GP4: 1997 Jordan Peugeot by David Marques & fongu available for download

I proudly share with you a collaborative work by David Marques from the F1 Challenge 99/02 community and myself. 

This car is available for Grand Prix 4 (below), and it is also released for F1C 99/02 available here: https://wookey.forumotion.com/t1267-f1-1997-season. Check out page 3 of that thread on the forum for some nice screenshots to compare it with GP4's version. 

The original F1C car has been tinkered with over the years by various people, and David Marques had started adding parts of my 1996 Jordan 196 car to it. In the end I created a new chassis to go with the wings, suspension and cockpit from David's update and this is the final result. 

The car comes in three main configurations centred around the sidepods: 

1. the launch car with the shorter sidepod inlets and rear fin/sidepod winglets.
2. the mid season car with amended rear sidepods and updated rear fin/sidepod winglets. 
3. the end of season car with the front of the sidepods elongated with more square inlets. 

There are more front and rear wing configurations, the nose winglets on the low downforce car as well.

1997 Jordan 197 for GP4 by David Marques & fongu

You may remember that this is not the first time I've attempted this livery, you may remember the tribute livery I tried for the Time Trial League a few years back: https://fongugp4.blogspot.com/2022/02/2022-time-trial-league-car-team-fongu.html. So for this project I was keen to be on Sid the snake painting duties, the rest of the paint work was done by David Marques, including all the shadows and fine tuning parts of the 3D model, like adding 3D bolts. All 17 liveries have been faithfully created and you can track the livery updates as the season progresses, with the many sponsors coming and going, the change in sidepod to the scales and the various changes to Sid the snake. 

1997 Jordan 197 for GP4 by David Marques & fongu

It was a pleasure to work with David Marques on the 1995 Ferrari 412 T2, and it's proved a delight to be able to work with him on this project too. There's one more planned collaboration with him that we hope to share with you soon, but until then, I hope you enjoy this new addition to the 1997 grid. 

1/43 Model Review: 1997 Ferrari F310B

Background

When Schumacher joined Ferrari, he declared he would win 3 races in 1996 and challenge for the Championship in 1997, which he fulfilled. The season began with the Williams taking an early lead, but by mid-season, Schumacher fought his way up to lead the battle and carried a one point advantage to the final race at Jerez, the European GP for that season. Schumacher's car developed a cooling leak whilst leading, and Villeneuve eagerly wanted to pounce straight after the pitstop. Famously, as Villeneuve passed down the inside, Schumacher swiped at the Williams, but rebounded off into the gravel trap, as the Canadian brought the car home to claim his only Championship. Schumacher, however, was disqualified from the Championship for this move, though the team kept the points. Despite the costly momentary lapse, this was an impressive season from the German with five wins in total, including fine wet drives to victory at Monaco and Spa stand out to me in particular.

Irvine in his second year with Ferrari, partnered Schumacher in the last of the John Barnard designed Ferrari's. Irvine drove a better year than his first, chasing Villeneuve hard to second place in Argentina, and would have gifted a win to his team-mate at the Japanese Grand Prix to help him fight for the championship. Ferrari finished 2nd in that year's Constructors' Championship.

Minichamps

Minichamps 510974305

Minichamps 430970006

Though this Ferrari is dubbed the B spec version of the F310 from 1996, it bears very little resemblance to the 'truck'. Much more refined shape, much less bulky, much more conventional aerodynamics from the outside made this car quite a nice looking car. Sadly this was the first Marlboro red car, departing from the traditional scarlet red, which takes away from the beauty of this car for me.

Minichamps produced another nice model of this car, featuring two shape variants, well different rear wings at least. There are French GP variants of the non-tobacco livery, and the barcode version ran at other races.
Score: 7/10

Tameo

Tameo TMK430

I've found two versions from Tameo, this one above is based on the car that won the Monaco GP, with rain tyres. Tameo have done another excellent job in recreating this car, from the intricate shape of the front wing end plates, to the cockpit and the extra rear wing elements, this is another find model.

