2010 ORECA 01 Pilots: A. Meyrick, D. André, S. Ayari Team: AIM Team ORECA Matmut Race: 4th overall (LMP1 class) at Le Mans in 2010 Altaya - PV05 (diecast)
Published 03/17/17
Founded in 1973, ORECA (Organisation Exploitation Compétition Automobiles), is a French racing team. At first they only participated in domestic racing series, winning the French Formula Three Championship 11 times. But with time and the good racing results their horizons became broader. By the 90s they specialized in GT and sports car racing, and eventually they arrived at La Sarthe. The team even achieved a class win in 1999. In 2007 ORECA bought sports prototype manufacturer Courage Compétition, with the intention of building their own cars. And their first model was the ORECA 01, that debuted at Spa in 2009.
The ORECA 01 had a carbon fiber monocoque chassis designed by David Floury specifically for LMP1. The engine came from AIM Power, a Japanese manufacturer, and tuned by Judd. It was a V10 displacing 5500 cm³, coupled to a X-Trac 6-speed sequential manual gearbox. For the 24 Heures du Mans of 2010, ORECA-Matmut had two cars in the race. Car #4 was a Peugeot 908 while #6 an ORECA 01, both in the LMP1 class. Car #6 here was the first car to finish after the all-conquering trio of R15.
As I have said (many) times before, I’m NOT an Altaya fan. Their models are too crude for my tastes, many times with wrong details. However, ORECA 01 #6 is a nice exception. No, it’s not refined as a Spark or even an Ixo, but all in all it’s a nice model. From a distance it looks actually pretty good. To the point that I don’t think I’ll need to upgrade it 😲.