18th
June
2009
Today we were very excited to receive a sample image of the most popular Formula One showcar we have ever marketed, which is, of course, Jenson Button’s 1:43 Brawn (DC29422P). We are due to take delivery of it next week.
It is limited to 3,312 pieces worldwide, which is actually a smaller number than I expected, given the hype surrounding it. Last year’s Hamilton showcar was limited to 5,040 pieces, and Button’s Brawn has been considerably more popular than that. I think that as the first ever Brawn replica there is a consensus that its value could go up in the future. Time will tell! I’m getting one for my collection anyway!
posted in Due Dates, Diecast, Formula 1 |
17th
June
2009
Everyone chose to deliver today, as we received new releases from Minichamps, Spark, and Mattel!
From Minichamps we took delivery of Carlos Checa’s 1:12 2007 Honda RC212V (PO71007), and Carlos Reutemann’s 1:43 1974 Brabham BT44 (P740007).
Meanwhile, Spark released their first ‘modern’ classic Formula One subject (if you see what I mean!); Michele Alboreto’s 1:43 1989 Tyrrell 018, that he drove to third place in the 1989 Mexican Grand Prix (SPK1641). There was also the latest subject in their 1:43 Le Mans Winners Collection, the 1983 Porsche 956 of Vern Schuppan, Hurley Haywood and Al Holbert (SPA43L083).
We received some new 1:43 roadgoing Ferraris from Mattel, the beautiful F430 Scuderia in red (HW5599), blue (HW5600) and yellow (HW5601), and the 412 in red (HW5595), silver (HW5597) and green (HW5598).
Finally, we received sample images of Shelby Collectibles’ 1:18 replica of the 1959 Le Mans winning Aston Martin DBR1, as driven by Roy Salvadori and Carroll Shelby (DC559), so hopefully we will see it very soon.
posted in Due Dates, Diecast, Other Cars, Moto GP, Formula 1 |
16th
June
2009
Today we received new 1:18 replicas from Mattel and Norev, as well as a restock of a very popular subject from AUTOart.
Mattel’s offering was the fifth and final release in the Elite Michael Schumacher World Championship winning Ferrari collection, his Ferrari F2004 from the 2004 Belgian Grand Prix (HW2078).
The Norev highlights were the cars that finished first and second in last year’s Le Mans 24 Hours; the Audi R10 of Tom Kristensen, Allan McNish and Rinaldo Capello (NV188342), and the Peugeot 908 of Jacques Villeneuve, Nicolas Minassian and Marc Gene (NV184791).
The AUTOart restock was the 1:12 Le Mans winning Jaguar D-Type from 1955, of Mike Hawthorn and Ivor Bueb (AA12062). Given the price of this monster, I am pleasantly surprised that it is not putting collectors off!
posted in Diecast, Other Cars, Formula 1 |
15th
June
2009
What a fantastic Moto GP yesterday! That battle between Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo was simply breathtaking. Clearly a lot of you were inspired by it, as we’ve had loads of requests today about Minichamps’ 1:12 2009 Moto GP bikes. Nothing has been announced yet but, as ever, as soon as anything is confirmed, it will be announced on our website, in this blog, on the Twitter, anywhere you care to look really!
The other big motorsport event at the weekend of course was the Le Mans 24 Hours, which at last was won by someone other than Audi! It is very likely that Minichamps and Norev will again be releasing the Peugeot 908s in 1:18 scale, so hopefully these will be confirmed soon.
Amalgam released their first 2009 Formula One subject today, the 1:4 BMW F1.09 steering wheel (AML901), as handled by Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld.
Finally today, we’ve had news that the Universal Hobbies 1:12 Carl Fogarty 1990 Isle of Man TT winning Honda RC30 (there’s a mouthful!) is almost with us. It has gone up by £5 though, so the unsigned version (UH88032) is now £54.99 and the signed version (UH88032S) is now £89.99.
posted in Diecast, Other Cars, Moto GP, Formula 1 |
12th
June
2009
The fact that you are reading this blog entry confirms the fantastic news that Leigh’s Diary is up and running again! Thanks to a huge effort from Jon who managed to restore everything on the blog and forum to where it was before the great hacking incident.
Today Sun Star announced a new 1:18 2009 rally car, Henning Solberg’s Ford Focus WRC that he campaigned to third place in Argentina (SS3942).
It’s the Le Mans 24 Hours this weekend, the biggest endurance race of the year. Let’s see how long it takes for Spark to announce every car in the field and for Minichamps, IXO and Spark to announce the winner in 1:43!
posted in Diecast, Other Cars |
12th
June
2009
Thank goodness for rsync and backup servers - thats all I can say
This was the holding page copy
Summary
- Leighsdiary is down due to an attack on the servers ISP
- Data was backed up and should be able to be restored
- ETA for it to be back up Tuesday 16th June 2009 (edit obviously up on Thursday 11th) but check back regularly for updates
- Please be assured that GrandPrixLegends.com resides on different servers, with a different company, on a different operating system in a different city
Full story for techies
At 7pm Sunday night an attack was launched on the ISP that hosts the VPS that Leighsdiary sits on.
