Shelby McLaren Porsche 911GT3
Shelby McLaren travelled to Stuttgart, Germany with his Father to attend the 1964 Solitude Grand Prix. Jim Clark was a close family friend so they had accepted an invitation to travel with the Lotus team. Not unsurprisingly, Jim went on to win the day in his Lotus 33 despite some horrendous weather.
It was the following day sitting outside the Park Cafe by the Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof that an 18 year old Shelby would see two of the most beautiful things he would ever see in his life; Kristelle Schmidt and the new Porsche 911. One would lead to a 50 year love affair and the other one would, ‘promise to write’.
The sleek, nimble design and the rear-engined, air-cooled mechanical innovation of the Porsche captured not only the imagination of the young Shelby but also the hearts and minds of auto enthusiasts the world over. Some years later however, Shelby realised that what he had seen on that day in Stuttgart was actually a Porsche ‘901’. The French had protested on the grounds that in France Peugeot had exclusive rights to car names formed by three numbers with a zero in the middle. The Germans went ‘1’ better and cars made after 1 January 1965 were designated ‘911’. It would go on to become one of the most successful and longest running sports car series in history.
Scalextric have a long association with the Porsche 911 beginning in 1977 with the issue of the racing version, the 935. Scalextric produced that model for 10 years, the car became an absolute staple of the Scalextric range and still remains a favourite for many. Arguably the most prolific version of the Porsche 911 though is the GT3 range first issued in 2001. In our recreation today Shelby McLaren is attending the Porsche Club Deutschland Summer meeting and it is being led by the iconic Red Bull 911GT3-R (C2275). A number of the 911 variations have been produced by Scalextric like the RS and even recently, the RSR (2019). The 911GT3 is raced by Slot Car Clubs the world over and continues to capture our imagination just as it did Shelby’s back in 1964. If you are tempted to collect all of the Scalextric Porsche 911 GT3 variations there are over 70 cars to collect! Have you raced the Porsche 911GT3?
