Background
Jackie Stewart won his first of three World Championships for Matra International, a non-works team ran by Ken Tyrrell. The opening race was won in the MS10 which had already earned three victories in 1968 and won in South Africa in 1969. For the majority of the rest of the year, the MS80 was used. The MS80 ran with the fuel tank to the sides of the driver in sidepods. High mounted wings were banned early in the season due to safety concerns. Stewart won 5 GPs in the MS80, and the Matra is the only car, other than Ferrari, to have won a Championship having not been built in the UK. Jacky Ickx was competitive in the second half of the year in the Brabham, substituting for an injured Jack Brabham, but Stewart's points tally was too much to overcome.
The MS84 was Matra's attempt at 4 Wheel Drive, but Stewart never raced it as it was overweight and difficult to handle.
 |
| Spark S7183 |
I'm aiming to have owned a World Championship car for every Formula 1 Season, but the 1969 car had always been a Quartzo car of the MS80. Spark have released the Matra MS10, albeit the old car used only for the first race of the season, but I wanted to tick that off my wish list.
I was really happy with the model when I received it, it was much more impressive than I expected. Another thing I always wanted a model of was with the early and primitive wings, bolted high over the car, directly onto the suspension.
The cars proportions are nicely recreated, though it isn't the most complex of shapes overall, but it's all the attention to detail that I love about it, from the rivot joints, to the piping along the bottom of the car, it just all makes this a really nice model.
The mirrors are not an after-thought, but carefully modelled with a nice chrome paint. The driver figure is nice, and for a change, I really like the Spark helmet. It's a half helmet with a 3D transparent visor, with Stewart's face under a balaclava nicely modelled.
Another shot into the cockpit shows a nice steering wheel and dashboard, as well as a good windshield and nicely shaped monocoque.
Moving onto the engine and you can see the detail of the pistons are individually made, twisting around metal rods. Then engine is clearly defined and the cylinder covers look great.
The Cosworth DFV engine from another perspective shows some nice modelling. The extra wing supports is a nice touch.
The rear exhaust area is nicely done, with the red cylinder attached at the top. There's nice detail on the main driveshaft and it all looks fantastic to me.
There's care and attention to detail all over this car, with the wing supports showing nice detail.
Score: 9/10
