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After getting the go-ahead (thanks guys!) I'll be knocking together the Slot.It 1/32 kit of the Porsche 962c as a fully-functional slot car. Slot.It has been bringing out its cracking range of Group C cars for the thick end of a decade now. Having started out selling high-end upgrade parts, they started out as a manufacturer with the Porsche 956 in low-drag Le Mans spec and progressed through the Porsche 956/962 family to make gorgeous models of the most of the iconic cars of the era: Sauber-Mercedes C9, the Jaguar XJR-6 family, Toyota 88c, Mazda 787 and Lancia LC2. Although its focus is on delivering a satisfying slot car to committed club racers, Slot.It stands pretty much alone in being able to do so without compromising the quality of its modelling. Most Scalextric models stand comparison with the best diecasts in the market these days, but they are hopeless on the track. Conversely the specialist competition manufacturers build cars that tend to be 1/28 in width and 1/30 in length and about 1/36 in height, making some serious racing weaponry but nasty little things to look at. Slot.It manages to avoid any overt compromise in looks or performance, although by sticking to 15mm rear wheels as standard it does lose scale accuracy on most of the later cars. New 16.5mm rear wheels redress this significantly and these are what I shall be fitting on this particular build. I'm going to build it as the 1990 #7 car driven by Derek Bell, Hans Stuck and Frank Jelinski as it represents the end of a great era for Porsche and has two of my heroes, Bell and Stuck, in the same car. It's a lovely version of the Blaupunkt colours with additional Porsche branding, the decals for which I've got from Patto's Place in Australia. By 1990 a lot of privateer Porsche teams were experimenting with different aerodynamic packages and carbon fibre tubs to try and keep pace with the arrival of Jaguar, Sauber-Mercedes, Toyota and Nissan. The car I'm modelling, however, retained the same basic look that had done Porsche so well at the Sarthe since the team's first 1-2-3 finish in 1982. The 1990 edition at Le Mans was intended to be the 962's last hurrah, with Porsche giving works status to the Joest squad. Famously Joest had managed to win the event in 1984-85 with its celebrated 'NewMan' liveried 956 chassis number 117 - one of the few chassis to take two wins on the event, and in 1985 it did so against the best efforts of Porsche's own squad of 962s. A team of four cars was entered of which three were brand new cars and two were built to a new specification for lighter weight. One of these was shunted by Jonathan Palmer in practice and took no further part. The two 'traditional' 962s trundled round to finish 8th and 14th. Predictably with the calibre of old hands at the wheel, the #7 car was the strongest Joest finisher in fourth place, some nine laps behind the winning Jaguar of Price Cobb, John Nielsen and Martin Brundle... although the all-British 962 of David Leslie, David Sears and Anthony Reid pipped the 'works' entry to the podium and finished as the best of the Porsches. I'm looking forward to this one, makes a change from my usual GB entries!