements. I think it’s pretty good going though that this diary has been going for four months before I’ve had to make an entry like this!

Not that we haven’t all been working hard you understand! The new diecast catalogue’s just hit so the phoneroom have been busy, while the Graphic Design guys and I have continued working on our ‘in-stock and sale’ catalogue, which should hit your doormats in early July.

It’s the Goodwood Festival of Speed this weekend, where we have two of our vending trailers back to back next to the cricket pitch. I’m working on them tomorrow and Sunday, so if you’re making the trip to Goodwood I might see you there!

Kyosho announced two interesting new replicas today, the first being a 1:12 replica of the Shelby Cobra 427 S/C (KY08631BL). It will of course come in the 427 S/C’s ultimate livery, blue with a white stripe. The other release is a 1:18 replica of the 2006 BMW M6 Moto GP Safety Car (KY8707GPB).

Minichamps announced a few 1:18 re-releases of replicas that have been sold out for quite some time, so those of you who missed out first time now have a chance to fill those gaps in your collections.

The most popular one will probably be Michael Schumacher’s 1991 Jordan-Ford 191 (PG910032), his first ever Formula One car. As with the original release, it will not come with a driver figure.

Then there are Porsche’s Le Mans winners from 1982 and 1983, the 1982 956L of Derek Bell and Jacky Ickx (PG826901), and the 1983 956L of Al Holbert, Hurley Haywood and Vern Schuppan (PG836903).

Finally, there is Minichamps’ first 1:18 Ford Capri RS3100, which was an instant hit on its first release. It is Jochen Mass’ example from the 1975 Norisring DRM race (PG758031).

Minichamps also notified us that they were cancelling one of their forthcoming releases, Steve Hislop’s 1:6 2002 Ducati 998 (PG021202). This is a real shame, as we had taken a lot of pre-orders for it as Hislop was one of our most popular ever riders in terms of diecast and merchandise.

Today we saw new items from Minichamps, BBR and IXO.

Minichamps released the 1:18 Makinen 1974 RAC Rally Escort (PG748101) and the 1:6 Honda CB750 (PG161001), while BBR released the ultra-detailed 1:18 roadgoing Ferrari 375 (BBR003).

From IXO we saw a new addition to their La Storia collection, with Tony Brooks’ 1959 Ferrari 246 (IXSF09). There were also two new releases in the Le Mans winners collection, with the 1956 Jaguar D-Type (LM1956), and last year’s victorious Audi R10 (LM2006).

We also received our third delivery of the 1:12 Rossi Donington Honda NSR500 (PO06196), and now finally have fulfilled all of our backorders and can supply it straight from stock.

With everyone waiting for Jadi to release the first 1:18 replicas of the Triumph Stag in red (JM98112), and white (JM98111), Revell pulled the rug out from under their feet today by releasing it in blue (RV1111)!

Revell had never actually confirmed when they would be releasing their colourway, and have now beaten Jadi to the post by a couple of weeks for the distinction of first 1:18 Triumph Stag replica into the market.

By the way, when you all receive our new diecast catalogue with Mansell’s Williams FW14B testcar (GP97114) on the cover, please don’t point out that we’ve made three spelling mistakes in the caption about the new Porsche 997 GT3 RS (AA77991) from AUTOart!

We received our office copies of the new catalogue today, and I was horrified to see the three errors, particularly condensed into just one caption! The caption was changed last minute, and can’t have been done with the same level of attention that we normally lavish on our work!

I absolutely hate it when there’s an error with something I’m responsible for, I’m talking severe nausea and the shakes. Fortunately it doesn’t happen very often! I thought about burning every copy I could track down so as to remove any evidence of it. Then I realised that all the effort required to do that might take my eye off the ball with our follow-up in stock diecast catalogue which we’re working on now, so I’m just going to put my hands up and admit my mistake. Is my diecast diary honest or what?

Our Jadi supplier confirmed today that they will be receiving the 1:18 Triumph Stags (red JM98112, and white JM98111) on the 25th June. This should mean that we will be able to despatch them by the beginning of the following week, the week commencing 2nd July. This is barring any last minute delays with the Jadi container!

We received our second delivery of CMC’s new 1:18 Ferrari 500 F2 (CMC056), so now we have fulfilled all of our backorders and can supply it straight from stock.

There won’t be an entry on Monday, as I’m away on a copywriting course. Not my idea of course, personally I think my copy’s fantastic, but then I suppose I’m biased! All part of Grand Prix Legends’ commitment to providing excellent mail order catalogues and websites for you, the loyal customer!

Spark announced a host of new releases today, which we should see by the end of the summer.

The headliners are the leading BMW and Alfa Romeo drivers from the 2007 World Touring Car Championship, namely Andy Priaulx (SPK403), Augusto Farfus (SPK405) and James Thompson (SPK457).

There’s also the 1984 Le Mans winning Porsche 956 of Pescarolo and Ludwig (SPK998), along with some other Le Mans Porsches and some modern road cars from Morgan, Lotus and RUF.

All of these new releases are now at the top of our ‘2007 Announcements’ link, so you can peruse them at your leisure!