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The Great Lady Of Motor Sport Passes


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On Wednesday 6 May, 2015 the world lost race driver, journalist, photographer and maverick, Denise McCluggage.

 

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Denise, born in January 1927, was a fan of living life and racing anything. Her motor racing career began in the early '50s when she met Briggs Cunningham in San Francisco while reporting on a yacht race. She bought herself an MG TC and started club racing. The little MG was replaced with a Jag XK140 and then a Posche 550 Spider when she started racing professionally in the mid 50s. A fierce competitor she earned the respect of many of her male contemporaries.

 

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Racing career highlights include winning 1961 Sebring 12 hour GT class in a Ferrari 250 SWB and a class win in the 1964 Monte Carlo Rallye while driving a Ford Falcon. 1967 saw her driving a Ferrari 275 GTS/4 at Sebring to 17th overall.

 

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Officially retiring from motor racing at the end of the 60s, Denise became one of the founding editors of American motoring magazine AutoWeek. She continued as Senior Contributing Editor until her death on Wednesday.

 

Thank you Denise for being an inspiration.

Computers. They'll never catch on.

 

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Tiny Tyers Targa - The build saga continues - Aging wood - A recipe for staining wood - Don't take a fence - Step by step paling fence - An old shed for my new cars - Wooden garage under construction

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For a second there, I thought you'd written your own obituary

Recovering Lapsed Slot Addict :ph34r:  *  Custodian of many used screws (mostly loose :rolleyes:)  *  Total kidder  *  Companion of other delusional slot addicts :lol:  

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Leo (Scuderia Torini) did me a favour and did some parade laps in my IPS Porsche in tribute.

 

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He was kind enough to send me some video of it.

Computers. They'll never catch on.

 

_AM_sig_zps00cdfd1a.jpg

 

Tiny Tyers Targa - The build saga continues - Aging wood - A recipe for staining wood - Don't take a fence - Step by step paling fence - An old shed for my new cars - Wooden garage under construction

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Lovely obit, Ember.

I do appreciate that Denise has/will always be a profound inspiration to your modeling and car racing interests - something tells me that we will soon see an extension to your modeling of cars which Denise competed in... that Ford Falcon is of significant interest - which model?

 

The lady had a raucus looking smile on her face - I expect she, like you - had an acute sense of humor and a considerable wit to complement it.

 

Lovely tribute, Ember - thank you for posting.

 

frats,

Rosco

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Denise McCluggage and Anne Hall in their class winning Falcon

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Christian Boyer (Proto Slot Kit and others) has just modelled the Ferrari 275 for a special commission. I've been trying to wheedle a copy of it from him for the last few months. I've been chasing any models of Denise's cars since I convinced Immense Miniatures to do her portrait. There aren't a great many of them available. Graham Poulton, GP Miniatures, is supposedly releasing the Ferrari 250SWB and I have a Lotus 11 shell, but there are so many more that aren't (yet) covered.

Computers. They'll never catch on.

 

_AM_sig_zps00cdfd1a.jpg

 

Tiny Tyers Targa - The build saga continues - Aging wood - A recipe for staining wood - Don't take a fence - Step by step paling fence - An old shed for my new cars - Wooden garage under construction

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Got a couple of links to Racing Sports Cars pages of her cars and results but I can't post it from mobile. Shall post the links later. They aren't diffinitive as there are a couple of Formula Juniors that I know of, one of which belonged to Steve McQueen.

Computers. They'll never catch on.

 

_AM_sig_zps00cdfd1a.jpg

 

Tiny Tyers Targa - The build saga continues - Aging wood - A recipe for staining wood - Don't take a fence - Step by step paling fence - An old shed for my new cars - Wooden garage under construction

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Racing Sports Cars results page for Denise McCluggage. It's not a complete list because although it mentions Nassau Speedweek and Tour de France it doesn't list Monte Carlo Rally. The same site has a gallery of some of the cars listed. There are a few details that are a little inconclusive. A 1959 listing mentions Ferrari but not what model.

 

Of the 4 or 5 Osca models listed only the MT4 has been produced as a slot kit. I believe the original was done by SlotClassic or similar with a knock-off being sold at one stage by Ocar.

 

Then there are a couple of Formula Junior (?) photos.

 

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I believe this one's an Osca Junior at Watkins Glen.

 

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This one apparently belonged to Steve McQueen.

Computers. They'll never catch on.

 

_AM_sig_zps00cdfd1a.jpg

 

Tiny Tyers Targa - The build saga continues - Aging wood - A recipe for staining wood - Don't take a fence - Step by step paling fence - An old shed for my new cars - Wooden garage under construction

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Doesn't immense miniatures do a figure of this Lady?

A George turner falcon would be one fitting tribute to honor this wonderful person and spirit that she is. Are the decals available for the falcon?

R I P

Thanks Ember.

Edited by slo1quick
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Aquakiwi, that is Heidi Tyler's sculpture which formed the basis of Immense Miniatures figure. Heidi does the heads in about 1:4 and then they are scanned and reduced before being prototyped at 1/24 and 1/32 scale.

Computers. They'll never catch on.

 

_AM_sig_zps00cdfd1a.jpg

 

Tiny Tyers Targa - The build saga continues - Aging wood - A recipe for staining wood - Don't take a fence - Step by step paling fence - An old shed for my new cars - Wooden garage under construction

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