Tag Archives: Martini Racing

Porsche-Assisted Pedal

Even for Porsche, this spoiler is ridiculous…

Back in 1979, French cyclist Jean-Claude Rude attempted to break the bicycle speed record of 127mph / 204kph. This meant a rather special bike, and also something to cut through the air ahead of it.

Martini Racing duly offered to modify one of their 800bhp Porsche 935 Turbos, fitting it with a custom air-deflecting casing behind the cabin. This TLCB Writer isn’t sure that an 800bhp Porsche was strictly necessary, but it’s better to be sure we suppose.

Unfortunately for Jean-Claude, whilst the Porsche 935 was up to the job, his bike’s rear inner tube was not, exploding during the record run. Now every cyclist knows that you always carry a spare, but seemingly Jean-Claude didn’t and that was the end of the record attempt.

Sadly, before he could try again, Jean-Claude Rude was killed by the wake of a train he was racing against, aged just 25.

Flickr’s HCKP13 pays homage to both Jean-Claude Rude and the magnificently weird modified Porsche 935 Turbo used to smooth the air ahead of him with this excellent Lego recreation of the failed record attempt. There’s more to see at HCKP13’s photostream, and you can join the 1979 record attempt via the link above. Just remember to bring a spare inner tube…

Cosmic Cocktail

All the best racing sponsors are selling something that’s bad for you. Cigarettes, beer, cigarettes, energy drinks, and cigarettes were the mainstay of motorsport advertising, before doctors pointed out that it might not be a great idea to promote things that killed people.

These days tobacco companies are effectively banned from motorsport sponsorship (although Scuderia Ferrari are always willing to cash a ginormous cheque), however purveyors of alcohol are still permitted to hawk their wares to racing fans.

The upside of this is some of the coolest liveries in motorsport are still seen today, and – accordingly to David Roberts at least – will continue to be seen for some time yet.

This is David’s ‘Martin I’s Racer’, with a livery that looks a lot like the one used by a certain gin and vermouth-based cocktail company.

Further details and a backstory of drinking puns can be found at David’s photostream – grab yourself a mixer and head to the bar, er… we mean ‘galactic racing circuit’ via the link above.

Lancia-Martini Historic Rally Team | Picture Special

It’s time for something rather special here at The Lego Car Blog; this is Bricksonwheels’ phenomenal Lancia Martini Historic Rally Team, formed of a a ’92 Lancia Delta Integrale Evo, an ’85 Lancia 037, and – proving Martini’s racing livery can make literally anything cool – a Fiat Ducato van, complete with tools, spares, and equipment. And each is amongst the finest examples of Lego model-making that you will ever see.

With expertly recreated liveries courtesy of fellow previous bloggee JaapTechnic, Bricksonwheel‘s creations are near perfect replicas of the stars of Lancia’s greatest era. And a Fiat van, but that’s a near perfect replica too.

Each model is built from around 2,000 pieces and includes fully detailed suspension, engine and interior, with every aspect constructed with mind-bending attention to detail.

There’s much more to see at Bricksonwheels’ Lancia Martini Historic Rally Team album on Flickr by clicking the link above, you can see the Delta Integrale’s individual appearance here at TLCB last year by clicking these words, and you can read Bricksonwheels’ interview as part of the Master Mocer Series by clicking here to learn how he creates amazing models like these.

The Last Lancia

Lego lancia Delta S4 Integrale EVO

This is the last Lancia World Rally Car, and therefore it may as well be the last Lancia, because embarrassments like this, this and this really don’t count. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Lancia’s owners, should probably just let the brand die (although to be fair they’re doing a damn good job of trying to kill it), however there was a time when Lancia were on top of the world.

This isn’t actually a car from that time, as the brand was in decline even in the early 1990s, but they could still really build a rally car. This glorious creation is a near-perfect replica of the mighty Lancia Delta HF Intergrale EVO, the car that gave Lancia their sixth (and final) consecutive World Rally Championship in 1992 – a record still unbeaten today – and which wore one of the greatest racing liveries of all time courtesy of Martini.

Built in Tour de Corse specification where the Delta Integrale EVO won in the hands of Didier Auriol, this amazing model is the work of Master MOCer Dennis Glaasker aka Bricksonwheels, who spent four months and 1,700 LEGO pieces to create this astonishing replica of Lancia’s final championship winning car.

Lego lancia Delta S4 Integrale EVO

With a fully detailed interior (complete with roll cage) behind the four opening doors and hatchback, a beautifully replicated engine bay underneath the opening hood, and some of the finest custom decals we’ve ever seen applied to a Lego model, Dennis’ Lancia Delta HF Integrale EVO is one of the most realistic rally cars that this site has featured yet.

A huge gallery of imagery is available to view at Bricksonwheels’ photostream, including some ingenious ‘x-ray’ style cutaways revealing the details within, and you can do just that by clicking here. Join us in amazement at the link.

Duty Free

Formula Zero Gravity Lego

On every flight there’s always one. That lady or gentleman who – when booze is marginally cheaper courtesy of airport tax free shopping – decides to optimise this saving. “I’ll just get a few bottles to take home” they say. Sure they will. Those bottles will be empty before they’ve even boarded. Anyway, this post is for them – and to that one guy who tries to smoke in the airplane toilet – as these models are literally encouraging drinking/smoking and flying.

