1/43 Model Review: 1994 Ligier JS39B Renault

Background

The 1994 Ligier was a 'B' spec car of the 1993 Ligier JS39. The car was not as competitive as the previous year, but the highlight came in the German GP when the cars scored a double podium finish. The car was reliable when reliability was not a given, and the car remarkable only failed once all season. So at Germany, they were aided by multiple incidents in the early part of the race, including 10 cars being taken out at the first corner, and following retirements to several front runners through the GP, they held on for a strong finish. The team ended the year 6th in the Constructors' Championship.

Oliver Panis was a driver who was also caught out by the plank-wear rule introduced part way into the season, the other notable occasion this occurred was Schumacher at the Belgian Grand Prix. Panis was disqualified from the race where he finished 9th on the road.

Johnny Herbert was bought out of his long-term contract with Lotus prior to the European Grand Prix and raced for Ligier for one race before moving to Benetton - the only driver I know in the history of F1 to race for 3 teams in 3 consecutive races. Herbert qualified 4 tenths of a second quicker than Panis and started 4 places higher up, finishing the race in 8th place ahead of his teammate.

With Herbert moving on, Franck Lagorce, the team's test driver, filled the seat for the final two races.

The team were struggling financially, and ended up selling the team to Flavio Briatore and Tom Walkinshaw, both with Benetton at the time. As noted in the Schumacher tribute blog, Briatore used this to his advantage to gain the standard setting Renault engines to his Benetton team. Tom Walkinshaw was the one who concentrated on running the Ligier outfit.

Also Schumacher tested the Ligier after the end of the season, incidentally he also drove the Ferrari 412T1B shortly after leaving Benetton. In a head to head, Schumacher was a second faster than regular driver Panis, though Panis would get within a tenth on a subsequent day.

You can read more about Briatore's ownership and Schumacher's test here: www.unracedf1.com

Onyx/Heritage Formula

Outwardly speaking, the 1994 JS39B was very similar to the 1993 JS39 car, so I will include some pictures of that car below for comparison. I was about to let rip into the inaccuracies of the shape and how it had gotten worse rather than better with the changes from the 1993 car. But then I remembered that there were times when Onyx would reuse an old shape and pass that off as a different car (e.g. the 1995 Forti is actually the 1996 Tyrrell). It was then that I noticed that they had reused the 1993 Williams FW15 car and put a Ligier livery on top.

I'm not saying that re-using an old shape is right, but they may have well just stuck with the 1993 JS39 rather than the Williams. So ignoring the shape, I think the blue is wrong, it was much darker in real life. The cars were hand made and it was really variable how well they had been applied, the rear wing end plate on the one pictured seems too big for the car.
Score: 2/10

BBR

BBR Met14

A nice offering from BBR of the German GP version of the JS39B.
Score: 8/10

Spark

Spark S7406

Spark have in 2019 released their 1994 version, including the Schumacher test model. This is the late season model with the extra winglets by the rear wheel, the curved lower rear wing and the hole in the engine cover. I was pleasantly surprised when I got the model and reviewed it. Besides my usual gripes about the size of the tyres and the driver helmet, I think the rollover bar should be straighter vertically from front view, making the airbox a little more bulbous like the real car. The front wing looks a little blocky, and I think could be better refined. If I was really nitpicking, the upper rear wing element should be deeper whilst the middle element should be shallower. Sadly the car features the early season diffuser. Despite these points, I still  like the model, it has nice details throughout, it would just be nice if it was slightly more refined. 

Score: 7/10
Some other versions released:

Spark S7400

The Panis version is from the Canadian GP, with the engine cover hole a the top and has no barge boards.

Spark S7401

This is the French GP car of Eric Bernard. The engine cover has the hole in a slightly different position, and it has straight rear wings.

Spark S7402

Both Panis and Bernard finished on the podium at the German GP where many cars retired. It's a shame they didn't bother with a low downforce spec when they had spent time updating the engine covers.

Spark S7403 - Bernard German GP

Spark S7404

Though Herbert only had one outing at the European GP, he does get a model. Herbert's helmet also has a dark visor, which for me works much better. For some reason, Europe is missing the last 'e' on the case, which I'll put down as a typo.

Spark S7405

Franck Lagorce got a couple of races at the end of the season and this model is based on the final round in the Australian GP.

Minichamps

Minichamps 417940026

Minichamps have released limited editions of Bernard and Panis car, just 330pcs each in September 2019. The first thing I noticed was that the nose is way too long, and the front wing endplate just a bit too big, a real disappointment for me - it's the right height, just horizontally stretched. The bumps on the front suspension cover could be more pronounced on this resin model. The other thing that jumped out at me was the driver seems to have no neck. Thankfully, the car gets much better after that, owing to the simplicity of the bargeboards and sidepods on the real car. The engine cover is nicely modelled, I prefer it to Spark's slightly, and the rear wing with all the different elements I also prefer. The car has a proper late season diffuser also and that rear end is fantastic. It's just such a shame that nose and front wing is so ill-proportioned.
Score: 7/10

Minichamps have now released their resin version of the JS39B soon as part of the Michael Schumacher 25th Anniversary Collection.

