Memories of Ratzenberger and Senna, Ocon's helmet and more...

Twenty nine years ago (plus a day), we lost two drivers at 1994 San Marino GP, Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger. I've written about this before (like here), and it was the time I started following F1. It was a horrific weekend, with bad crashes for Lamy and Lehto, Barrichello and also involved pit-lane injuries when Alboreto's tyre bounced down the busy area. Thankfully many lessons were learned, but when Ocon comes into a pitlane filled with photographers at the 2023 Azerbaijan GP, it's a reminder that motorsport remains dangerous. 

Still we remember two drivers who loved the sport and dedicated themselves to it, and we can give thanks to the moments of joy they brought to many others. I read this weekend about the time in F3000 where Roland and Heinz-Harold Frentzen were friends. On a night out, they approached some ladies which irked some Japanese men upon which one of them pulled out a knife behind Heinz-Harold. Roland, realising what was going on, instantly wrestled the man to the ground, saving Frentzen from any bodily harm. 

I've not written much about physical models of late, purely because the second hand market isn't what it was, and prices have escalated. I have however, completed my first Tamiya 1/20 kit of Jim Clark's Lotus 25 Climax. Perhaps one day I'll get around to taking some photos and writing an article about it. Encouraged by the results from that build, this weekend I bought my next project, the 1994 Williams FW16 Renault by Fujimi. It appears I have purchased the Pacific GP version with the extra wings, which I still own a 1/43 model scale version of. I hope to be able to do the memory of Ayrton some justice through this build.

Back to Esteban Ocon, he was the only driver to race with a new helmet design this weekend. It's his 2023 helmet design, but in a fluorescent red, that evokes memories of Michael Schumacher's Ferrari lid. Ocon has made no secret that the German was his hero, and it remains to be seen if this lid if a one off or whether he will continue with this helmet. Either way, I like it and you can download my version of it in the link below. 

2023 Helmets by Fongu

Site admin time, and I've done some work on the GP4 Tracks list. Initially, I had stuck to track packs, but there's only been one track pack for over a decade available. So I've put together a list of individual tracks and where to find them, as well as adding some ovals and tracks used by Indycars over the years. You can find them here: GP4 Track Downloads