#095 Hawaiian Tropic

Published September 4, 2025 | Last update September 4 2025 | 21 models & 4 sets of girls online

1979 – 1992

Hawaiian Tropic, producer of sun screens started sponsoring Le Mans cars and what better way to attract attention than to add some sexy ladies. In the first 10 years the ladies wore brown knitted bikini’s.

SPARK 43AC022 (resin)

TOP MODEL COLLECTION Gold 013 (resin)

1979 Le Mans 24h, Porsche 935/77A. The other two Dick Barbour Porsches were built according to the 1977 specs. The #71 with Bob Akin didn’t finish the race because of a blown head gasket, the #72 with Bob Garretson behind the wheel finished in 8th position, 3rd in IMSA GTX.
#71 Bob Akin (USA) / Roy Woods (USA) / Rob McFarlin (USA) – DNF
#72 Bob Garretson (USA) / Ed Abate (USA) / Skeeter McKitterick (USA) – 8th
Barbour Porsche 935/77A – 3.0 liter Porsche Type 930/78 flat-6 turbo, approximately. 600 hp. Goodyear tires. Weight 970 kg. Steel monocoque, chassisnr. 930 890 0024 (#71) and 930 770 0810 (#72)

TOP MODEL COLLECTION Gold 015 & 017 (resin)

1980 Le Mans 24h, Porsche 935 K3/80. Both Kremer K3’s that Akin raced in the IMSA championship were entered for the Le Mans 24-hour race in 1980. This one had sponsorship from Hawaiian Tropic, but crashed early in the race, probably the driver was still thinking about the Hawaiian Tropic Girls too much.
#68 Skeeter McKitterick (USA) / Charles Mendez (USA) / Leon Walger (USA) – DNF
Bob Akin Porsche 935 K3/80 – 3.0 liter Porsche Type 930/78 flat-6 turbo, approx. 620 hp. Goodyear tires. Weight 970 kg. Steel monocoque, chassisnr. Kremer #009 00016

QUARTZO Q3005 (diecast)

1981 Le Mans 24h, BMW M1. The EMKA BMW M1 was one of 6 entered M1’s for this race, unlike the Sauber built Group 5 cars, this Michael Cane Racing prepared cat, was a heavier Procar conversion, the former Niki Lauda car. The engine seized after 20 hours and the team had to retire.
#53 David Hobbs (GB) / Eddie Jordan (IRL) / Steve O’Rourke (GB) – DNF
Michael Cane BMW M1 (E26) – 3.5 liter BMW M88/1 straight-6 24V, approx. 470 hp. Dunlop tires. Weight 1020 kg. Steel space frame, chassisnr. #4301028

SPARK S1582 (resin)

1983 Le Mans 24h, Dome R82C. Dome Racing and Colin Bennett entered this Group C Dome with Cosworth engine. As many other small teams, the car was designed by Dome but the chassis was built by March. It lacked speed and failed to finish due to a broken clutch.
#38 Chris Craft (GB) / Eliseo Salazar (RCH) / Nick Mason (GB)
Dome RC82 – 3.3 liter Ford Cosworth DFL V8 approximately. 500 hp. Dunlop tires. Weight 905 kg. Aluminium monocoque, chassisnr. #01 (March / Dome)

BIZARRE BZ31 (resin)

1984 Le Mans 24h, ADA 01. British A.D.A. Engineering built a group C2 car with the same Cosworth V8 engine that many teams used in those days. But it wasn’t the engine that was the weakest point, it was the 10 year old Lola chassis that it was based upon that broke early in the race. The car wasn’t expected to finish well at all. It wasn’t designed for endurance racing, the fuel tank capacity was only 47 liters.
#79 Glenn Smith (GB) / Ian Harrower (GB) / Bill Wolff (GB) – DNF
ADA 01 – 3.3 liter Ford Cosworth DFL V8 approximately. 500 hp. Dunlop tires. Weight 750 kg. Aluminium monocoque, chassisnr. Lola T380 #HU04

BIZARRE BZ81 (resin)

1984 Le Mans 24h, Porsche 956L. Former winner Jean Rondeau raced for the team from Preston Henn this year. They finished second, only 2 laps behind the Joest team in a similar car.
#26 Jean Rondeau (F) / John Paul Jr. (USA) / Preston Henn (USA) – 2nd
Henn Porsche 956L- 2.6 liter Porsche 935/79 flat-6 twin turbo, approx. 640 hp. Goodyear tires. Weight 840 kg. Aluminum monocoque, chassisnr. #956 103