Minichamps 517944399

For more 1994 Model Reviews, click here: https://fongugp4.blogspot.com/p/1994-model-review.html

1/43 Model Review: 1994 Larrousse LH94 Ford

Background

The 1994 Larrousse LH94 car carried two liveries during the year, a red and white Kronenbourg version for a few Grand Prix, and the green Tourtel version. I, personally, can't remember a bigger livery change mid-season, flipping between the two liveries in the early season.

The car was a development of their first in-house built car the LH93, but it would be their final car, due to lack of finances. The season started off well, with a point scored at Aida, but lack of development and reliability meant the team would only repeat this feat once again in Germany. Interestingly the German Grand Prix is remembered for the pit stop fire of Jos Verstappen's Benetton B194, but Benetton and Larrousse had a technical agreement that meant the LH94 ran the Benetton B193 gearbox. The technical association went closer when Benetton claimed that it was Larrousse who liaised with Intertechnique, who produced the fuel rigs, about removing the filter, which gave faster pitstops, but also resulted in that fiery accident. 

Olivier Beretta was a pay driver, and so it was expected that Erik Comas would be the lead driver, and indeed was the one who brought home the points. But when Beretta's money dried up, Phillipe Alliot, Yannick Dalmas amd Hideki Noda all shared the seat in the final part of the year. Even Comas had to give up his seat at the final race for Jean-Louis Deletraz. Deletraz had little experience and was not physically fit, driving some 6 seconds a lap off the pace of the leaders, and between 1 and 2 seconds off the pace of Noda.

The fascinating story of the teams halted attempts for the 1995 season and its eventual demise makes for interesting reading. The LH95 was designed, but never built, they tried to use a Lola T95/30, but they had an unhappy history, before linking up briefly with DAMS and their DM-01 (later merged with the LH95 to become the GD-01), before looking to race the LH94B, a modified 1994 car.  You can read more about it here:
www.unracedf1.com

Eligor

Eligor 2995B

Eligor 2996A

This is my first and last Eligor model, although I had to get both livery versions. These cars are pretty rare to find, but with neither Onyx nor Minichamps making this car, these would have to do. The general proportions isn't great on these cars, it barely resembles the real thing, but you do get some nice details such as the suspension is better than you would get on an Onyx model.
Score 4/10

Other Versions

I haven't owned any other versions, so from my searching, I could only find this beautiful Tameo kit version from the Spanish GP. It's a big step up in accuracy than the Eligor version, but you have to pay handsomely for a nice built version.

Tameo TMK186

I'm not overly convinced of the proportions on this Tameo model. It's got lovely details, the shape is representative, but it just doesn't quite look right to me.
Score 7/10


I'm really hoping this car will be revisited by the modern day model makers.


For more 1994 Model Reviews, click here: https://fongugp4.blogspot.com/search/label/1994 Model Review

GP4: 1993 Tyrrell 021 Yamaha WIP

Towards the end of my time in GP4 around 2011, I offered to produce a car for the 1993 mod. The Tyrrell 021 only appeared from the middle of the season and, for me at least, was one of the nicer looking cars from that season. It was driven by Ukyo Katayama and Andrea De Cesaris.

For me this was the most detailed model I created at the time, with the 1993 mod pushing the levels of details on cars up another level for GP4. The basic shape was quite straight forward, but I used all my knowledge on smooth normals and efficient polygon usage to good use.

The problem was that there were simply not many photos of the car at all. These days, you can find a fairly good photo set if you spend the time to look hard enough, with cars in museums and others being refurbished by their owners. So you had to get creative on some parts of the car, and others I had to glean from the early season 020 and the 1994 season's 022.

I also went up a notch on the level of detail, some ideas and parts cross-overed into my 1996 cars at the time. I was new to 3D body lines, new brakepads, suspension/wheel hub detail and cockpit detail seen here below.

I also did some work on the radiators, engine, gearbox and rear suspension areas.

You can download a preview of this car (in zmodeler 1 format) in this pack which has some of my other WIP cars in as well: fongu's-farewell

Now that I am a bit more active, I may map this car properly and get this car finished and released for GP4.

1/43 Model Review: 1994 Jordan 194 Hart

Background

The ban on driver aids seem to aid the competitiveness of the Jordan team as they recaptured some of their debut season form as well as the new 194 car aesthetically looking similar to the 191. Whilst Barrichello came 4th in the season opener, Eddie Irvine was to blame for a four car crash and eventually banned for three races. Aguri Suzuki took his place in Aida, where Barrichello earned the team's first podium at that race, the Brazilian being second in the Championship after two rounds. Barrichello was lucky to come away with his life after a kerb made the car airborne and smashed into the barriers. Andrea De Cesaris also raced for the team in place of Aguri Suzuki earning 4th place at Monaco. Barrichello also earned the team's first pole position, making use of drying conditions at the Belgian Grand Prix. Both Barrichello and Irvine continued to score points throughout the season, finishing 5th in the Constructors' Championship, with Rubens finishing 6th in the Drivers' Championship. Irvine was hampered by reliability issues, causing many of his races to end early.

