2001 Porsche 996 GT3-RS Pilots: F. Babini, G. Rosa, L. Drudi Race: 6th overall (1st in GT Class) at Le Mans in 2001 Team: Seikel Motorsport Altaya - PV27 (diecast)
Published 03/25/17
Peter Seikel founded Seikel Motorsports in 1968 basically to compete in domestic racing series. The team did well and with time they moved on to touring car racing in European championships. Peter Seikel himself even won the Group N championship in 1979. After racing a diverse fleet of touring cars, in 1994 Seikel got into GT racing, with a partnership with Porsche in the BPR Global GT Series. And concurrently, he tried his luck at La Sarthe. With a solo car in the race, his Porsche 968 Turbo RS had to abandon the race on the 84th lap. The team went back to Le Mans in 1995, 1996 and 2000 with consistent results.
For the 2001 24 Heures du Mans they had a one car team. Again with a Porsche, this time it was a 911 GT3-RS (chassis #WP0ZZZ99Z1S692075). The GT3-RS is a beast of a racing machine, with a boxer-6 3598 cm³ engine that delivers over 440 hp. But not only powerful, the GT3-RS has a very important characteristic, specially for Le Mans – it’s reliable. To the point that the GT3-RS #83 came in sixth position overall and snatched a class win. However, despite the top honors in the GT class in 2001, due to financial concerns Peter Seikel closed down Seikel Motorsports in 2007.
About the model, I will allow myself to be blunt: it sucks 😣. Though the paint job is decent and wheels are okay, just look at those exhaust pipes. Although there are (rare) exceptions to this rule, once again Altaya proves that their models are VERY badly detailed. And in this case it’s aggravating because the GT3-RS #83 was a class winner. Consequently, this is a car that I need to upgrade.