Friday 18 November 2022

GP4: 2022 Alfa Romeo C42

As we begin the final weekend of the 2022 season today, I'm delighted to be able to have finished another 2022 car and share it with you GP4 fans. This is the Alfa Romeo C42. 
2022 Alfa Romeo C42 by Fongu

The car is built from the Hinwil based of the team formerly known as Sauber and is powered by the Ferrari power train. The competitiveness dropped of by mid-season, with Zhou suffering a massive crash in Silverstone, landing sideways between two barriers. Thankfully he was extracted and not seriously injured. Going into the final race of the season, they lead the battle for 6th in the Constructors’ Championship. 

There are so many great sources around today to help me model the cars accurately compared to when I first started making cars for GP4, and I've tried to keep these cars as simple as I can so that it runs well on lower end machines. On that, I'm grateful once more to Carl_gpgames for making lods for this car. Even things like tiny logos are much easier to find nowadays, which all helds speed up production of these cars.

This car comes with two special liveries as seen in Baku and Monza. 
2022 Alfa Romeo C42 Azerbaijan GP livery by Fongu


This livery, run at the Azerbaijan GP was to celebrate the launch of the Tonale road car, an electic SUV. The added green is to make the car into a giant Italian flag with the hue of colours the colours tweak to match the green in the Montreal Tonale launch as well as a nod to it's green initiatives going forward and the deeper Alfa red. The Tonale has distinctive headlights, forming a 'UUU' shape and that's the reason that's on the livery in white on the engine cover and darker green on the sidepods. 

2022 Alfa Romeo C42 Italian GP livery by Fongu

Alfa Romeo, since it linked up with Sauber, has been using various old Alfa Romeo logos in it's time in F1. Just search for Alfa Romeo logo history and you'll see how the emblem has evolved over the years. The nose and engine cover logo on the standard livery is based on the 1922 font. In the Italian GP at Monza, the nose logo was replaced with the logo used in the 1940s and 50s. 

On the right side engine cover only, they have replaced the text with their emblem. Alfa Romeo, originally founded in Milan, has many nods to its history.  The cross is St. George's cross, associated with medieval Milanese soldiers during the time of the crusades, clearly backing the 'Christian' side. What I didn't know until I did a bit of research was that the serpent, Biscione, is eating a guy, the emblem being associated with the Visconti family of the 11th Century and linked with Milan. The guy getting eaten is in relation once more to the crusades, presumably a muslim, but it's still a bit open for debate. The crown relates to the family becoming Dukes in the 15th Century. The serpent itself is new, but clearly inspired from the past, so I had to paint it from scratch. It's a fascinating history if you wanted to read more into it. 

Thanks once more to Carl_gpgames for the screenshots and all that's left to do is share the pack with you, enjoy.