At the French Grand Prix, Jordan put the score of the Republic of Ireland's victory over Ireland in the FIFA World Cup to celebrate that achievement, only for Minardi, at the following race, to respond with "Italia IN - Ireland OUT" in larger letters on their engine cover.

Onyx

Onyx 196A

Only Onyx made a model in 1994, producing this early season version of the 194. For a budget model at the time, this was a good representation of the car, with the drooping front wing, the angled head rest, and the triple plane rear wing. My only real complaint would be the sidepods. Onyx attached the front wheels with a central axle, as if it was a toy, but
Score 6/10

Minichamps

In 2001, Minichamps released a set of twin car sets to celebrate 10 years of Jordan GP. They created and updated all the Jordan cars to make the set, some previously not made before, the 194 being one of them.

Minichamps 402109394

This lovely car is of the late season car, with the updated diffuser and barge-boards with the livery from around the German Grand Prix. To me, the cockpit is a little bit too far forward, meaning the engine cover and sidepods are a little too long and stretched, and also the nose is a little scrunched up. There's a couple of photos from a slightly skewed angle that suggest these proportions, but I'm a little skeptical. I also would have preferred the triple plane rear wing. However, this is a lovely model from Minichamps, I think the colours and decals are spot on and it's got some nice details like the hole in the engine cover, and the vent just in front of the rear wing. It's got nice suspension and wheels that had moved on from the cars they produced in the mid-90s. Its a shame that it doesn't come in other versions with a driver figure.
Score 7/10

Other Versions

There are kit versions from Tameo and BBR around that look nice and accurate, particularly the Tameo offering. In recent years, in the Brazilian market, they have released an IXO version (Eaglemoss) of Barrichello's car but these are not models that I have ever owned.

Tameo TMK183

A lovely model, great proportions, lovely detail, great decal set of this late season version of the car.

Score 9/10

BBR MET15

A nice model, but compared to the Tameo, it just doesn't quite have the same level of accuracy in terms of proportions. Still, it's nice to have the early season version. 

Score 8/10

A really nice budget model from IXO, a shame it's not included in the Formula 1 Car Collection that I'm aware of. 

Score 7/10

Overall, I'm quite happy owning the Minichamps version of this beautiful car, even despite my nitpicking. I think it benefits from being made some 6 years later and model accuracy had improved, but I can only dream on of a resin remake of this car. I may have to keep an eye out for a built Tameo version.

You can read more of my 1994 model reviews here: https://fongugp4.blogspot.com/p/1994-model-review.html

GP4: 1994 Williams FW16B Renault WIP update 1

I have started work on the 1994 Williams FW16B Renault, specifically the Australian GP version. There's already a couple of versions of the early season car available for GP4, and I've used Loren's excellent low poly shape as a basis for my proportions. I've also referenced Mckey's updated version, which shares its rear end with Loren's work.

Work started on the nose cone. I was fascinated by the shape of it, in that it is very narrow at the tip, and quite flat along the top, before tapering out towards the monocoque. As it reaches the monocoque, it suddenly widens, similar to the modern day Mercedes but less dramatic. The bolt to hold the nose onto the monocoque at the top is accessed from the front rather than from the side. I've started adding a little detail to the front of the nose, but expect that area to get much busier as the suspension elements are added.

The underneath of it is connected directly onto the front wing, so I had to improvise that part of the shape a little to follow the contours of the underside of the front wing.

There is a bump where the front suspension meets the monocoque, and the top of the nose is quite rounded there, and it took some time to get that looking right and the normals looking smooth. The underside of the car is almost V shaped with a flattened bottom.

The monocoque widens around the driver, and this is where the FW16B differs from the early season car. The cockpit is now rounded at the front, exposing the steering wheel and the sidepods are much further back.

Modelling the floor was interesting. The tea tray element is quite narrow and then thickens as it gets further rear wards. The sides are very rounded underneath the cockpit and around the front of the sidepods. The bottom of the monocoque tapers in, whilst the floor maintains the same width as the top of the monocoque to satisfy the regulations that you can't see any of the car from bottom up view.  The floor at the rear of the sidepods is stepped.

The rear of the sidepods has an interesting curve as the underside of the car narrows earlier than the top half, making use of the coke-bottle shape to energise the diffuser. The bulge in the middle becomes an indent as it goes towards the rear of the car.

I'm quite happy with the front end of the engine cover, and also the hole to the rear of it. The bump near where the Renault engine would sit needs a bit of work, but the basis for the shape is there. The FW16 had its rear light as part of the bodywork which is why there is a box shaped hole there at the moment.

Please ignore the driver body at the moment, that was imported from another model and there as a place holder.

Progress continues slowly on this car, but I will post updates here when there is something more to show.