With most countries doing what Formula 1 wouldn’t (because F1 is all about the monies), and banning alcohol and cigarette sponsorship in sport, alcoholic beverage and cigarette companies are no longer seen on the side of Formula 1 cars.

But there are no rules in space…

This is Formula Zero Gravity, an invention by British Lego Group Brickish, and they’re single-handedly bringing morally-dubious sponsorship back to top level racing! Two of motorsport’s greatest liveries have made the return so far (with more to come), with Nick Barrett’s stupendous Martini Racing F0 racer above, and Jeremy Williams’ gorgeous John Player Special F0 racer below.

There’s more to see of Nick’s build at both his MOCpage and photostream, and you can view Jeremy’s courtesy of Flickr here. Enjoy your flight!

Formula Zero Gravity Lego

Black Widow

Lego Porsche 936 Black Widow

Greg998 is becoming a regular here at TLCB with his superb classic racing cars. His latest, this brilliant 1976 Martini-Porsche 936 ‘Black Widow’ was suggested to us by a reader, and you can see more of it and his other builds on Flickr.

A Quick Drink

Lego Porsche 917K Le Mans

The 24 Heures de Mans has finally been won by someone other than Audi. Porsche, in their second Le Mans since returning last year, claimed an amazing outright victory in 2015. Of course, Audi still kind of won as the two brands are effectively the same company – following VW’s recent take-over to continue their plans for world domination – but it was nice nevertheless.

Back when Porsche were an independent auto-maker though, they were even more successful, largely thanks to this – the awesome 917. This particular car, raced by Martini Racing and driven by Helmut Marko and Gijs Van Lennep, won Le Mans outright in 1971.

The Lego recreation shown here is the work of prolific race-car builder Greg 998, and it includes a wonderfully detailed chassis, cockpit and engine, as well as the brilliant custom-decalled exterior pictured above. You can see more of the 917 and Greg’s other racing cars on MOCpages at the link above.

A Quick Drink

Lego Porsche 917 Le Mans

Le Mans, probably the greatest motor race in the world, is better than ever this year. Alongside the ubiquitous Audis in LMP1 there’ll be Toyota, Nissan and Porsche, all running hybrids in a huge variety of configurations. Formula 1 take note; giving manufacturers the freedom to innovate in line with their own skills is what creates great racing. Whereas forcing everyone to make exactly the same car with a different paint scheme blows goats.

Anyway, Porsche’s current challenger features a tiny flat-4 turbo in conjunction with some very tricksy electrical witchcraft. It’s a very different beast to the car that Porsche are probably most famous for; the monstrous 1970s flat-12 powered 917.

The brilliant 917 above is the work of Flickr’s Manuel Cara, who has recreated the car that took the 1971 Le Mans overall victory in stunning detail, including the iconic Martini livery. The full gallery is well worth a look – you can see all the images of Manuel’s beautiful Martini-Racing 917 on Flickr via the link above.

Martini Porsche Picture Special

Lego Martini Porsche Racing

Over the past week The Lego Car Blog has been a bit more ‘Truck’ than ‘Car’. Today we return to our job description with a blog post Special to celebrate one of the team’s favourite builders, the incredible Malte Dorowski.

Lego Porsche 911 Carrera RSR Turbo

Malte has featured here several times over the years with his beautiful racing cars. Today – after some time away from the Lego community – he has finally returned, with this completely gorgeous Porsche 911 Carrera RSR Turbo.

Lego Porsche Flat 6 Turbo

Built in 1974 and raced by the Martini Porsche works team, the Carrera RSR Turbo heralded a new dawn for racing cars, making 500bhp from just 2.1 litres with the aid of a huge turbocharger. Malte has recreated not only the car but also its incredible flat-6 engine in astounding detail, using a variety of unusual LEGO pieces ranging from flags to robot hands.

Lego Porsche 911 Carrera RSR Turbo

The Porsche’s bodywork is just as inventive, with elephant tusks, mini-figure SCUBA flippers and harpoons all making perfectly judged appearances. See if you can spot them all; take a trip to Malte’s superb Flickr photostream or visit his awesome MOCpages account, where he also includes a link to the Classic Race Teams group which has inspired so many creations like his.

Lego Martini Porsche Racing

Shaken not Stirred

Martini Racing

Martini Racing, ’70s style

We’ve featured a few of Malte Dorowski’s astonishing racing cars before on The Lego Car Blog, and this time he’s completed the set by beautifully photographing his Martini Racing Team VW Parts Van alongside one of his Porsche racing cars. Part of a Classic Racing group, you can view the full gallery on MOCpages.

More Porschery

Porsche 935/75 Turbo

The coolest racing sponsorship ever? Discuss.

Malte Dorowski is possibly the best vehicle builder in the Lego Community today. His work offers a level of detail that we’d just not seen in bricks before, and his latest racing car is no exception. One of several Malte-MOCs we’ve featured here at The Lego Car Blog, and belonging to the Classic Race Teams Group on MOCpages we featured earlier in the year, his Porsche 935/76 Turbo is one of the most beautiful creations the Elves have found thus far. Models like this are why The Lego Car Blog exists in fact. You can view all the details of this creation on MOCpages – it’s worth a click.