Tameo TMK349

The other version is based on the Japanese GP, which comes with removable engine cover, showing some nice detail underneath of the engine, radiators, gearbox and rear suspension assembly. They've updated the airbox which is a nice detail, as well as a more boxy shaped front wing endplate, and of course the rear wing. A fabulous model.
Score: 9/10

1/43 Model Review: 1997 McLaren MP4/12 Mercedes

Background

McLaren kept the Mercedes engine for the third year, and the combination of Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard for a second year. The biggest change was the livery, having lost Marlboro sponsorship, the cars were no longer the distinctive red and white  for the past 23 years, but in recognition of their relationship with Mercedes ran a silver livery with West sponsorship. The team ran in traditional McLaren Orange before the livery launch. The car was very promising, but the unreliability of the Mercedes motor masked their potential. Hakkinen retired from leading positions on three occasions and Coulthard suffered the same fate in Canada.

Coulthard started the year with a race win, the second of career, and the first for McLaren since 1993. Coulthard was able to convert another race victory at the emotional Italian GP, dedicating his victory to Princess Diana's death the previous week.

The car was found to have two brake pedals for brake steering after a photographer snook a camera into the cockpit at the end of the season. The technology was soon banned, but was put in the MP4/12C road car which featured many of the F1 cars technology. Hakkinen finally won his first Grand Prix at the finale in Jerez, after coming to an agreement with Williams who was nursing a damaged Villeneuve after Schumacher tried to take him out.

Minichamps

Minichamps 530974390

Minichamps 530974310

I remember back in 1997 when one of my friends was on a family holiday in London at the same time that Mika Hakkinen was doing a signing session at the Alex Reade model shop and he bought this model and was able to get Hakkinen to sign it, I was obviously well jealous. Anyway, the model comes in the new silver race livery, which Minichamps have done a great job with, and also the pre-season orange livery. The model is a good representation of the car, no real complaints from me. I particularly like how they integrated the sidepod into the winglet and onto the rear endplate.
As with other McLaren cars, the main car is available in Mercedes box and also in Team McLaren editions.

Score: 7/10

Tameo

Tameo TMK237

Tameo TMK238

Tameo have likewise produced a pre-season orange version as well as the race car. This high end model is superior to the budget diecast Minichamps model, featuring much more detailed modelling, finer details. It's nice they have made an effort around the fuel cap opening, all the cameras on the car and the rear end is just beautifully modelled. My only tiny nitpick would be the lack of body lines around the cockpit head protection. Otherwise this model is pretty much perfect to me.
Score: 9/10

1/43 Model Review: 1997 Jordan 197 Peugeot

Background

The 1997 season was all change for Jordan, signing rookies Giancarlo Fisichella and Ralf Schumacher, although Fisichella had driven for Minardi for a few races the previous season. Gone was the gold livery, and the start of various nature inspired liveries. The snake livery remains the most striking and memorable of the 5 liveries it ran up to the 2001 season. The teams fortunes seamed to have turned for the better, being a regular points scorer, which included three podium finishes and scoring its highest haul of points at the time. Fisichella was particularly impressive in the car, scoring a second place at the Belgian GP, and being in contention for the win at the German GP before a puncture dropped him down the order. Schumacher recently claimed that he could have won the Argentine GP if he hadn't tangled with his team-mate.

Minichamps 

Minichamps 430970012

Minichamps 514974311

Minichamps 402109798

The model is based on the early season car, with the shorter sidepods. The livery seems to be a mish-mash of non-tobacco liveries they ran during the year. The team ran mainly yellow wings in France with some extra ribbons rather than text, whilst at the British GP they amended the snake on the nose, and they had various one-off sponsors for that race too. The sidepods were the same for both races, but at Silverstone they ran with Bitten & Hisses written instead of Benson & Hedges. In Germany, they ran with the nicknames of the drivers with a large number of 'S's for the hissing of a snake.
Score: 7/10

Tameo

Tameo TMK243

This is a model of Fisichella's Jordan from the Monaco GP. The Monaco GP that year was a wash-out so this car comes with rain tyres. This model is another beauty from Tameo, for me replicated perfectly.