1994: 11 Crashes that Changed F1

In a departure from my usual GP4 cars and model reviews, I wanted to write a quick article about one of the crazy aspects of the 1994 F1 season, the large number of serious crashes.

The new 1994 regulations that banned 'driver aids' was rather rushed in, and the rules were particularly ambiguous (vague), which meant that the FIA had the casting vote to rule in any specific case as to whether parts of the car were legal or not. These days, the rules tend to be better thought out, and teams can consult the FIA, Charlie Whiting in particular, as to the legality of its parts before they participate in a Grand Prix. But in 1994, it wasn't short of teams who were 'trying it on', chancing parts would be legal on the basis of the ambiguity in the rules.

The drivers, who had been used to high levels of grip from driver aids, and fat rear tyres in previous seasons, were regularly caught out by the combination of high speeds and a lack of grip of its newer models. The result is that there were a number of large crashes at the beginning of the season, that should have given the FIA warnings to make changes before there were any serious injuries. Interestingly, Senna was quoted as saying that without any changes to the speeds of the cars, it would be "a season with a lot of accidents". Unfortunately, that would be true and it would be the deaths of Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna at Imola, and Karl Wendlinger's crash at Monaco that led to a host of changes to cars and tracks that began a renewed drive of improvement on safety in F1.

Frank Dernie explains that flat bottom cars are inherently unstable, and that active suspension was one of the things that helped bring stability, so by banning the system it made the cars unstable, and thus unpredictable. Aerodynamics that work fine in wind-tunnel are subjected to slides, and quick changes of directions, to roll and pitch and changes in wind and other factors that can cause loss of downforce, so when a car is so heavily dependent on its downforce, to suddenly lose it means it will cause high-speed accidents beyond the control of the driver.

I wanted to highlight the number of big accidents that happened, some lucky near-misses whilst others with memorable losses of life:

JJ Lehto - Testing at Silverstone Pre-Season

Shortly after signing for Benetton for the 1994 season, Lehto was testing on a damp Silverstone track in a 1993 car when he went off backwards at Stowe and injured his neck. The injury meant he sat out the first two Grand Prix, having yet to drive the B194. You can read more from his interview with Motorsport Magazine here:

www.motorsportmagazine.com

"[The hospital staff] said at once, ‘This is really bad, don’t move. At all.’... Two vertebrae had been completely crushed."

Martin Brundle - Brazilian Grand Prix

At the Brazilian Grand Prix, Eddie Irvine, in his Jordan, and Jos Verstappen (deputising for Lehto in the Benetton) were battling as they came to lap Eric Bernard's Ligier, along with a slowing Martin Brundle, who had an engine failure in the McLaren. Irvine chopped across the track to overtake Bernard, without taking into account Verstappen was pulling alongside. Verstappen was left with no choice but to go on the grass, and spun as they braked for the corner. Verstappen's car went airbourne and his rear tyre hit Brundle's helmet, causing it to crack. Brundle was lucky to walk away from this accident (who also had another near fatal accident in the wet at the Japanese Grand Prix later that year, not too dissimilar to Jules Bianchi's accident some 20 years later). 

Irvine was slapped with a fine and a one race ban, and after an appeal, the ban was extended to three races.

Jean Alesi - Testing at Mugello

After the Brazilian Grand Prix, Jean was testing his Ferrari 412T1 at Mugello, when he also went backwards into a barried and he also injured his neck, that caused him to miss two Grand Prix. 

Rubens Barrichello - Qualifying at San Marino Grand Prix

Rubens Barrichello had been on a roll, after finishing on the podium at the previous race in Aida. Barrichello entered the Variante Bassa some 15kph faster than the previous lap, went wide and hit the kerb on the chicane which sent the Jordan airbourne before hitting the barrier above the tyre barrier. Thankfully, this was not a fatal accident, 

Roland Ratzenberger - Qualifying at San Marino Grand Prix

A front wing flap came off from the car, causing major suspension damage, which failed at 180mph sending Roland into the barrier in a fatal crash. A photograph, linked below, sees Roland tangling with the Footwork of Fittipaldi, which may have been the cause for the failure that led to him loosing control of his car.

JJ Lehto - Start at San Marino Grand Prix

Lehto returned from his accident into the cockpit of the Benetton for the third race in Imola, but he has since admitted that he returned too soon (more in the Motorsport Magazine link above).
"When I came back I was sick and in pain; Flavio didn’t give me any testing."
Perhaps unfamiliar with the B194, the Finn stalled his car on the start as the rest of the field raced past him. All except Pedro Lamy in his Lotus who collided with the stationary Benetton, and debris, including a tyre, was sent into the crowd, injuring four spectators and a policeman. 

Ayrton Senna - San Marino Grand Prix

Senna's accident, after the safety car period to clear up the start line crash, is still a topic of debate, and the cause remains not fully known. His Williams FW16 car is seen to hit a bump at the Tamburello corner and bottom out, with sparks seen from Schumacher's onboard camera, which was unlike previous laps. Perhaps behind a slow safety car, the tyres were not up to full pressure? The car then slides, with Senna seeming to over correct and he heads for the barriers to the right. We know his steering column was hastily modified before the race and it was found to have failed, but it is not known whether it was the cause or a consequence of the accident. The end result, though, is that Senna lost his life in this accident.
A touching point was that an Austrian flag was found folded up in his cockpit, with Senna hoping to dedicate the win to Roland Ratzenberger. 

