Le Mans 1999 Diecast

After the Mercedes factory domination of the 1998 FIA GT season, there was a wholesale abandonment of GT1 cars by factory and privateers teams alike. The formula was getting out of control, and none of the cars had any real connection to production vehicles. So for In 1999 the GT1 class was scrapped, and the closed prototype cars were grouped into the LM GTP (Le Mans Gran Touring Prototype class which was intended to be equivalent to LMP. At least the name was correct as these cars were true prototypes.

Mercedes showed up with three closed-cockpit CLR's, which except for some testing at Fontana Speedway in California, had seen little track time and no prior race experience. When these cars arrived on race weekend at La Sarthe they promptly flipped over. Twice. Peter Drumbeck's now-infamous flip at the end of the Mulsanne straight only damadged a tree. In 1955 a similar flip by a Mercedes created a body count of 83.

Audi built both an open and closed car for the race. The Open-cockpit R8R had made its debut with a credible third-place finish at Sebring, but the R8C had never been raced.

The GT2 class took the traditional name of GTS, and a new GT class was made for what are essentially road cars. This class was won by the replacement for Porsche's 993 RSR, the 911 GT3, (AKA the 996 GT3). This is a normally-aspirated car not, to be confused with the 993 GT2 turbo.

47 Total cars. 45 raced. 31 models exist.

The winning BMW V12 LMR is important to collectors in that it was the first time that the Vitesse Group had put out a product that was a clear equal to the Minichamps version. The merits of both models were discussed in chat rooms ad nauseum, but there was no clear winner, which in essence means that Vitesse won.

Spark model "announced" an intention to do the Mercedes, but quickly removed all evidence six hours later

Le Mans 1999 (Independently Organized by the ACO)

Place

Car
Sponsor

Car # Class

Model

Ref. #

Image

LMP Class
1BMW V12 LMR 'Dell'
Pierluigi Martini
Yannick Dalmas
Joachim Winkelhock 		15
LMP		Onyx
Le Mans Collection		XLM99019 
   Minichamps
(BMW Dealer Edition)		80 42 9 418 138
   Minichamps
430 992915 
3Audi R8R 'Audi'
Frank Biela
Emanuele Pirro
Didier Theys 		8
LMP		Minichamps
430 990908
   Minichamps
(Audi Dealer Edition)		? 
4Audi R8R 'Audi'
Laurent Aiello
Michele Alboreto
Rinaldo Capello 		7
LMP		Minichamps
(Audi Dealer Edition)		?
   Minichamps
430 990907 
5BMW V12 LM98 'HSH'
Thomas Bscher
Bill Auberlen
Steve Soper 		18
LMP		Minichamps
(BMW Dealer Edition)		80 42 0 009 608
   Minichamps
430 992818 
7Panoz LMP-1 Roadster 'Visteon'
David Brabham
Eric Bernard
Butch Leitzinger 		12
LMP		Onyx
Le Mans Collection		XLM033
   Minichamps
AC4-998812 

10

Dodge Viper GTS-R
Olivier Beretta
Karl Wendlinger
Dominique Dupuy

51
GTS

Minichamps
(Unreleased)

430 991451
11Panoz LMP-1 Roadster 'Visteon'
Jan Magnussen
Johnny O'Connell
Max Angelelli 		11
LMP		Onyx
Le Mans Collection		XLM032
   Minichamps
AC4-998811 

DNF

Riley & Scott Mk III 'speedy'
Philippe Gache
Gary Formato
Olivier Thévenin

31
LMP

Spark

SCRS 02

DNF

BMW V12 LMR 'The Art Car'
Tom Kristensen
Joachim Winkelhock

16
LMP

Minichamps
(BMW Dealer Edition)

80 42 0 008 552

DNF

Nissan R391 'Nissan'
Aguri Suzuki
Eric van de Poele
Kageyama

23
LMP

Onyx
Le Mans Collection

XLM99031

DNF

Lola T98/10 'FaTurbo'
Thomas Saldana
Grant Orbell
Didier De Radigues

27
LMP

Spark

SCLA 04

DNF

Nissan R391 'Nissan'
Michael Krumm
Erik Comas
Satoshi Motoyama

22
LMP

Onyx
Le Mans Collection

XLM99030
DNFLola T98/10 'Motorola'
Christophe Tinseau
Franck Montagny
David Terrien 		25
LMP		Spark
SCLA 02