Score: 10/10

1/43 Model Review: 1997 Arrows A18 Yamaha

Background

It was not the first time that the driver who won the World Championship left the Williams team the following year, Mansell and Prost had also left earlier that decade, as did Piquet after 1987. He had apparently had offers from McLaren, Benetton and Ferrari, Hill surprisingly went for the TWR ran Arrows team, who finished 9th with one point to their name in 1996. However they were the main test team for Bridgestone on their debut season, which would bring an advantage against the Goodyear rubber ran by most the other teams.

Team-mate Pedro Diniz brought substantial backing with him, along with new Yamaha engines and later in the year a new techincal director, John Barnard from Ferrari. The car struggled to qualify at the first race in Melbourne and retired on the parade lap, and the car retired more often than it finished. It was uncompetitive, but by mid-season it began to fight for points. At Silverstone, Hill's home race, he ran well and scored a point for sixth place. Hill qualified third at Hungary, ran second behind Schumacher and then passed him when the German's tyres were shod. Hill lead for much of the race until a throttle linkage problem cost him considerable pace with a few laps to go. Villeneuve caught him and passed him on the grass on the last lap. Hill still finished an incredible second for the team.

Though Hill was the team-leader, Diniz out-qualified the champion at the French, Belgian and Japanese tracks, the later two both known as challenging drivers tracks and managed a fifth place at the Luxembourg GP at the Nurburgring.

Minichamps

Minichamps 430970001

Minichamps 430970002

Minichamps produced the Arrows car. It's nice to have the red nose and rear wing end plates on Hill's car and yellow on Diniz's car. The shape of the model is pretty decent representation of the real car. The most disappointing thing for me is how low the driver sits in the car. That and the slightly wonky front wing, I still quite like the model.

Minichamps 433970101

In the UK, they released four special versions of various Damon Hill's cars. The Arrows one is based on the British GP, where after a difficult year so far, he scored points at his home race.
Score: 7/10

JPS

I've not heard of JPS models before, and again there's not many good photos of this, but this is a pretty reasonable model kit. The model is based on the Hungarian GP, with the amended airbox inlet. However, that looks quite a skinny rear wing for the high downforce track. The wheels look like they sit a bit too wide. I think the model is of similar standard to the Minichamps model.
Score: 7/10

IXO

Released in 2022, Ixo brings this nice budget version of the TWR Arrows. 

1/43 Model Review: 1997 Sauber C16 Petronas

Background

After losing the Mercedes Engine to McLaren for the 1996 season, Sauber were able to negotiate Ferrari customer engines, a start of a nine year relationship, that was rekindled following BMW's departure in 2010. They took on long time Ferrari Test Driver, Nicola Larini, but he left the team after five races. Morbidelli replaced him, but broke his arm on two separate occasions, meaning Norberto Fontana was also used by the team. Herbert, in his second year for the team, was able to lead the team to 7th in the Constructors' Championship with an impressive podium finish at Hungary.

Onyx

Onyx 298

Onyx released their budget version of the Sauber back in 1997. It's really not too bad for a budget model, yes the front wing droops a bit, there could be more definition on the airbox, and the rear wing looks like it's going to fall off the back of the car, but the general shape is reasonable, the colour scheme acceptable, the rims are correct, as are the helmets, so it's not too bad all things considered, particularly for the price you pay.
Score: 6/10

Minichamps

Minichamps 417970017

Minichamps finally released their version in 2019, available with Herbert and Larini in limited edition runs. The car is based on the end of season with the sculpted front wing endplates, and sculpted sidepod flaps and a much smaller rear wing endplate. This is a fantastic resin model from Minichamps, with lovely proportions and fantastic added detail as well.

Minichamps 517974399

The real reason this model was made was to add to the Schumacher 25th anniversary collection, which comes in a few different inlays from what I can tell. Peter Sauber had a close working relationship with Ferrari and after the Italian GP, was able to borrow Schumacher for a secret test at Fiorano, with photos being leaked years later. Sauber wanted an experienced driver to help with imbalance issues, with Herberts teammates all struggling with the car. Schumacher completed 84 laps and lapping around a second slower than his time in a Ferrari. Schumacher ran the car without sponsors on.