Michele Alboreto - San Marino Grand Prix

Michele Alboreto had just pitted, and back then, there was no pit-lane speed limit. His rear wing failed on his Minardi, and the accident caused his to lose a wheel which caused injuries to some of the Ferrari pitcrew. Alboreto's car came to a halt just outside of the pitlane. This incident caused the pit-lane speed limit to be introduced.

Karl Wendlinger - Practice at Monaco Grand Prix

Karl Wendlinger lost control of his Sauber C13 on the downhill approach to the chicane. The accident put Wendlinger into a coma. Sauber responded by raising the cockpit sides of the car, something that was eventually implemented on all cars for the 1996 season. 

Pedro Lamy - Testing at Silverstone

The FIA had begun to react by this stage, and a change to the diffusers were hurried into the regulations. This caused a spate of rear wing failures, with both Williams and Ligier reporting cracks on their assemblies. A rear wing failure on Lamy's Lotus caused an accident that strangely saw the car end up in the spectator tunnel at Bridge corner at Silverstone, pictured below. I've walked through this tunnel and it is small, so who knows what happened for the car to end up in there, but he managed to hit a barrier, clear a safety barrier and end up in the tunnel! Lamy's injuries to his leg would take nearly a year to recover from.

Reading Johnny Herbert's autobiography, he said he was a few hundred metres behind his teammate and as he rounded the fast left hander, all he could see was the engine and gearbox from the rear of Lamy's car strewn across the track. He looked further to see a hole in the fence, but still no sign of his car. A small flame caught his attention from the tunnel and there, Lamy was in his monocoque, partially exposed, sitting at an odd angle. 

Andrea Montermini - Practice at Spanish Grand Prix

Simtek only ran one car out of respect at the Monaco Grand Prix. Andrea Montermini, who was suffering from a virus at the time, took up the second seat for the Spanish Grand Prix, although he never made it to the Grand Prix thanks to a massive accident on the last corner of the Barcelona track in practice. Thankfully, he only had injuries to his foot and a facial wound, but yet another massive accident in a season that has already had its fair share of them. 

The aftermath

By the Monaco GP, F1 was under a lot of pressure from sponsors and manufacturers to get on top of these accidents, threatening to pull out of F1 and endangering the series altogether. It's debatable if Senna had never lost his life at Imola, whether the FIA would have felt the need to make so many changes despite the 10 other serious incidents.

A wide range of changes to the car were announced, though not all of them made it into the regulations before the end of the season, many of them phased in over the following Grand Prix. It meant that the teams at the lower end of the grid, already struggling with their finances, had to spend extra resources to simply show up and race legally. So the late season driver merry-go-round saw an influx of pay drivers racing in various seats towards the end of the season. Changes to tracks included temporary tyre barrier chicanes installed in Spain, Canada and Belgium. 

1994, perhaps unsurprisingly, saw the most driver changes of any Formula 1 season, with 46 drivers taking part at some stage over the season, that's 40 driver changes! You can read about all the changes here:

www.reddit.com

Every now and again, I test myself on quiz website Sporcle to see if I can remember all the drivers from the 1994 season, only to usually miss out on one or two:
www.sporcle.com

1/43 Models: Michael Schumacher's 50th Birthday Tribute

Statistically, Michael Schumacher is the greatest Formula 1 driver ever. Though the Ferrari domination days were not a very exciting spectacle, and though his return to Mercedes was a little underwhelming, I respected that I was watching a living legend. He had many high points, a his fair share of controversial low points too. I'm a bit late with this, but to celebrate his 50th birthday, I wanted to post some of my favourite Schumacher models (as there's not enough room to post them all) and celebrate some of his F1 achievements that have been faithfully reproduced .

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1991 Jordan 191 Ford - debut at Belgian Grand Prix

Minichamps 433910032

Perhaps one of the most beautiful and elegant Formula 1 cars ever, the Jordan 191. It was Jordan's first year in the sport, and when regular Belgian driver was jailed prior to the his home race, Jordan searched for a driver with funds for his cash-strapped team. Along came Mercedes-backed Schumacher. Whilst much of the story in the build up to the weekend was about their imprisoned driver, the after qualifying was about the debutante who qualified 8th (promoted to 7th on the starting grid) and ahead of his team-mate. Sadly, the clutch failed before he got to Eau Rouge (and Radillion). 

It was enough for Bernie to take an interest from a commercial aspect to move him to a top team, and Benetton team boss Flavio Briatore saw a cheap driver who was clearly very fast to invest in and begin to build his team around, and a move away from Jordan was engineered as soon as the next race as Eddie Jordan had not tied Schumacher down to a contract.

