Words and photos courtesy of Vinod Enka

 

Never cared much for Le Mans until the 2023 cars started hitting the tracks – I don’t think they’ve looked better! So what we have here is, in my opinion, the Le Mans car with the sharpest suit on the track – the Cadillac V-Series.R in 1:64 scale by MINI GT.

I was stopped in my tracks when I saw the official images of the blue one – and definitely needed to get my hands on these. The MINI GT does not disappoint – in fact, I would say this is a casting that well deserves the 1:18 scale, but at the moment I think I only see TSM & Spark resins going up for pre-order at prices I can’t wrap my head around. These cars deserve to have opening parts – interior & engine at that scale. The other issue is that Cadillacs are still under-represented in scale, not sure why since they’ve really dialled up their global appeal in the last 15 years or so (and not to mention pumped out some of the best-looking concepts in recent history) – I’ve been a fan of their ‘Art & Science’ design language for a long time. So still hoping the likes of Norev or even GTS would take on some gems from Cadillac’s expansive catalogue.

But enough rambling from me, I will focus on what we have here. I wasn’t expecting too much from MINI GT given the intricate design details this casting needed to capture, but I underestimated them. A long story short – if it takes you more than a few seconds to tell apart a 1:64 from a 1:18, it means you’ve stumbled upon a stonkingly good 1:64. Image below – see what I mean?

Am really impressed with the proportions here, tyres, casting sharpness etc. But of course, if you look a little harder the 1:64 traits will greet you – the somewhat less defined headlight lenses, lack of brake discs and so on. But for so little money, this little diecast is seriously punching above its weight – and for that reason alone it is featured here.

The tampos are all good, and sharp, and graphic proportions are hardly distinguishable from the 1:18 – so very well replicated here. The blue looks the best, while the yellow makes the tampos more visible, and the gradient less convincing in real life. But displayed on a shelf, the yellow outshines the blue – but the blue one is just discreetly cool.

For Cadillac’s design language fans – it is really impressive to see how they’ve very successfully transferred signature design elements to the fixed Le Mans chassis points – for those who remember the Cien concept from 2002 – the aerial view of the V-Series.R is great throwback to that car. Notice the 4 fins – that just echoes the Cien’s A & C pillars viewed from the top.

The front and rear light designs stay true to the signature vertical strip look they were going for. The lights are something many automakers struggle with when trying to give their Le Mans cars brand identity – but it works so effortlessly in this case.

Ending this short review here – letting the photos do more work this time. And dropping 2 photos of the actual car at the bottom.