QUARTZO Q 3073 (diecast)

1984 Le Mans 24h, Porsche 962. Preston Henn entered two cars. This Porsche 962 started in IMSA GTP, it was slower than the group C version despite its larger engine capacity because of its single turbo, air-cooled cylinder heads and air restrictor. It failed to finish due to ignition problems.
#61 Preston Henn (USA) / Edgar Dören (D) / Michel Ferté (F) – DNF
Henn Porsche 962- 3.0 liter Porsche 962/70 flat-6 single turbo, approx. 600 hp. Goodyear tires. Weight 840 kg. Aluminum monocoque, chassisnr. #962 104

SPARK S1910 (resin)

1986 Le Mans 24h, Spice SE86C. Group C1 was dominated by Porsche. Ford and Lancia tried, but couldn’t change this. Group C2 was the domain of the small chassis builders: Gordon Spice was very successful with his Cosworth powered Spice Fiero finishing 2nd in the C2 world championship. In Le Mans they only finished 6th in C2 and 19th overall.
#70 Gordon Spice (GB) / Ray Bellm (GB) / Jean-Michel Martin (GB) – 19th / 6th C2
Spice Fiero SE86 – 3.3 liter Ford Cosworth DFV V8, approximately. 550 hp. Avon tires. Weight 750 kg. Aluminium monocoque, chassisnr. Spice SE96 #001

STARTER (handbuilt resin)

1989 Le Mans 24h, Spice SE89C. Gordon Spice entered this bright yellow SE89C in C1, which he drove himself with Ray Bellm and American female driver Lyn St.James. Unfortunately, the engine seized. The same happened to the sister car with #22. Three older Spice cars drove in C2 and finished 2nd, 3rd and 4th in class.
#21 Gordon Spice (GB) / Ray Bellm (GB) / Lynn St.James (USA) – DNF
Spice SE89C – 3.5 liter Ford Cosworth DFZ V8, approximately. 600 hp. Goodyear tires. Weight 850 kg. Aluminium monocoque, chassisnr. Spice SE89 #004

SPARK S6805 (resin)

1991 Le Mans 24h, Spice SE90C. The Dutch Euro Racing entered Spice’s qualified 15th fastest, 7 seconds behind the two leading Peugeot 905s. But because it was a class 1 Group C car (normally aspirated 3.5 liter) it was allowed to start the race from the second row. Mercedes and Jaguar used the older Group C cars that were in class 2 and had to start behind the 3.5 liters.
#21 Charles Zwolsman (NL) / Cor Euser (NL) / Tim Harvey (GB) – DNF
Spice SE90C – 3.5 liter Ford Cosworth DFZ V8, approximately. 600 hp. Goodyear tires. Weight 800 kg. Aluminium monocoque, chassisnr. Spice SE89 #022

SPARK S6822 (resin)

1992 – 1997

1992 Le Mans 24h, Spice SE90C. Bernard de Dryver entered a Spice SE90 for the 1992 Le Mans. He was supposed to drive himself but didn’t start. The drivers that did, failed to finish because the ignition failed.
#21 Luigi Taverna (I) / Alessandro Gini (I) / John Sheldon (GB) – DNF
Spice SE90C – 3.5 liter Ford Cosworth DFZ V8, approximately. 600 hp. Goodyear tires. Weight 800 kg. Aluminium monocoque, chassisnr. Spice SE89 #011

SPARK S6826 (resin)

1992 Le Mans 24h, Porsche 962 CK6. The Group C was in its dying years. The introduction of the atmospheric 3.5 liter engines from Formula 1 couldn’t save it anymore. This older Porsche with its restricted turbo engine struggled in catagory 3. Just like the world championship, the Kremer Team was on its way down; no top driver could be found in this car. The girls however …
#52 Almo Copelli (I) / Robin Donovan (GB) / Charles Rickett (GB) – 11th
Kremer Porsche 962CK6 – 3.0 liter Porsche 935/79 flat-6 twin turbo, approx. 600 hp (restricted). Dunlop tires. Weight 910 kg. Aluminium + carbon monocoque, chassisnr. #CK6-09 (Thompson)

SPARK S1917 (resin)

Between 1990 and 1992, the ladies were sometimes dressed in pink bottoms with white tops before they switched to the famous red bikinis.