Minichamps released an updated model in 2011, appearing in this limited edition model and also in the 20 years since his debut alongside the Mercedes W02 (see below). 

Score 8/10

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1992 Benetton B192 Ford - first win at Belgian Grand Prix

Minichamps - 517924318

In the last couple of years, Minichamps released a resin version of the B192, and in the 25th Anniversary Collection, Schumacher has his arm raised as he crossed the line in victory. This is a stunningly accurate and beautiful model and so gets high marks from me.

Score 9/10

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1993 Benetton B193 Ford - Portuguese Grand Prix

Spark S4774

In 1993, Schumacher was a regular podium visitor, but his only visit to the top step came in Portugal. Spark released their nice version of this car around 2015. Spark's disappointing proportions take away from the nice detail they've added, so a pretty average score I'm afraid.

Score 7/10

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1994 Benetton B194 Ford -  First World Championship

Minichamps 447941605

I have written a separate blog post with many versions of the B194 in and a bit more of the story behind the season. For all the controversy surrounding that season, Schumacher was the stand-out driver over the course of 1994 - his drive at Spain, whilst stuck in 5th gear, in particular was truly special.

The most recent model from Minichamps in my collection is of the Australian Grand Prix model, a resin remake of the B194 and it is a beaut.

Score 9/10

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1995 Benetton B195 Renault - Second World Championship

Minichamps 431952701

Benetton secured the standard setting Renault engines by the craftiest of means. Williams had blocked Benetton securing Renault engines to maintain their advantage, but Ligier also ran the Renault engines. Briatore saw an opportunity to buy the Ligier team and then transfer the engine deal across to Benetton, genius! The result was that the 1995 Ligier looked nearly identical to the B195, but the Benetton was a great car. Williams had also produced a great car, but their drivers made too many mistakes, whilst Schumacher dominated with 9 wins from 17 races. 

Though Minichamps have re-released this model a few times in recent years, and Spark have released their version too, my favourite is still this original one, the Alesi taxi version from the Canadian Grand Prix. 

Score 7/10

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1996 Ferrari F310

Minichamps 510964311

 Schumacher moved to Ferrari in 1996, but it would take several years before he would be winning championships again. The F310 was not a great car, it was even nicknamed 'the truck'. Yet Schumacher managed 3 victories, in a class by himself in the wet in Spain, a glorious victory in front of the Tifosi in Italy and an opportunistic win at Belgium where Williams messed up their pit strategy behind the safety car.

I liked the bolted on high-nose conversion that appeared from the Canadian Grand Prix onwards, but it's the Spanish Grand Prix model by Minichamps that I want to put here. It was a very rare model for many years and commanded quite high prices, but I managed to snatch a bargain price for this one.
Score 7/10

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1997 - 1999 Ferrari F310B, F300 and F399

In 1997, Schumacher famously crashed into Villeneuve and earned a disqualification from the Championship, ruining a great campaign in a car that was clearly 2nd best and showing many fantastic drives such as Monaco and Belgium.
In 1998, McLaren were so far ahead, thanks to the new regulations and the arrival of Adrian Newey, and Schumacher did wonders to make a fight out of it. The win in Hungary stands out, as well as finishing the British Grand Prix in the pit-lane.
In 1999, Schumacher had a brake failure on the first lap of the British Grand Prix and broke his leg, ending his Championship hopes. Had that not happened, he would surely have been champion.

Hot Wheels (Mattel) took over an exclusive model making contract in 1999, but their mass-produced, budget cars lacked the quality of its rivals. But there were two models, both from the 1998 season by Minichamps, that I quite liked, the black test car, and the 'tower wing' version.

Minichamps 510984300

A nice model from Minichamps. 

Score 7/10

Minichamps 510984333

I'm trying to be objective and not be swayed by the ugly tower wing, so I'll stick with the same score.
Score 7/10

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2000-2004 Ferrari F2000, F2001, F2002, F2003GA, F2004

The battles with Hakkinen in 2000 were intense and fantastic to watch and when Schumacher won the race in Japan, with three years of missing out on the championship fresh in mind, he clinched his first Championship at Ferrari, who themselves had not won a Driver's Championship since 1979. The Japanese Grand Prix was flat out all the way through, both drivers and teams pushing to the peak of their abilities, and on that day, Schumacher clinched the race and the title. For the next 4 seasons, Schumacher and Ferrari and Bridgestone dominated Formula 1 and records began to tumble. 

I've grouped these together because the models by Hot Wheels were not particularly great. Not even those that were released under the 'Mattel Elite' series made much improvement. But at least they made an effort with some special releases, this of the 2000-2002 series of cars with arms raised and dirty cars remains in my collection today.

Hot Wheels B7022

Score 6/10

The 2003 and 2004 cars are the standard cars.

Hot Wheels B1018

Score 6/10

Hot Wheels B6206

Score 6/10

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2005-2006 Ferrari F2005, F248-F1

For 2005, the FIA had so set the regulations that it favoured Ferrari's rivals, and in particular, the Michelin tyres ran by their main competitors. Shockingly, Ferrari were a mid-field team for 2005, and only have one race win that season at the USA Grand Prix due to a problem with the Michelin tyres forcing all their cars to withdraw from running the race. In 2006, Schumacher and Ferrari competed for victories again, though Renault still had the faster car. 

