Today something totally different from the last featured car.
A little history
Once a major name in open-wheeler racing, Reynard’s fame was still untarnished by the late Nineties, after a quarter of a century in activities. Nevertheless huge amount of money had been lost in hazardous projects, notably two forays into Formula One: an aborted one under its own name a few years before, and a disappointing association with the new BAR team. Though all-dominant across the Atlantic in Indy-type series, Reynard had been eliminated from the Formula Three scenery, once its domaine reservé. That’s the time Reynard chose to enter the sportscar’s scene. Having no experience whatsoever in this field the British company started in 1999 by buying Riley & Scott, which was running prototypes at that time. Alas the purchase came at a high price and the knowledge of the American company proved too limited to challenge the ruling Audis – that the abysmal Cadillac spyder was in fact a Riley & Scott chassis says it all. The first Reynard prototype, the 2KQ model from 2001, was a failure. Facing serious financial problems, Reynard declared bankruptcy in early 2002. Ironically, after Reynard’s demise the original 2KQ design and the more evolved 02S were adopted and further developed by several teams, most notably Zytek, which made its own cars fairly competitive during the following seasons.
About the model
Model: Reynard 2KQ-LM - Volkswagen
Year: 2001
Event: 2001 Le Mans 24 Hours, driven by Jordi Gené, Jean-Denis Deletraz and Pascal Fabre (finished 5th overall)
Maker: Ixo
Scale: 1/43
Distributed by: Altaya as no.35 of its Les Plus Belles Voitures des 24 Heures du Mans press series
Acquired: brand new, in February 2005, in Souillac, France
Not my favourite model but it’s true that it isn’t the period I like the most either, so I’m probably biased. My rating is 12/20.
A little history
Once a major name in open-wheeler racing, Reynard’s fame was still untarnished by the late Nineties, after a quarter of a century in activities. Nevertheless huge amount of money had been lost in hazardous projects, notably two forays into Formula One: an aborted one under its own name a few years before, and a disappointing association with the new BAR team. Though all-dominant across the Atlantic in Indy-type series, Reynard had been eliminated from the Formula Three scenery, once its domaine reservé. That’s the time Reynard chose to enter the sportscar’s scene. Having no experience whatsoever in this field the British company started in 1999 by buying Riley & Scott, which was running prototypes at that time. Alas the purchase came at a high price and the knowledge of the American company proved too limited to challenge the ruling Audis – that the abysmal Cadillac spyder was in fact a Riley & Scott chassis says it all. The first Reynard prototype, the 2KQ model from 2001, was a failure. Facing serious financial problems, Reynard declared bankruptcy in early 2002. Ironically, after Reynard’s demise the original 2KQ design and the more evolved 02S were adopted and further developed by several teams, most notably Zytek, which made its own cars fairly competitive during the following seasons.
About the model
Model: Reynard 2KQ-LM - Volkswagen
Year: 2001
Event: 2001 Le Mans 24 Hours, driven by Jordi Gené, Jean-Denis Deletraz and Pascal Fabre (finished 5th overall)
Maker: Ixo
Scale: 1/43
Distributed by: Altaya as no.35 of its Les Plus Belles Voitures des 24 Heures du Mans press series
Acquired: brand new, in February 2005, in Souillac, France
Not my favourite model but it’s true that it isn’t the period I like the most either, so I’m probably biased. My rating is 12/20.
5 comments:
I´ve got it. Jordi Gené is a spanish driver. His broother won last year the 24 hours of le mans on a Peugeot 908 HDI. Jordi Gené drives a Seat León at the WTCC.
I've never made the connection between Jordi and Marc, so thank you for this detail (and for adding an accent on "Gené" by the way, I've corrected the spelling above). I'm really at a loss regarding present-day pilots. Tell me about Jo Siffert or Derek Bell (names given at random), that's another story... OK, names NOT given at random, congratulations on your latest post!
That Volkswagen part on its name made me curious :-) What engine powered this? Audi is part of VW, did 2KQ have the same one as the Audi LM version?
Interesting post!
As my knowledge of modern racing cars is virtually nil, my answer is: I don't know. Though actually... I think I remember reading in a forum that Volkswagen's involvement in their racing engine didn't go beyond putting its name onto it. The fact is, I don't remember reading that it was originally an Audi engine. At the time I didn't made the connection between Volkswagen and Audi, but now that you mention it, it arouses my curiosity. I'll wander through the net looking for the answer!
I probably mixed up the story told above with that of another known but surprising brand putting its name onto an existing engine at Le Mans. Actually the Volkswagen engine was a turbocharged 4-cylinder, 2.0-litre block allowing the car to race in the LMP675 class. The 2KQ was equally raced in the upper LMP900 class (unsupercharged 4.0-litre blocks and much heavier minimum weight) when fitted with a larger engine. So now the Audi connection guess is definitely out of the way.
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