Score: 8/10

Tameo

Tameo TMK244

Based on the Hungarian GP, this is the Tameo version of the Sauber. I love all the upper rear wing elements, the extra fin inside the sidepod opening, the detail on this model is lovely. The cockpit detail is exquisite and there's nothing missed on this model. I think I personally prefer the Minichamps model overall, but the fine details on this car just about makes up for it.
Score: 8/10

1/43 Model Review: 1997 Prost JS45 Mugen-Honda

Background

Alain Prost returned to F1 as team owner taking over from the Ligier team. The team was in transition for 1997 as Prost looked to build an all French team. The team retained the Mugen-Honda engines and Olivier Panis who was partnered by Shinji Nakano at Mugen's request. The team was amazingly competitive for the first six races, Panis offering a true title challenge, but a crash at Canada broke both of his legs, and he would not return until the end of the year. Prost quickly hired impressive Trulli from Minardi and they continued to show good speed. He finished 4th in Germany and lead much of the Austrian Grand Prix.

Minichamps

430970014

This model was one of the earliest models I owned, with reasonably good midfield runner, Panis making an unlikely title challenge. Truth was he was in the best position to make the most of the new Bridgestone tyres that were particularly strong during the race. It's a shame Panis had his accident, I doubt he would have maintained the points scoring rate for the rest of the season, but I certainly think he would have added to his two podiums he had already secured. I remember the particularly long nose on this car, and compared to other cars, the rear wing endplates were as small as they could be. Other than that, the shape of the car is a development of their 1996 car, but I did like the simple all blue livery. The Minichamps model was reasonably well done, no real problems with the dimensions, and they've done a reasonably nice job at the rear of the car where the detail is.
Score: 7/10

Tameo

Tameo TMK246

This Tameo model is based on Trulli's Italian GP car, with low downforce wings, and it also comes with a removable engine cover. The detail underneath is fantastic and a plus for me is the asymmetric detailing, and you can see more it opens up more than on the Stewart car. I have to say, I'm a little disappointed by the rest of the model, the nose and monocoque section looks too square. The front top edge of the sidepod should be more rounded. The rear wing endplate looks like the normal season one, but the Italian GP version was even more cut down and minimalistic than this model.
Score: 7/10

1/43 Model Review: 1997 Stewart SF1 Ford

Background

Three Time World Champion, Jackie Stewart would be funded by Ford to start up a Formula One team on their behalf, running the team with his son, Paul Stewart, and hiring current Autosport analyst, Gary Anderson as designer with Alan Jenkins. The team, through its various incarnations is the current Red Bull Team who are double World Constructors' Champions. Rubens Barrichello drove all three years for the team, and finished second in the Monaco GP in its debut year. The car was able to battle for points positions, but poor reliability hindered the team from scoring more points.

I remember in the UK when the F1 broadcast moved from the BBC over to ITV and I wasn't looking forward to the race being interrupted by adverts, but they did some special features in the build up for the first race, one being a documentary on the new Stewart team. I remember enjoying watching that quite a few times when I was younger.

Minichamps

Minichamps 430970022

Minichamps 430970023

I do miss the days when there were more differences between teammates so from a longshot you could identify which car was which, Magnussen running with a blue headrest and blue on the nose cone. The model itself is quite nice, but it could do with more defined shapes, like the airbox and hte sidepod openings, it's just a little simplified. The tartan looks good and the chrome wheel rims are nicely done. A solid budget model for the time.
Score: 7/10

Tameo

Tameo TMK250

The Tameo kit model is based on the Monaco GP with removable engine cover and wet tyres. A fabulous model, with fantastic detail, even underneath the engine cover is nicely reproduced. I can't find many pictures of this model, so I can't review the model in any detail, but knowing the quality of models that Tameo produce, it looks like a great model.
Score: 9/10

1/43 Model Review: 1997 Tyrrell 025 Ford

Background

The Tyrrell 025 is an evolution of the previous car, but now carries the Ford engines, having ditched the Yamaha engines. Sadly the V8’s lacked the power to keep up with its rivals, despite having good drivers and a well balanced chassis. The San-Marino GP saw the innovation of the “Tower Wings” or X-Wings, which came up out of the sidepod by the side of the driver to generate downforce. These were adopted in the early part of the 1998 season by many other teams before the FIA banned the technology. This is also the last Tyrrell GP car to score a point before it was sold at the end of the 1998 season.