Schumacher retired at the end of the season, and produced a fantastic drive at his final race in Brazil where he fought his way back through the field after starting 10th, then had a puncture battling with Fisichella, and then fighting through the field to finish in 4th place. 

Again, these are the standard Hot Wheel cars for 2005 and 2006. There are slight improvements from the earlier Ferrari models, but if you compare them with the Minichamps cars of the same era, I can't score it any higher.

Hot Wheels G9731

Score 6/10

Hot Wheels J2967

Score 6/10

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2010-2012 Mercedes W01, W02, W03

When Felipe Massa was injured at the Hungarian Grand Prix in 2009, Schumacher was keen to substitute for him, but for neck problems to put a halt to it. Brawn, who had been with Schumacher at Benetton and Ferrari, took the opportunity to sign the German to a three year deal at Mercedes. The 2009 World Champions did not have the finances nor the infrastructure to compete in these three years, and they were largely building years that laid the foundations for the current Mercedes domination. 

Schumacher did not beat Rosberg in overall points and mistakes came too often that had looked to tarnish Schumacher's reputation. However in hindsight, Rosberg was close to Hamilton in pace and even beat him to a World Championship, so Rosberg was a quick driver, if not a little under-rated. Schumacher had days he would demonstrate his old pace and was at times a match for Rosberg, like qualifying fastest in the 2012 Monaco GP and a podium finish at the European Grand Prix, but he was nowhere near as consistent as he was in the first part of his career. But I appreciated that he came back, that even though these were no longer his glory days, he was a living legend nonetheless and at times there were 5 World Champion on the grid (Schumacher, Alonso, Hamilton, Button & Vettel).

Minichamps 410100003

Minichamps added to the Michael Schumacher Collection, but they also released a number of special versions. The 2010 car here is with Mercedes packaging.
Score 8/10

Minichamps 412912011

In 2011, they released a Spa special with a 2 car set, one from his debut 20 years previous, and his 2011 car with the golden helmet he wore for that race.

Score 8/10

Minichamps 410120407

In 2012, Minichamps released his final Grand Prix where he took a flag around on his final tour, with 'Thank you, Goodbye Michael' on the car.

Score 8/10

1/43 Model Review: 1994 Benetton B194 Ford

Background

The controversial Benetton B194 brought the team and Schumacher their first Drivers’ Championship, though they would have to wait a further year before winning their first Constructors’ Championship. With big regulation changes, mostly in the name of banning ‘driver aids’, Benetton were ahead of the game in preparing for the new rules in early 1993. And it proved a stroke of genius as other teams were caught unawares of the threat from Benetton on the championship. This car will always be remembered for alleged cheating, with traction control on the car (though “never used”), taking an element out of the refuelling rig (which led to Verstappen’s fiery pitstop) and the over-warn plank at the Belgian GP (blamed on a spin). Schumacher, though brilliant as demonstrated at the Spanish Grand Prix whilst being stuck in 5^th gear for two-thirds of the race found enough pace to finish second, had many major mistakes, including overtaking pole-sitter Hill on the warm-up lap at the British Grand Prix and ignoring the black flag, to crashing at the title-deciding Australian Grand Prix and then taking Damon Hill out with a damaged car. Schumacher had three team-mates for the year, but none of them came close to Schumacher in qualifying, often over a second a lap off his pace.

You can read a bit more about the traction control controversy and Max Mosley's thoughts on that Adelaide crash here: www.msn.com - source taken from Ibrar Malik's book, 1994 The Untold Story which you can purchase here 1994 F1 Book. 

Onyx

Onyx 204

Onyx produced a number of cars in the early 1990’s and they were cheap and cheerful. The car seemed to bear more resemblance to the B193B, and Schumacher’s helmet reversed the red and the yellow parts of the flag (presumably since Minichamps owned the rights). The car was diecast with plastic parts and it was simply but effective, but I won’t judge the car too harshly as there were worse cars from the 1994 grid produced by Onyx.

Onyx released a late season version, which had updated barge boards and the wheel rims were painted white with the blue/green stripe. They also corrected Schumacher’s helmet.
Score: 4/10

Minichamps

Michael Schumacher Collection No. 11

Minichamps 510944305

The Minichamps offering from 1994 was a much more accurate representation than the Onyx car of the same era. The shape seems to be based around the early season Brazil version which had the smaller rear wing and the large barge board, but the livery (in this version) is based on the non-tobacco French GP. Schumacher won the first 5 Grand Prix and dominated the first half of the season in this car.

