Le Mans Miniatures Bentley Speed 8 by ElSecundo!

[HomeRacingWorld]

[Jesla]

Kurt....your costing me money........... :)

[ElSecundo]

Yeah, and I'm costing me money, too. lol

What I'm seeing with these LMM cars is that anyone who can tune a Monogram car for a wood track can handle LMM easily. It takes a bit of flexibility, and definitely patience, but anyone can do it. I've been sort of afraid of these cars for a long time, but not any more!

[HomeRacingWorld]

Do you think models such as these are starting to catch the eye of the more, shall we say, seasoned veteran?

Sometimes you sit back and look at your collection and realize you have a great many of them, but how many go into the small slot box come club night? You find yourself wanting something different after awhile of collecting (not that you have a big collection) :)

Models like the ones you have picked up recently are not particularly ones you see in everyone's collection. Then narrow it down further to the ones actually tuning and racing them.

I think it is fun to see these cars being raced. I bet the guys in the club are liking it too.

[ElSecundo]

Right on all counts, boss. Since we're not racing, it's more about having cool stuff to run, and cars that we just really enjoy. It's fun to see somebody else show up with something unique, and it's fun to show up with something unique of your own.

Getting one of these cars out is like Judge Smails getting out the "Billy Beruhl" putter in Caddyshack. :dance:

[HomeRacingWorld]

Heheh, I can see you holding it to your face now: "Oh bentley...bentley bentley"

[ElSecundo]

:lol:
"This steak still has marks where the jockey was hittin' it."

[Jesla]

I'm afraid the Bentley won't navigate my banking with the guide so far rearward.......

[ElSecundo]

Yeah, a lot of the modern cars, especially LMP cars have trouble with banking. The big troublemaker is often the diffuser in the back. This car's diffuser, low splitter and odd guide location don't make it a good candidate for a banked track.

[DrV]

Great review, Kurt. Thank-you for submitting it.

[ElSecundo]

Thanks, guys. These are hobbyist cars for sure, but what I hope people can take away from the reviews is that anyone can fix their quirks, and have a great car when they're done.

The hardest part of these cars is that the buyer doesn't know what they're going to get. A Slot.It car is like going to MacDonald's. It's a safe bet that any MacDonald's will give you a cheeseburger that tastes like any other MacDonald's cheeseburger. Generally no surprises, and you know you're going to like it even before you walk in the place.

LMM doesn't have that same comfort zone, but if you're flexible, you'll really like it -- much more than MacDonald's.

[waaytoomuchintothis]

Thanks for doing the work on this, Kurt. Very good work on a difficult subject.

Unless there's a big price reduction I don't see myself ever looking for this car, but I love the Bentley Speed 8, and I have several made by others. A couple of them were hard to get the best from at first, but having learned more over time, I went back to them and they are among my favorite cars to run now.

[ElSecundo]

Hey Rob, they're really like any other car. Keep your eyes on it long enough, and you'll find one at a decent price. I got this for 85 bucks or so, and the busted wing was an easy fix -- can hardly tell it was broken.

I wish I still had a Carrera Speed 8 to compare it to. Night and day difference, and it takes just as much work to get the Carrera running the way you want it to.

But I know, LMM isn't exactly a mainstream manufacturer, and their cars aren't really what most people are looking for.

[waaytoomuchintothis]

Isn't it odd that the Carrera Bentley is so unusual for a Carrera? I worked on that car a lot, off and on, until I had it the way I wanted it. Its pretty crowded in that body, I remember, and I had a wonky crown gear, too. I have a couple of them, and I keep thinking I'll put a Mark motor in one and see what I get.

[ElSecundo]

The Carrera version can really be turned into a great runner. Robert Livingston did one in 2005 that was just fantastic. The secret to it (well, one of the secrets to it) was the gearing, which involved a Cox crown gear that was so big, a hole had to be cut in the rear deck for the gear to poke through. Great car, though, and really the only other way to get a Bentley Speed 8, unless there's some other boutique resin manufacturer out there who has done it. The Carrera version was the EXP Speed 8, I think. It's actually a different model, but still pretty close to this one.