Background
Colin Chapman had fine tuned the ground effect by extending the rear endplates down behind the rear wheels to enlarge the aerodynamic force. It was introduced at the 6th race of the year, at Belgium, where the car won six wins out of eight, 5 of them by Andretti who claimed the Drivers Championship and helped Lotus win the Constructors' title, the last for the Lotus team. Sadly Andretti's team-mate, Ronnie Peterson lost his life following an accident at Monza.Though both the Lotus 78 and the 79 were used, it was really the advanced aerodynamics of the 79 that won Lotus their championship, so I'll just be featuring the 79 in this post. From a quick look, besides TSM's set in this post, only Quartzo and RBA produce a version of the 78 from this season. Spark have produced a 78, but not with Andretti in the cockpit.
Minichamps
Minichamps 430780005 |
Score: 7/10
Spark
Spark S1848 |
Score: 8/10
Quartzo
Quartzo 4089 |
A nice model from Quartzo of the Lotus 78
Formula 1 Car Collection / Ixo
Score: 6/10
Tameo
Tameo WCT78 |
Tameo have produced another stunner with this version of the 79. A mix of good proportions and lovely detail, this one put together very well.
True Scale Models (TSM)
TSM TSM12SS3 |
TSM released their three car set of Andretti in the Lotus. This includes both the 78 car and the 79. It comes with all the usual quality you'd expect from TSM and this doesn't disappoint.
Score: 9/10
Unfortunately the Minichamps version is modelled on the 1979 car with just one outlet on each side pod. In 1978 the car had ywo on the left and one on the right to start with and then in Germany it went to two each side. The cars run by Classic Team Lotus also have the 1979 body work wit JPS scheme so maybe this is wht Minichamps made the mistake. Their new version is correct for 1978
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