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.