Minichamps released two other liveries on the same shape…
Score: 7/10

Michael Schumacher Collection No. 12 – German GP

Minichamps 510944325

Back then, there were no shape changes to the cars for the different versions. The tail end of the 1994 season saw lots of changes to cars when mid-season regulations were brought in following the tragic events earlier in the season. At least Onyx put some new barge-boards, but Minichamps have done a nice job on the livery.
Score: 7/10

Michael Schumacher Collection No. 12 – Japanese GP (World Champion)

Minichamps 510944335

The Japanese Grand Prix version brought the increased Mild Seven blue around the barge board area and white wheels with the green stripe (though there are some versions with the black rims and a brown helmet visor). There were black decals to represent the holes that were made mandatory in the engine cover. But the front and rear wings had changed considerably since the beginning of the season.
Score: 6/10

Johnny Herbert’s Australian GP outing was also released by Minichamps, with a helmet that bore very little resemblance to the real thing.

Michael Schumacher World Champion (Monaco GP)

Minichamps 413940005

Over 20 years later, Minichamps released a couple of versions of the B194. Sadly it was only an updated version of the same 1990’s diecast mould. However it came with improved decals, new wheels and tyres, new mirrors, new driver and helmet figure and new front and rear wings with an on-board camera. This gave the car much more detail and accuracy to the Monaco GP, a weekend in which Schumacher dominated. Unfortunately, they put the wrong rims on this car.
Score: 8/10

Michael Schumacher 25^th Anniversary (World Champion/Australian GP)

Minichamps 447941605

In 2018, Minichamps finally released a resin version of the B194 in the late season configuration. With it came different versions on low production runs from the British, German, Belgian, Japanese and Australian GP, a world Champion version based on the Australian GP, as well as Mick Schumacher’s demonstration run at the 2017 Belgian GP. Oddly, the German GP rear wing seems to stick out further to the rear, and they did not create the skinny low-downforce rear wing levels. They also created a Monaco GP version, however this inaccurately portrays the diffuser. Despite my nitpicking, it is nice to receive this new model from Minichamps and to me, it is the best around at the time of writing. J.J. Lehto (Monaco GP where he finished 7th), Jos Verstappen (German GP when he was on fire & Hungary GP his 1^st podium) and Johnny Herbert (Australian GP where he retired) also get new versions.

Schumacher @ Japanese GP

Verstappen @ Hungarian GP

Verstappen @ British GP

Schumacher @ Monaco GP

Mick Schumacher @ 2017 Belgian GP

Score: 9/10

Formula 1 Car Collection / Ixo

The modern-day ‘cheap and cheerful’ version from the Formula 1 Car Collection gave us a welcomed  mid-season version of the B194 featuring correct front and rear wings and bargeboards. I believe this is based on the French GP. I think the curvature of the top of the sidepods and the rollover bar are better than the 1990’s offering from Onyx and Minichamps. The wheel rim shape is wrong, but little to complain about on this model at the price. 
Score: 7/10

Spark

Johnny Herbert Australian GP

Spark S4484

Before Minichamps released their resin model, Spark released their version. The car has lovely details, around the cockpit, the holes in the engine cover, brake ducts and also the correct version of the front and rear wings and bargeboards. For me, Spark have made the wheels a little too big and the helmets a little too small and the rear wing also sits way too high. I love the details, but I don’t think the overall proportions feel quite right.
Score: 6/10

Michael Schumacher Monaco GP

Spark S4481

I was looking forward to the Monaco GP version with the double-stacked rear wing. Unfortunately, they retro-fitted early season wings onto a late season car, so there are indents on the engine cover where there were no holes, and the diffuser is also wrong. It’s a real shame because I love the detail around the cockpit, where Schumacher ran three speedometers, and the different aerials.
Score: 5/10

BBR

BBR Met10

BBR produced this lovely version from the Brazilian Grand Prix. Because there are so few pictures of this, and I've never owned it, I'm going to refrain from giving this full marks.  
Score: 9/10

Tameo

Tameo TMK179

Tameo's early season car comes from the Spanish Grand Prix, which I've already raved about. The model is lovely, running the red number 5. My only slight nit-pick over this is that the front wing is too far forward and the barge-boards are a little too big.

Score: 8/10

Tameo TMK191

Tameo's late season version from the Australian Grand Prix was also brilliantly done. Impressive details matched with nice proportions. Same issue with the nose and the barge-boards from the Spanish GP version, but that rear wing is bang on. 

Score: 8/10

Conclusion

For me, I prefer the latest offerings from Minichamps in the 25^th Anniversary Collection in terms of the models themselves. It’s hard to pick a Grand Prix in the latter half of the year that celebrates Schumacher’s brilliance, in Australia he crashed into Damon, in Japan he finished 2^nd to an excellent drive from Hill (though it does come with wet tyres), in Belgium he was disqualified, in Germany he was doing wonders keeping up with the V12 Ferrari’s when his engine gave up, in Britain he was black flagged and disqualified. He was brilliant in Monaco, but I can’t help looking at the mistakes once I know that they are there.

For more 1994 Model Reviews, click here: https://fongugp4.blogspot.com/p/1994-model-review.html
This is also featured in the World Champions Model Reviews, for more click here: https://fongugp4.blogspot.com/p/f1-world-champions.html