DNF

Riley & Scott Mk III 'ampm'
Yojiro Terada
Franck Fréon
Robin Donovan

24
LMP

Spark

SCRS 03

DNF

Riley & Scott Mk III 'Robb Report'
Marco Apicella
Shane Lewis
Carl Rosenblad

32
LMP

Spark

SCRS 01

DNF

BMW V12 LMR 'Dell'
Jörg Müller
J.J. Lehto
Tom Kristensen

17
LMP

Minichamps
(BMW Dealer Edition)

80 42 9 418 139

Onyx
Le Mans Collection

XLM99020

Minichamps

430 992917

DNF

BMW V12 LM98 'Panasonic/Pepsi'
Hiro Matsushita
Hiroki Katou
Akihiko Nakaya

19
LMP

Minichamps
(BMW Dealer Edition)

80 42 0 009 609

Minichamps

430 992819

DNF

Lola T98/10 'Talkline'
Jan Lammers
Peter Kox
Tom Coronel

25
LMP

Spark
(Unreleased)

SCLA 03
LMGTP Class

DNF

Toyota GT-One 'Zent'
Martin Brundle
Emmanuel Collard
Vincenzo Sospiri

1
LM GTP

Onyx
Le Mans Collection

XLM99016

DNF

Toyota GT-One 'Venture Safenet'
Thierry Boutsen
Allan McNish
Ralf Kelleners

2
LM GTP

Onyx
Le Mans Collection

XLM99017

2

Toyota GT-One 'Esso Ultron'
Ukyou Katayama
Toshio Suzuki
Keiichi Tsuchiya

3
LM GTP

Onyx
Le Mans Collection

XLM99018

DNF

Audi R8C 'Audi'
Stefan Johansson
Stéphane Ortelli
Christian Abt

9
LM GTP

Minichamps
(Audi Dealer Edition)

?

Minichamps

430 990909

DNF

Audi R8C 'Audi'
Andy Wallace
James Weaver
Perry McCarthy

10
LM GTP

Minichamps

430 990910

Minichamps
(Audi Dealer Edition)

?
GTS Class

DNF

Porsche 911 GT2 'TSW'
Wolfgang Kaufmann
Michel Ligonnet
Ernst Palmberger

61
GTS

Onyx
Le Mans Collection

XLM99022

Minichamps

430 996761

DNF

Porsche 911 GT2 'FATurbo'
Bourdais
Pierre de Thoisy
Jean-Pierre Jarier

67
GTS

Onyx
Le Mans Collection

XLM99027

DNF

Porsche 911 GT2 'Montoit'
Manuel Monteiro
Michel Monteiro
Michel Maisonneuve

66
GTS

Onyx
Le Mans Collection

XLM99026

N/C

Porsche 911 GT2 'Chereau'
Jean-Luc Chéreau
Patrice Goueslard
Pierre Yver

65
GTS

Onyx
Le Mans Collection

XLM99025

16

Dodge Viper GTS-R
Emmanuel Clérico
Guy Martinolle
Jean-Claude Lagniez

55
GTS

Minichamps
(Unreleased)

430 991455

17

Dodge Viper GTS-R
Paul Belmondo
Marc Rostan
Tiago Monteiro

54
GTS

Minichamps
(Unreleased)

430 991454

18

Porsche 911 GT2 'Kollner'
Franz Konrad
Charles Slater
Peter Kitchak

64
GTS

Onyx
Le Mans Collection

XLM99024
GT Class
13Porsche 911 (996) GT3-R
'Kontec'
Uwe Alzen
Patrick Huisman
Luca Riccitelli 		81
GT		Onyx
(Le Mans Collection)		XLM029
Minichamps
Porsche Dealer		WAP ??? ??? ?
19Porsche 911 (996) GT3-R
'Kontec'
Dirk Müller
Bob Wollek
Bernd Mayländer 		80
GT		Onyx
(Le Mans Collection)		XLM028
21Porsche 993 Carrera RSR84
GT