Get your Group C/IMSA on.

[ET2SN]

Way back, when I was homeported in Japan, I got spoiled with Tamiya and Hasegawa 1/24th scale car kits and 1/20th scale F1 kits. Tamiya started the ball rolling with their Porsche 956 (Le Mans spec) which Hasegawa responded to with a deluge of Porsche 962's. Tamiya would later issue a couple of Toyota Group C's (1987 and 1989 spec) and a Sauber. These kits had "limited run" stamped all over them BUT, as it turned out, Japan really liked these Group C Prototypes and these kits still get re-popped every couple of years with updated or totally new decals.

What was the big deal with the Porsche 956 and 962?
Porsche developed the 956 as a follow-on to their 936 Spyder (aka the Super Slipper). The 956 also incorporated the then-new idea of Ground Effects which was powered by their Flat Six air-cooled engine which fed two turbos. The results were outstanding, Porsche went on to another wave of dominating Le Mans while the cars were also run at various European tracks. There was only one hitch, the 956 was always run as a Factory Team effort and only 27 of them were built.
The 962 was a basic evolution of the 956 with tweaked aero dynamics and a re-designed chassis that moved the driver's feet behind the plane of the front wheels for safety. The twist was that Porsche built the 962's as Customer cars and sold over 100 of them to racing teams in Europe, Japan, and the US. Getting your hands on a 962 was actually fairly simple. Either fly to Germany and plop down a check for *about* $350,000 (1980 dollars) or do the same thing at one of the Porsche Flagship dealerships in the US or Japan.
What you got was a complete 962 plus some engine and bodywork spares that was already tuned to hit 200 MPH in a straight line.
Just hire a couple of drivers and a pit crew, and you were ready to race.. and win. One neat part of the 962 was that you needed an actual key to start the engine.

OK, so what the heck is an "IMSA"? IMSA (International Motor Sports Association) was an out-growth of the SCCA (Sports Car Club of America) in the US. Where the SCCA preached lower costs and a more "grass roots" approach to racing sports cars, IMSA was kind of the answer to the bozos who would show up to time trials populated by MG's and Austin Mini's with something a LOT more exotic.
To cut this part short, IMSA was a great idea if you were the scion of a wealthy family but you were allergic to horses and just looking at yachts made you sea sick. Or, maybe you worked yourself up to being a titan of business and now you needed a way to write off some of those corporate gains while having some fun.

To be fair, IMSA was important to Porsche. That part about moving the driver's feet behind the main plain of the front wheels came from IMSA's rule book although the ACO (Le Mans) was also leaning in that direction for driver safety.

Where the Prototypes ran on long, sweeping race courses in Europe and Japan, it was a different story in the US. IMSA would run races just about anywhere. IMSA was the reason why Daytona built an infield road course (which was also done at smaller NASCAR tracks like Charlotte).
Imagine these exotic Prototypes on (GASP!) temporary street circuits and you get a better feeling for what IMSA was. The cars had to be at least as flexible as Champ Cars in terms of running on different types of tracks.
For the most part, the main difference between a Euro or Japanese spec 962 and a US spec example had to do with the turbos. IMSA mandated a heavy weight (lead ballast) penalty on Prototypes that ran two turbos instead of one. Most US spec 962's ran an "Andial Conversion" of a single (larger) turbo that was barrowed from Indy Car/Champ Cars until IMSA finally relented in the late 1980's. Building one of these Andial Conversions was fairly easy thanks to a resin conversion kit that has since gone extinct. There were some neat lumps and bumps that you could add to the engine cover under the rear wing.

Anyway, enough history (unless you want some more) and on to the kits.


I'm mostly concentrating on the Hasegawa 962's. While Tamiya offered several flavors (Rothman's, New Man yellow black and white, and Cannon red and white) of the 956, they also had a line 962's that you should pass on if you see one for sale. The Tamiya 962 was a "port over" of their Tam Tech carpet R/C cars. This is one of the few times when Tamiya dropped the ball and you really need to avoid them.

The key to building the Hasegawa 962 is to treat them like potato chips or crisps. You REALLY need more than one. Hasegawa re-popped this kit in several different flavors, including different parts for wheels and rear wings.
For wheels, you'll either get the traditional BBS "mesh" type or the Volk "five spoke" type. Every kit comes with the traditional Le Mans "bat wings" lower downforce rear wing and at least one "bob tail" rear wing option. Removing the "bat wings" is fairly easy. Use a scribing tool to dig a trench between the rear cowl and the wing sides on the inside of the of the wing sides. Get the trench about halfway into the plastic and then just snap off the wing sides. A little sanding over where the wing sides used to be completes the job.

The different liveries are all great, just try to buy at least one kit that features a mostly white paint scheme, you'll get a white body instead of the older dyed plastic colored bodies. Also, pay attention to the box art. You'll get a good idea of which wheels (and tire brands) are included and any rear wing options (most of the time).
What you get is mostly considered a "quick build" kit. You get a fairly plain lower body pan, minor cockpit detail, and a nice one-piece body. The wheels don't turn but will roll on poly caps. All of these kits were designed to get knocked out over a weekend and are "curb sides" unless you want to take a shot at super detailing one. All of these kits also come with an option for higher downforce cheek spoilers that mount below the head light buckets. If you want to use these spoilers, you can cut off most of the part that runs along the front wheel wells. Speaking of head lights, different kits come with different head light options. There are two styles of two headlight buckets and one or two single light options. It all depends on which kit(s) you buy.

Where to find them- For the most part, run a search for "Hasegawa 1/24th" on either EBay or Amazon. Folks in the US can also check out

https://www.hobbylinc.com/hasegawa-b...24-scale-20585

and keep in mind, these kits pop in and out over time. If you see one that's not available, give it time. Hasegawa will re-issue these kits every couple of years.