This Scale-Model IndyCar Is Almost Indistinguishable From the Real Thing

Look at this thing. If it wasn’t for the dapper, begloved hand holding the dust brush, you’d think this IndyCar was the real deal. Check out the details, the Dallara IR-18 aero kit, the mold lines on the Firestone tires. It’s all there in exultant, painstaking accuracy. This is the Amalgam 1:8-scale Dallara 2022 IndyCar, a two-foot-long homage to this year’s open-wheel racer. If you want an IndyCar with more detail than this, you’re gonna have to buy one from Penske.

By itself, in photos, this scale model is almost indistinguishable from an actual car. Go ahead, put your nose right up against the screen: You can see the carbon-fiber weave on the top of the car’s dashboard, visible through the aero screen. Every antenna, every body fastener, every button on the steering wheel is right there, accurate down to the millimeter.

Amalgam has long specialized in this kind of hyper-obsessive large-format scale model. Take a swing through the English company’s website, and you’ll find all sorts of legendary competition cars of the past and present, faithfully recreated in 1:18 or 1:8 scale. Each model is built using thousands of references images and 3D scans of the real-life vehicle, hand-assembled with the kind of precision we normally associate with high-end watchmaking. Amalgam will even work with you to recreate the legendary racing livery of your choice, sometimes including end-of-race weathering for that just-off-the-podium look.

Of course, this kind of detail does not come cheap. Hoo boy is it pricey. The model you see here commands $10,467 — an amount of money that, up until recently, could have gotten you a very nice, not that old used car. But we’re talking about a 24-inch-long IndyCar model. This isn’t something you buy for your kid to smash around in the sandbox.

Amalgam’s website boasts that the Arrow McLaren IndyCar team has already purchased a few 2022 IndyCar 1:8-scale models for “internal use” — which usually means they’ll be put on display at the team’s hospitality suites during race weekends, or shown in executive offices.

If you’re the kind of person who can drop around $11,000 on a scale model, first off, would you like to adopt some bloggers? Second, head to Amalgam’s website to spec out your very own 2022 IndyCar. We won’t judge you if you push it around your desk making motor noises.