I personally like the majority of the 1997 grid for its shapes and liveries. I like the Tyrrell for it's simplicity, it's white with black trim looks good, the shape is smooth and simple. The nose is just an extended version of the nose that Ferrari ran at the beginning of 1996, just pushing the nose higher. However, even with this concept, you lose the downforce generation of the central part of the front wing. Simple bargeboards hidden within the suspension and tiny small sidepods, and shrink wrapped gearbox have been features of Tyrrells going back to 1995.

Minichamps

Minichamps 430970018

The Minichamps car comes in two editions, one from the San Marino GP which features the X-Wing and nose winglets as well.

Minichamps 430970019

The standard car looks quite bare without all the additional wings, but again I like the simplicity of the livery and the elegent shape. The model is nicely done, good proportions, Minichamps were improving their models and were consistently pumping out some nice models in 1997. 

Score: 7/10

Onyx

Onyx X305

You can get a few extra versions from Onyx of the Tyrrell 025, but sadly the base shape isn't particularly great, despite the relatively simple shape of the car. Above is the San Marino GP model.

Onyx X301S

Then we have the Monaco GP model, which has even more winglets around the rear wheels.

Onyx X301

At the lower downforce track in Montreal, we get a more basic version from the Canadian GP. The model struggles with odd proportions, the shape kind of if you were to really squint somewhat resembles the real car, but it just looks like it was a quick job with not much effort into making it look realistic.
Score: 5/10

Tameo

Tameo - TMK239

From Tameo, we get the Argentine GP version from the beginning of the season. This is another brilliant model from Tameo, fantastic proportions and great details. They have the extra elements on the rear wing, the additional flat floor on the leading edge of the sidepods, the holes in the sidepod and around the rear suspension are nice touches, good detail on the fuel cap and cockpit as always, and all the additional winglets are nicely sculpted too. A brilliant model if you can afford it.

Score: 10/10

1/43 Model Review: 1997 Minardi M197 Hart

Background

Minardi had an all new driver lineup  after several drivers were used the previous campaign. Ukyo Katayama joined after 4 years at Tyrrell, bringing Mild Seven sponsorship with him, and reigning F3 champion, Jarno Trulli. When Trulli was promoted to Prost half way through the season, Tarso Marques rejoined the team in the second seat. Though helped on occasion by the better Bridgestone tyre, the underpowered Hart engines meant the the car struggled around the back of the grid.

I personally really liked the 1997 Minardi for some reason, with a slightly refined version of their previous M195/M195B and the addition for yellow in the colour scheme.

Onyx

Onyx X302

Onyx's shape is pretty basic, but I think it's one of their better ones. They produced some nicer 1997 cars in my opinion compared to some of the lows of previous years. Minardi ran a tiny extra flip up on the front wing endplate, which is at least acknowledged with a square bump in this model. The nose is a little bulky and could be better defined, but it includes the wing just in front of the suspension. The sidepod and engine covers have a reasonable enough shape, perhaps a little oversimplified and the rear wing is also nice enough for a budget model. Onyx have generic cockpits and generic dashboards, but they do include a nice bump in front of the cockpit and a nice aerial on the monocoque. Onyx cars are not going to score highly against the likes of Tameo, but for an Onyx car, this really isn't bad at all.

Score: 6/10

Tameo

Tameo TMK245

Tameo have recreated the Italian GP version, with it's skinny wings and reduced aerodynamic appendages. Obviously the Tameo model has much more details than the budget diecast version by Onyx, but their attention to detail is second to none and they've really nailed the shape. It would be nice to get a higher downforce version, but I'd be more than happy with this model.
Score: 9/10