2012 Morgan LMP2
Pilots: J. Nicolet, J-M. Merlin, P. Mondolot
Team: OAK Racing
Race: DNF (LMP2) at Le Mans in 2013
Spark - S2599 (resin)
Published 11/01/17
OAK Racing officially begun in 2009. But right after it’s founding they established a partnership with Pescarolo Sport to take over the manufacturing side of its business. With that, OAK Racing assumed the development and construction of the chassis, bodywork and spare parts of the Pescarolo prototypes. In 2012 OAK Racing split the design, manufacturing, and sales divisions of the team into an independent company named Onroak Automotive, and they started working on a new LMP2 car that would be used by OAK Racing and sold to privateers. For that car in particular the Morgan Motor Company took care of most of the development, and for 2012 the Morgan LMP2 was ready. The engine used was Nissan’s dependable VK45DE, a DOHC 4494 cm³ V8 with 32 valves that produced around 450 hp in race tune.
In 2013, OAK Racing wanted to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. So they asked French sculptor Fernando Costa to create a special livery on one of their cars. Using as inspiration the circuit itself and safety (on the track as well as on the road), Costa created the “Traffic Sign Car”. However, despite the striking art livery, car #45 (chassis #01-17) had to retire in the 13th hour following electrical failure.
The car is now in ACO’s 24 Hours of Le Mans museum. So not exactly a successful car at La Sarthe, but with a livery like that? OF COURSE I had to get it for the Art Car wing of The Garage. In scale, this Morgan LMP2 is replicated very well the real deal. As with all open-cockpit models from Spark (so far) seat belts are just molded on. Still, that’s a very minor complaint. All in all, a brilliant effort by Spark!