Wish you were here?
Step aside Judith Chalmers... Pocher’s Pitstop in France is a model-maker’s dream getaway
Why not build a Le Mans-winning Porsche while a stone’s throw from the track?
Jonathan Bushell
At Motor Sport’s centenary gala in 2024, Formula 1’s most successful car designer, Adrian Newey, attributed the origins of his engineering genius to a 1:12-scale, build-it-yourself model of a Lotus 49, which was a Christmas gift in 1968.
“The car had all the right details, moving suspension, the works,” he said. “But more importantly, I was suddenly able to put a name to all the bits and pieces I’d later see on the garage floor. The lessons it taught me were invaluable.”
In the years since then, car modelling has become a gradually more niche and expensive pastime, with customers desiring a level of detail, inset, that can only be achieved by highly skilled artisans. But that is something that Pocher, a brand which built its first 1:8-scale model in 1966, is aiming to change through a “once-in-a-lifetime” experience.
The Pocher Pitstop retreat – a £2635 per person, six-night stay at a three-bedroom flat in Le Mans – has been created to give modellers the ideal space to build the company’s newly released model of the Gulf-livered Porsche 917K, mere minutes from where it tore down the Mulsanne over 50 years ago.
For those struggling for inspiration, pictures of the 917K in its heyday festoon the walls of the apartment; the Le Mans Museum, which houses the model’s real-life counterpart, is just a 20-minute walk away; and Pocher also includes a helicopter trip so that modellers can take in La Sarthe from the sky.
Much like the models built by Amalgam, Pocher’s 1:8-scale 917K took over two years of design and development, utilising CAD software and lidar scanning of original 917s to ensure authenticity. It contains 312 labelled pieces. Even the most experienced modellers will spend around 30 hours glueing and screwing it together.
But in doing so, could it inspire the rise of the next Adrian Newey? Or, as Pocher suggests, is it just a perfect getaway for those wanting to rediscover an old hobby? Regardless, there’s something tranquil about building these superb kits.
Tickets for the Pocher Pitstop are now sold out for 2025 but the company has not ruled out organising similar experiences in the future.