Review by CoMod Lotus of Carrera the Evo/D132 BMW M3 GT2 Rahal Letterman Racing "No.92"
(27319 and 30512)"
The Magic of
Racing: In the early 1970s, BMW founded a company in Munich whose acronym makes every fan of the Bavarian automaker’s mouth water: M-GmbH! “M” stands for motorsports, and there has always been plenty of it at M-GmbH: legendary cars like the M535i, M1, M5, M635i, and, of course, the M3. First introduced in 1986 as a particularly high-performance version of the respective production model, the current M3 is now the fourth iteration of the 3 Series.
Carrera With No. 92
www.dirk
mueller.com
, the company has
launched the version driven by German driver Dirk Müller (
–); No. 90 is piloted by Joey Hand.
The model is a very faithful reproduction; if you compare the pictures online with the actual vehicle, you’ll find no flaws in the decals. The white color makes it stand out really well on the track, and the lighting comes across well too—nothing shines through anywhere. Personally, I would have liked the rims to be a bit bigger.
The undercarriage is clean and tidy, leaving room for potential lead tuning. Removing the magnets has become a bit of a hassle, so I decided against it.
The car handles smoothly, holds the curves well, and can even be drifted thanks to the large steering angle of the keel. However, if you take the K1 too sharply, it can tip over—probably due to the independently suspended front wheels. But you’d have to take the turn very aggressively for that to happen; under “normal driving conditions,” the car is very easygoing to drive.
A few more details about the original model:
From the very beginning, BMW used the M3 in motorsports. The first version, the E30, was a homologation model for the DTM and remains the world’s most successful touring car to this day. The current M3 E92 series has been in production since fall 2007, and the race-spec version made its debut in the M3 ALMS in early 2008. Weighing 1,150 kg, the race version is about 430 kg lighter than the production car and, due to the spoiler kit installed, is also significantly wider.
In the 2009 season, the M3 GT2 will be fielded by the RAHAL LETTERMAN TEAM from Ohio, USA, in the American Le Mans Series. One of the team’s owners is the well-known American TV host and avid car enthusiast Jay Leno (his website www.jaylenosgarage.com is always worth a visit).
CoMod
Lotus------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------Review by CoMod martinmm ofCarrera
the
Evo/D132 BMW M3 GT2 Rahal Letterman Racing "No.92"
(27319 and 30512)
My colleague Lotus has already provided a comprehensive report on the real-life car. ThereforeCarrera
, I’ll limit myself to the model. Both test cars—theEvolution
and the D132 versions— are flawlessly crafted. The overall impression of the car is very cohesive. The only minor compromise was made regarding the tire and wheel sizes. The tires are slightly too thick compared to the original, but this benefits the track car by providing better damping.
The wheels sit very true to the prototype,just below the wheel wells. Due to the independent front suspension and the resulting play, the wheels might almost scrape against the wheel wells. That’s not the case with my cars—though it’s a very close call.
For the test drive, I removed all the magnets.
The BMW had good traction on theCarrera track right from the start . Grinding the rear wheels on the sanding board increases this traction slightly. The vehicle handles very predictably through both wide and tight turns. With some driving experience, you can even pull off a tight 180° turn with a nice drift. Larger turns, however, require a bit more finesse if you want to navigate them as quickly as possible. The excellent front-axle guide keel tuning and the large guide keel rotation angle do, however, forgive the occasional turn taken a bit too fast.
All in all, this is a car that’s very easy to handle and quick right out of the box, even without additional traction aids. Compared to the McLaren Mercedes, the BMW has a slightly narrower track width but can easily keep up with its strong performance.
If you’re not concerned with absolute scale accuracy, you can put together a very comparable mixed field of cars—even in non-magnetic mode—with the McLaren Mercedes and the Audi R8 LMS.
CoMod martinmm
The Magic of
Racing: In the early 1970s, BMW founded a company in Munich whose acronym makes every fan of the Bavarian automaker’s mouth water: M-GmbH! “M” stands for motorsports, and there has always been plenty of it at M-GmbH: legendary cars like the M535i, M1, M5, M635i, and, of course, the M3. First introduced in 1986 as a particularly high-performance version of the respective production model, the current M3 is now the fourth iteration of the 3 Series.
The model is a very faithful reproduction; if you compare the pictures online with the actual vehicle, you’ll find no flaws in the decals. The white color makes it stand out really well on the track, and the lighting comes across well too—nothing shines through anywhere. Personally, I would have liked the rims to be a bit bigger.
The undercarriage is clean and tidy, leaving room for potential lead tuning. Removing the magnets has become a bit of a hassle, so I decided against it.
The car handles smoothly, holds the curves well, and can even be drifted thanks to the large steering angle of the keel. However, if you take the K1 too sharply, it can tip over—probably due to the independently suspended front wheels. But you’d have to take the turn very aggressively for that to happen; under “normal driving conditions,” the car is very easygoing to drive.
A few more details about the original model:
From the very beginning, BMW used the M3 in motorsports. The first version, the E30, was a homologation model for the DTM and remains the world’s most successful touring car to this day. The current M3 E92 series has been in production since fall 2007, and the race-spec version made its debut in the M3 ALMS in early 2008. Weighing 1,150 kg, the race version is about 430 kg lighter than the production car and, due to the spoiler kit installed, is also significantly wider.
In the 2009 season, the M3 GT2 will be fielded by the RAHAL LETTERMAN TEAM from Ohio, USA, in the American Le Mans Series. One of the team’s owners is the well-known American TV host and avid car enthusiast Jay Leno (his website www.jaylenosgarage.com is always worth a visit).
CoMod
Lotus------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------Review by CoMod martinmm of
My colleague Lotus has already provided a comprehensive report on the real-life car. Therefore
, I’ll limit myself to the model. Both test cars—the
The wheels sit very true to the prototype,just below the wheel wells. Due to the independent front suspension and the resulting play, the wheels might almost scrape against the wheel wells. That’s not the case with my cars—though it’s a very close call.
For the test drive, I removed all the magnets.
The BMW had good traction on the
All in all, this is a car that’s very easy to handle and quick right out of the box, even without additional traction aids. Compared to the McLaren Mercedes, the BMW has a slightly narrower track width but can easily keep up with its strong performance.
If you’re not concerned with absolute scale accuracy, you can put together a very comparable mixed field of cars—even in non-magnetic mode—with the McLaren Mercedes and the Audi R8 LMS.
CoMod martinmm
