It's a new season for the F1Virtual and friends Time Trial League.
Here's the official league thread: https://www.grandprixgames.org
Along with the expansion of the grid, we will also be allowed personalised helmets and personalised cars between the seasons 1998 - 2008.
Today, I wanted to launch the livery I will run this year.
Team Fongu
Team Fongu TTL001 "Tribute"
Team Fongu TTL001 "Tribute" |
Shape
I've picked an old friend, the 2008 Red Bull RB4 - or the Toro Rosso STR3, shaped by me and template by Raulongo. It's an Adrian Newey car before his succesful days with the team, in a car that clearly has its roots from the 2005 McLaren. I think it's a really pretty shape, after removing some of the extra wings.
Livery
The whole design philosphy is not original, but a tribute to some of my favourite livery ideas from the past.
Firstly it's the return of the 1997 Jordan livery along with the snake on the nose and scales on the sidepods.
The wings are inspired from the mid 1990s Ferrari.
The rollover bar also takes inspiration from the 1994 Simtek, more on that a little later.
There's a small hint of Renault Sport from around 2017/2018 about it too.
And finally there's an early 2000s Sauber inspired reflection on top of the sidepods.
Mixing all that together, I feel, are a fitting tribute to some of my favourite design features from liveries gone by.
Tributes
Instead of going for a main sponsor, I wanted to run some tributes to drivers lost in Grand Prix since the 1990s, and those still fighting against serious injuries.
As readers of my blog will know, the 1st May 1994 was the first weekend I fully remember getting into F1, and there are tributes to two drivers lost that dark weekend. First Roland Ratzenberger, who lost his life after a suspected front wing failure which hurtled his car straight into the Villeneuve corner barrier at close to 200mph. As Jordan ran a red rollover hoop, I felt the Simtek tribute to Roland would be a suitable replacement.
The very next day, we lost three-time World Champion, Ayrton Senna. Both sempre Senna and the Senna S logo appear on the car. Jordan ran a tribute to Senna at the 2004 San Marino GP, so that's another livery inspiration.
We also lost Jule Bianchi at a wet 2015 Japanese GP, and #JB17 still features on the helmets of Gasly and Leclerc.
Seven-time World Champion, Michael Schumacher may not have sustained his serious injuries in a racing car, but I wanted to recognise and support the difficulties for the family in his long battle with his health since that skiing accident.
Finally, a former Jordan driver, Alex Zanardi who had already lost both his legs in a horrific Indycar crash, went on to gain a paralympic gold medal before having an accident with a truck that left him in a lengthy coma. Thankfully he is no longer in a coma and has been back home since December 2021.
Suppliers
Partners
The car was painted on a Lenovo laptop on free online platform Photopea, situated on an Ikea desk. I currently drive a Seat and Racefans.net is the F1 website I follow the most. There's also some GP4 logos, the game I've been most involved with for 20 years.
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