The Porsche 935 was introduced in
1976 off the base of a Porsche 930 (911 Turbo). Originally, the car was
designed to enter Group 5 of FIA although it was later entered into a multitude
of different race meetings. Overall, the 935, through different evolutions, has
won more than 150 races.
Knowing the dominance of their car,
Porsche was hesitant to sell their car to privateers. This was especially the
case with the 935/78 also known as Moby Dick. Thus, some teams, including
Kremer Racing decided to make their own evolution. This is when the Kremer K3
version was developed. In 1979, a K3 even scored an outright win at the 24
Hours of Le Mans. In 1981, this version made by Carousel 1, was
entered in the 24 Hours of Daytona driven by Bob Garretson, Bobby Rahal and
Brian Redman. The car won with a margin of 13 laps ahead of another
Porsche K3.
Sadly I didn't manage to find
enough pictures of this particular K3, most of the comparison will be
against a K3 from 1980. From comparing the few pictures I found about this
1981 K3 and the 1980 K3, I highly think that they are perfectly identical in
vast areas.
The model is very solidly built and
is heavy. The paint job is rich, deep and orange peel free. Only the rear wheel
arches have a little problem with orange peel. The dark blue is accurate as is
the livery with the exception of a small sponsor which is omitted from the
model. The omitted tampo lies in between "SON" from the word
Garretson, and "IMSA GT" (see 5th picture). After some careful
inspection, it seems that the missing logo is a "Camel" logo; ban law hits
again!
Carousel 1 have managed to grasp the
stance and features very well, the mesh protecting the grill is photo etched
and perforated, a couple of vents above the rear wheels are also photo
etched. However to my disappointment, the vents on the hood, the vents behind
the doors and the vents right above the exhaust are sealed. The
sealed vents above the exhaust is a feature also found on the real 1980 935,
maybe they were sealed in reality as well?
The front is a perfect
reproduction in all aspects; details, livery and headlights. The front height
is
awkwardly
high, but Carousel 1 is correct. The four lights do no have
attachment stubs. The wiper is not that detailed though, would have expected a
little more detail on it and the 3 filler caps are moulded in the
bonnet and not separate pieces. As for the rest, the bonnet has a lot of small
parts which are accurate, and even if they are made of plastic,
they are well replicated in all aspects.
The rear headlights are accurate and
made out of coloured pieces of plastic. No attachment stubs were used. The
silencers are odd as they are not perfectly uniform, one is taller than
the other and one is higher. But, the K3 935 was like that.
The undercarriage is one of the best
I have seen. No screws or holes are visible and most areas can be looked at.
The overall detail of this area is magnificent and although I can't compare
with any pictures from the real K3 935, I doubt it is any different. Carousel 1
did an outstanding job in making this area life like, particularly the engine
area. You can note at the front, there is a small rectangular silver plate;
this one is #0985 as it is a Limited Edition model.
The bonnet, rear tail and two doors
open. All shut lines are very well. The front bonnet is removed completely from
the car as it is just clipped on from one spot. The doors are supported by very
small hinges which do not allow the door to move. They are quite hard to
open and if it wasn't for the car's door handle, I would have some problems.
When closed, the doors aren't a perfect fit and tend to open by about a
millimetre. A gentle push helps here, strong pushes just make the door pop
out again. The rear cover is also removed completely just like the hood.
It is not very hard to remove but it is difficult to reposition correctly. It
does fit tight, even though at first I thought Carousel 1 did a poor job. After
some careful positioning and pushing at the right spots, the part clips itself
to the main body with very small shutl ines.
Differently from all other 911 based
models I have, the engine is visible since the cover comes off. At the centre,
the car has a turbine just like the 917s had. Most parts are separate then put
together. They are coloured differently but realistically. If one looks inside
well, one can also notice a lot of separate wires connected throughout the
engine. However, it stills a difficult task to see the whole engine,
but most of the rest can be seen from the undercarriage.
Most parts are made from different
pieces of plastic but some rubber is also used for the ducts. The ducts
connect the heat coming out of the axles areas into the exhaust system. It is a
joy to see so many parts on an engine which are connected
together. Best engine on a 911 for sure.
The front compartment is also well
detailed. Most of the area is taken by the enormous fuel cell and its two
filler caps. A battery is also featured of the left bottom. Notice the
huge amount of wires and tubes passing in this section. What is more
important, they are realistic and all connected with the different parts in
this area.
The cockpit is very hard to
photograph and the fact that it is mostly in black or dark blue does not help.
But Carousel 1 did well, the roll cage is accurate enough. The cockpit
also features a couple of fire extinguishers on the passenger side. They are in
no way at the same level of this model. Utter toy like pieces. The seat is made
out hard plastic with drapery seatbelts and photo etched clips. The driver
side also features a well made protective net. As for the rest,
the accuracy is at an
acceptable
level. But it is far off the detail found on the car, most pieces, like the
gearbox and pedals are not of high standard. Also many small pieces and details
here and there are missing from the model. Certainly expected a little more
from Carousel 1.
The wheel is accurate and branded
Goodyear. Given the design on the rim, which is found on most K3, the
brake and axle details cannot be seen. Differently from the Exoto
versions, neither the hub cap, nor the wheel can be removed, so the only way to
see some detail is though looking at the undercarriage.
The detail found is grand;
suspension is great, brake system is excellent. The clip is static but the
disk moves with the wheel.
In conclusion, Carousel did an
excellent job in most areas, only the cockpit was a
partial letdown. The car is a Limited Edition of 1200 pieces and no other
manufacturer does a K3. Porsche and Daytona fans... get it while you can!
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