GMP 1:18 1999 Ford Mustang #1 Homelink- Gentilozzi

Paul Gentilozzi and his Rocketsports Racing team have been one of the most successful racing efforts in the TransAm’s thirty-nine year history. Their three championship wins matched the efforts of the Mark Donohue/Roger Penske and Scott Pruett teams and were only surpassed by the most successful driver in the TransAm: Tommy Kendall.

The SCCA-run Trans American Sedan Championship racing series was first introduced on March 25, 1966 at Sebring International Raceway with over and under 2 liter classes. Over the years, the series has been based on different types of automobiles, but since 1980, the series has been built around tube-framed, composite bodied (fiberglass, Kevlar, or carbon fiber), purpose-built race cars that liberally resemble their production counterparts. They’re powered by naturally-aspirated V-8 engines giving these cars zero to sixty mph times in the 3 second range and top speeds around 180 mph.

Paul Gentilozzi has won the TransAm Championship in a Chevrolet Corvette, a Ford Mustang, and most recently driving a Jaguar. GMP’s Homelink Mustang is a replication of Gentilozzi’s 1999 season-winning Mustang when he returned as the 1998 TransAm champion carrying the #1 “plate”.

GMP has really done a nice job of building this replica! TransAm rules limit the minimum ground clearance to 2.5 inches and this car is right down there! The black paint with all the tampo’ed graphics and decals are beautifully done. The BBS rims are the prettiest (and deepest) I’ve seen and mount a huge set of the series-spec’ed Goodrich “g-Force T/A’s”. The front and rear sections of the body are clipped on and lift off to reveal the areas in-front of and behind the driver’s compartment. Although most of the radiator, engine and transmission aren’t visible because of the aluminum shrouds and carbon fiber body panels that obscure them, what you can see is really cool! The radiator air intake in the grill is covered with fine polished stainless steel mesh. The radiator itself is covered by a large simulated aluminum shroud that ducts the air from the grille to it. A large simulated carbon fiber aircleaner/plenum draws intake air from in-front of the windshield. Under it you can see that the engine has carbon fiber valve covers, but you can’t see much else. The exhaust from both sides of the engine is routed to the right side of the car, through a muffler and out through an exhaust tip poking through the body in-front of the rear wheel. This muffler is an example of GMP’s incredible attention to detail….. you have to take a flashlight, remove the front end of the car and peer down between the cockpit and the outside of the car to see it. Only you & I and the guys that built the car will even know it exists, but we know it’s there and we know it’s right!

The cockpit features a fully-wired instrument panel, all the data-collection boxes and control modules that you would find in the real car, a great seat with a fabric 5-point harness featuring photo-etched hardware, and a very realistic steering wheel. Under the lift-off rear body section, the fuel tank and all its attendant hoses, wires and pumps are visible and nicely done. Carbon fiber panels in the cockpit and in the rear area including the wheel tubs look like the real thing! A full-length under-tray covers the bottom of the car from the front to the rear.

I really like this car and when you climb all over it, you get a real appreciation of how these bad boys have been put together. GMP’s craftsmanship in building this car is exceptional and you should seriously consider adding this to your collection. Great job GMP!

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