Support at VASERV spotted something strange on their network and as a consequence all VPS nodes were taken down pending further investigation
By Monday AM it became clear that the HYPERVM software was hacked and as a result the hacker had complete root access to all VASERV’s nodes. It seems the hacker was intent on causing as much damage as possible by permanently deleting files across the network of nodes.
I received an email from the node at 11:18 just before it was pulled down suggesting no data loss on the node leighsdiary sits on
With 400 nodes and approx 4000 vps’s to deal with, VASERV were overloaded with work. So much so, thay have had to sell the company to a bigger company in order to maintain customer satisfaction.
Early indications suggested the node we were on was restored although I could not ping it
Finally at 5:30 Wednesday morning the server the node was sitting on was pronounced dead due to partial data loss
Personally I feel that as I was receiving emails and the vps was restored early no hack attempt was made on our box
What I do feel is that the vps became corrupt during the shutdown period or it is not in the interest of the ISP to try and fix
Obviously I am upset this has happened but these things can and do happen. It’s part of web life
My real gripe is with the hacker who has not only given me a grief and left you guys without the latest diecast news and forum but more importantly brought a company with its employees to the point of having to sell and the owner of the software hacked responsible for this, committing suicide
Links
Jon
posted in Uncategorized |
5th
June
2009
…either that or he should be there by now!
Anyway, it’s always the way that when he goes off to a Grand Prix, we tend to receive new releases. Today he missed out on Jim Clark replicas from SMTS, which included his 1968 Lotus 49 from the pre-season Tasman Championship (SMTS079), his 1965 Lotus 40 (SMTS081) and his 1966 Lotus 43 (SMTS095). Another Lotus on the delivery comes from the Indy 500 scene, it is that of Dan Gurney’s 1963 Lotus 29 (SMTS128).
While we’re on the subject of heading off to live events, Grand Prix Legends will be making an appearance at the Goodwood Breakfast Club on Sunday. So set your alarm clocks nice and early on Sunday if you fancy heading on down to the circuit at 8:30 to check out the mouth-watering (diecast) supercars on show. Any coffee to go with that?
posted in Diecast, Other Cars, Formula 1 |
4th
June
2009
The biggest news today was that I turned 28! Please make all cheques payable to Leigh Hobden at our usual address!
Oh, that’s right, this is a diecast blog, not my own personal one!
We received a new signed replica, James Toseland adding his signature to Minichamps’ 1:12 replica of his 2007 World Superbike Championship winning Honda Fireblade (PO71252S). That will go nicely with your 2004 Ducati 999 F04, if you have one!
We also received a new delivery from Shelby Collectibles. This had the new 1:18 ‘Knight Rider’ Shelby GT500KR (DC501) on it, as well as restocks of one of our most popular ever film replicas, Nicholas Cage’s 1:18 ‘Eleanor’ from Gone In Sixty Seconds (DC500).
I’m out of the office tomorrow and Monday, as I’m off to Turkey for my second Grand Prix trip of the year. As ever, someone will fill in for me so you can still get your diecast fix!
posted in Diecast, Other Cars, Moto GP |
3rd
June
2009
Today we had a new announcement, a new release, and some changes in some limited edition numbers, for the better!
The new announcement is the next 1:18 Ford Focus WRC from Sun Star; Matt Wilson’s example from this year’s Rally Ireland (SS3947).
The new release is SMTS’s 1:43 replica of Mike Hawthorn’s last ever car, the Jaguar Mk.I that he was tragically killed in on the A3 in 1959 (SMTS227).
And finally, we had a very pleasant surprise with the news that the limited edtion numbers on the IXO/Prodrive 1:43 2008 Subaru and Ford specials have been substantially reduced, and we will see them all released shortly.
The three car Subaru Champions set of Colin McRae, Richard Burns and Petter Solberg (IXO10) will now be limited to 800 pieces instead of 1,500, the two car 2008 set of Petter Solberg and Chris Atkinson (IXO9) will now be 500 examples instead of 1,500, and the Solberg 2008 Subaru (IXO8) has been slashed from 8,000 pieces to 1,000!
And with the Fords, the three car set (IXO7) has been reduced from 1,500 examples to 500, the two car set of Marcus Gronholm and Jari-Matti Latvala (IXO6) has come down from 1,500 to 500, and the Latvala 2008 Focus (IXO5) is now limited to 1,000 pieces instead of 5,000.
posted in Diecast, Other Cars |
