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With an eye towards overall wins rather than class victories, Porsche developed the Carrera 6 or 906 that barely fit into the new FIA sports car class or Goup 4 that required only a 50 car production run. Although the Carrera 6 never certified for street use, happily, the entire run sold anyway.
Borrowing only brakes and some suspension components from the 1965 904/8, this was a brand new car. The revolutionary space frame design employed the 6 cylinder 901/20 engine, which produced 210bhp @ 8,000rpm. This doesn't seem too formidable until you realize that this car weighed in at a mere 675 Kgs. When introduced in the 1966 24hr Daytona event, it got the nickname "Batmobile" for its gull-wing design. Driven by the team of Hans Herrmann and Herbert Linge, the Carrera 6 managed a respectable 6th place finish behind 4 GT40 Mk2s and a NART Ferrari 365P2.
Minichamps' model of this first 906 model, later to be known as the "short tail" variant, is well crafted and finished. The gull-wing doors are unobtrusively hinged yet provide positive seating in both the open and closed position. The rest of the exterior is well done with very realistic light groupings and distortion free glazing. The well rendered front wheels are shod in 5.50 L-15 Dunlops and the reversed wheels in the rear are shod in 5.50 M-15s. The engine compartment is the showpiece of this model as not only is the plumbed and wired engine and transmission recreated, but also the suspension and internal framing. The components are predominately plastic but the textures and coloration employed give it a pretty realistic look.
The cockpit looks less realistic with the gray plastic bulkhead and large sill covering the fuel tanks, fuzzy seat upholstery devoid of restraint system and a single molded dash from cowling to gauge cluster. The front bonnet lifts off and reveals a full sized spare, oil cooler and even the spec plate. The solid chassis floor pan shows little but the protruding exhaust pipes, the wheels, suspension arms, and rather crude and static brake rotors. For the midrange pricepoint, it's a pretty nice model and for Porsche collectors, it will be an important addition to their stable.
(05/29/2007)
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