1958 Ferrari 250 TR58 Pilots: O. Gendebien, P. Hill Team: Scuderia Ferrari Race: 1st GC (S3000 class) at Le Mans in 1958 pw (Hachette) - ? (diecast)
Published 04/07/17
This Ferrari TR58 was the first Redhead to win at La Sarthe. Furthermore, it also broke the Jaguar domination after three straight years of winning. The TR58 was an evolution of the previous 250TR, and only two TR58 were made for the factory team. The car had a sound engine, a 2953 cm³ V12 with 24 valves and SOHC.
However, it was unstable at high speeds, and the works cars were constantly upgraded throughout the 1958 season. In spite of that at La Sarthe that year they proved to be reliable. Piloted by Phil Hill and Olivier Gendebien, car #14 came in first place overall. And it was a smashing victory: it came a full 12 laps ahead of the second place Aston DB3 S.
The TR58 is another model from the “Ferrari Collection”, but this time from a Japanese (!) publisher called Hachette Collections Japan. It’s looks like that all these pw models are made by the same manufacturer. Or maybe there’s more than one that uses the same add-on parts? Hard to say, but overall quality is quite poor. And just like my previous 250 TRI, if it wasn’t for the bad wheels I would much happier. In 1:43, the delicate Borrani wire wheels are almost impossible to nicely replicate in plastic. Even so, all in all I think it looks pretty good for a pw model.
04/08/22: The W-143 Garage now has a better version of this model.