Knick Knacks and Things:
Diecasts & More
A 2 Car Set Fit For 1100 Miles of Racing
-Charlie Haywood, 4/3/2024
This May, Kyle Larson will become the latest driver to attempt the Memorial Day Double. Both cars feature Hendrickcars.com blue with splashes of Mclaren papaya orange, promoting the universal effort behind all parties involved in making Kyle’s double attempt a reality. A slew of merchandise has been produced featuring hats, t-shirts, and of course diecasts. The folks at Lionel Racing (NASCAR) and Greenlight Collectibles (Indycar) even came together to produce a series of 2 packs allowing collectors to buy both rides at once. The “big car” pack (1:18/1:24-scale) features the cars in an exclusive liquid color finish, while the 1:64-scale pack cars come in their standard paint scheme. Blue is the drop out color on the Cup car, giving off a “night race” look with the way the paint shines in different lighting. Orange got the special finish treatment on the Indycar, receiving a sparkly, glittery look, which is difficult to see at first but can still be seen under a flashlight. The box this set comes in is massive as the 1:18-scale Indycar takes up a lot of space. The box’s artwork takes cues from the Cup car scheme and features Hendrick, and Arrow Mclaren logos, plus the NASCAR and Indycar series logos. There’s also a QR code that is new for 2024 on all Hendrick Motorsports diecasts and links to their online store. If you’re thinking about picking up this set now is the time to do it as May is right around the corner. Sites like Lionel Racing and Circle B Diecast have already sold out of it. It is still available on many other diecast sites and retails for $195. We’re all excited to see how Kyle does in the double and this diecast set is certainly a unique piece to commemorate the historical moment.
A 2023 Addition That Made a Splash.
-Charlie Haywood, 3/28/2023
A few weeks ago, Ryan Blaney debuted a special one-off paint scheme at Atlanta Motor Speedway to promote Body Armor Sport Water. That car became the first 2023 release in my collection. I like the scheme for its simplistic design, although it does look very similar to Penske’s own Discount Tire livery. It looked really good on track in person at Atlanta and was also very fast, as Blaney set the fastest time in round 1 of qualifying before ending up third behind his Team Penske teammates in a line of 8 Fords at the front. The best part about all this though? Being able to buy the diecast of the car at the track before it even raced. That’s an extremely rare occurrence these days for one-off schemes, (and even full-season ones for that matter) so shoutout to all parties involved in making this one happen.
Brick by Brick; Building the Porsche 963 (With Legos of Course).
-Charlie Haywood, 3/28/2023
Man, it really would be cool if we could all build our own Porsche 963 and go racing wouldn’t it? Unfortunately, most of us mere mortals don’t have the budget for that so, the Lego Speed Champions version released earlier this month will have to do.
At the time of its March 1st release, the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona was the only race under the 963’s belt. Kudos to Lego for getting this set out so early in the car’s life, well before many diecast manufacturers have even shown off prototype samples of this one. This is the first Speed Champions set I’ve built for myself in four years so, it was my first of the new eight-stud wide models. I have to say, going to the bigger scale allows them to better capture the proportions of the real car. Overall, I’d say Lego did a great job replicating Porsche’s return to top-class prototype racing. Now, can we get the rest of the GTP and Hypercar fields, please?
This set retails for $24.99 and is available through Lego directly as well as Walmart, Target, and any good local hobby store. In addition to the car, one Minifigure is included.
An Addition Sure to Make Your Collection Cold as Ice…
-Charlie Haywood, 3/20/2023
No, it is not 24 degrees outside, in fact, it will soon be spring in North Carolina, BUT I can feel the rest of my diecasts getting cooler. Why is that? Well, The Iceman cometh…
Kimi Räikkönen made his NASCAR Cup Series debut last summer at Watkins Glen, NY driving the Trackhouse Racing, Project 91 entry. Now that diecast is available to purchase through your NASCAR dealer of choice in both 1:24 and 1:64 (pictured above) scales. This paint scheme is sure to stand out in any collection, featuring a black and blue design with neon yellow numbers.