1993 Le Mans 24h, Porsche 962 CK6. There were so little entrants for the Sports Car World Championship that the FIA decided to skip it just before the start of the season. Le Mans became a non-championship event. The Kremer Porsche 962 CK6 didn’t finish due to a failing fuel pump.
#15 Almo Copelli (I) / Robin Donovan (GB) / Steve Fossett (USA) – DNF
Kremer Porsche 962CK6 – 3.0 liter Porsche 935/79 flat-6 twin turbo, approx. 600 hp (restricted). Dunlop tires. Weight 910 kg. Aluminium + carbon monocoque, chassisnr. #CK6-06 (Thompson)

SPARK S2081 (resin)

LE MANS MINIATURES COFLM143003M (resin) & SPARK 43AC022 (resin)

1997 Le Mans 24h, Kremer K8-Porsche. Kremer entered two K8’s this year, one with support from Hawaiian Tropic. It became clear that the competition had developed and Kremer did not. Besides, the level of drivers also went down. Lapping in the 3 minute 55, this car barely qualified and the beautiful art car failed to qualify for the race.
#5 Tomas Saldana (E) / Carl Rosenblad (S) / Jürgen Lässig (D) – DNF
Kremer K8 – 3.0 liter Porsche 935/76 flat-6 twin turbo, approx. 550 hp. Carbon fibre monocoque, chassis nr. Thompson #WSC02

SPARK Kremer Collection S0323 (resin)

since 2000

The Hawaiian Tropic girls still appear in the red bikinis, but also often wear white shorts and red shirts.

SPARK AC43024 (resin)

2000 Le Mans 24h, Porsche 911 GT3 R. The Porsche GT3 has become very popular in a short time; in the 2000 Le Mans race, all 12 cars in GT were Porsches. The Hawaiian Tropic supported car from Michael Colucci failed to finish the race because of a crash.
#71 Shane Lewis (USA) / Cort Wagner (USA) / Bob Mazzuoccola (USA) – DNF
Colucci Porsche 911 GT3 R – 3.6 liter Porsche M96/77 flat-6, approx. 410 hp. Michelin tires. Weight 1125 kg. Steel monocoque, Porsche 996 chassisnrs. ZYS692110

ONYX XLM 038 (resin)

2004 Le Mans 24h, Panoz GTP. The Panoz GTP is an old 1997 GTR-1 car that was reanimated for this years Le Mans. The car, ran by Larbre didn’t finish due to clutch failure despite the support of the Hawaiian Tropic Girls…
#11 Patrick Bourdais (F) / Jean-Luc Blanchemain (F) / Roland Bervillé (F) – DNF
Larbre Panoz GTP – 6.0 liter Ford Roush V8, approximately. 600 hp. Michelin tires. weight 950 kg. Carbon fibre monocoque, chassisnr. GTP #003

IXO LMM 061 (diecast)

2005 Le Mans 24h, Ferrari 550 GTS Maranello. One of the privately entered Maranello’s, is this from Cirtek Motorsport with top driver Bouchut, Russian pay drivers and the famous Hawaiian Tropic sponsoring.
#61 Christophe Bouchut (F) / Alex Vassiliev (RUS) / Nikolaj Fomenko (RUS) – 17th / 5th GT1
Cirtek Ferrari 550 GTS Maranello – 6.0 liter Ferrari Tipo F133A – V12 65º, approx. 600 hp. Michelin tires. Weight 1100 kg. Steel space frame, chassisnr. Prodrive #03 (B000113136)

RED LINE RLI 00053 #480 / 750 pcs (resin, produced by SPARK)

2006 Le Mans 24h, Courage C65. Barazi Epsilon enters a Courage C65 in LMP2. The AER engines are notorious unreliable, but surprisingly this one finishes the race in 21st position, 5th LMP2.
#32 Juan Barazi (DK) / Michael Vergers (NL) / Neil Cunningham (NZ) – 21st
Barazi Epsilon Courage C65 – 2.0 AER P07D straight-4 turbo, approx. 550 hp. Michelin tires. Weight 765 kg. Carbon fibre monocoque, chassisnr. #012

SPARK S0145 (resin)

2009 Le Mans 24h, Radical SR9. Radical is a small producer of track cars powered by motorcycle engines. In 2006 the British brand announced to compete in Le Mans with a LMP2 prototype. Rollcentre and Bruichladdich were two teams that raced the SR9 since 2009, sometimes with success but this car failed to finish the Le Mans 2009 race.
#26 Marc Rostan (F) / Pierre Bruneau (F) / Tim Greaves (GB) – DNF
Bruichladdich Radical SR9 – 2.0 AER P07D straight-4 turbo, approx. 550 hp. Dunlop tires. Weight 775 kg. Carbon fibre monocoque, chassisnr. #002