1/43 Model Review: 1994 Larrousse LH94 Ford

Background

The 1994 Larrousse LH94 car carried two liveries during the year, a red and white Kronenbourg version for a few Grand Prix, and the green Tourtel version. I, personally, can't remember a bigger livery change mid-season, flipping between the two liveries in the early season.

The car was a development of their first in-house built car the LH93, but it would be their final car, due to lack of finances. The season started off well, with a point scored at Aida, but lack of development and reliability meant the team would only repeat this feat once again in Germany. Interestingly the German Grand Prix is remembered for the pit stop fire of Jos Verstappen's Benetton B194, but Benetton and Larrousse had a technical agreement that meant the LH94 ran the Benetton B193 gearbox. The technical association went closer when Benetton claimed that it was Larrousse who liaised with Intertechnique, who produced the fuel rigs, about removing the filter, which gave faster pitstops, but also resulted in that fiery accident. 

Olivier Beretta was a pay driver, and so it was expected that Erik Comas would be the lead driver, and indeed was the one who brought home the points. But when Beretta's money dried up, Phillipe Alliot, Yannick Dalmas amd Hideki Noda all shared the seat in the final part of the year. Even Comas had to give up his seat at the final race for Jean-Louis Deletraz. Deletraz had little experience and was not physically fit, driving some 6 seconds a lap off the pace of the leaders, and between 1 and 2 seconds off the pace of Noda.

The fascinating story of the teams halted attempts for the 1995 season and its eventual demise makes for interesting reading. The LH95 was designed, but never built, they tried to use a Lola T95/30, but they had an unhappy history, before linking up briefly with DAMS and their DM-01 (later merged with the LH95 to become the GD-01), before looking to race the LH94B, a modified 1994 car.  You can read more about it here:
www.unracedf1.com

Eligor

Eligor 2995B

Eligor 2996A

This is my first and last Eligor model, although I had to get both livery versions. These cars are pretty rare to find, but with neither Onyx nor Minichamps making this car, these would have to do. The general proportions isn't great on these cars, it barely resembles the real thing, but you do get some nice details such as the suspension is better than you would get on an Onyx model.
Score 4/10

Other Versions

I haven't owned any other versions, so from my searching, I could only find this beautiful Tameo kit version from the Spanish GP. It's a big step up in accuracy than the Eligor version, but you have to pay handsomely for a nice built version.

Tameo TMK186

I'm not overly convinced of the proportions on this Tameo model. It's got lovely details, the shape is representative, but it just doesn't quite look right to me.
Score 7/10


I'm really hoping this car will be revisited by the modern day model makers.


For more 1994 Model Reviews, click here: https://fongugp4.blogspot.com/search/label/1994 Model Review

1/43 Models: Michael Schumacher's 50th Birthday Tribute

Statistically, Michael Schumacher is the greatest Formula 1 driver ever. Though the Ferrari domination days were not a very exciting spectacle, and though his return to Mercedes was a little underwhelming, I respected that I was watching a living legend. He had many high points, a his fair share of controversial low points too. I'm a bit late with this, but to celebrate his 50th birthday, I wanted to post some of my favourite Schumacher models (as there's not enough room to post them all) and celebrate some of his F1 achievements that have been faithfully reproduced .

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1991 Jordan 191 Ford - debut at Belgian Grand Prix

Minichamps 433910032

Perhaps one of the most beautiful and elegant Formula 1 cars ever, the Jordan 191. It was Jordan's first year in the sport, and when regular Belgian driver was jailed prior to the his home race, Jordan searched for a driver with funds for his cash-strapped team. Along came Mercedes-backed Schumacher. Whilst much of the story in the build up to the weekend was about their imprisoned driver, the after qualifying was about the debutante who qualified 8th (promoted to 7th on the starting grid) and ahead of his team-mate. Sadly, the clutch failed before he got to Eau Rouge (and Radillion). 

It was enough for Bernie to take an interest from a commercial aspect to move him to a top team, and Benetton team boss Flavio Briatore saw a cheap driver who was clearly very fast to invest in and begin to build his team around, and a move away from Jordan was engineered as soon as the next race as Eddie Jordan had not tied Schumacher down to a contract.

Minichamps released an updated model in 2011, appearing in this limited edition model and also in the 20 years since his debut alongside the Mercedes W02 (see below). 

Score 8/10

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1992 Benetton B192 Ford - first win at Belgian Grand Prix

Minichamps - 517924318

In the last couple of years, Minichamps released a resin version of the B192, and in the 25th Anniversary Collection, Schumacher has his arm raised as he crossed the line in victory. This is a stunningly accurate and beautiful model and so gets high marks from me.

Score 9/10

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1993 Benetton B193 Ford - Portuguese Grand Prix

Spark S4774

In 1993, Schumacher was a regular podium visitor, but his only visit to the top step came in Portugal. Spark released their nice version of this car around 2015. Spark's disappointing proportions take away from the nice detail they've added, so a pretty average score I'm afraid.

Score 7/10

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1994 Benetton B194 Ford -  First World Championship

Minichamps 447941605

I have written a separate blog post with many versions of the B194 in and a bit more of the story behind the season. For all the controversy surrounding that season, Schumacher was the stand-out driver over the course of 1994 - his drive at Spain, whilst stuck in 5th gear, in particular was truly special.

The most recent model from Minichamps in my collection is of the Australian Grand Prix model, a resin remake of the B194 and it is a beaut.

Score 9/10

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1995 Benetton B195 Renault - Second World Championship

Minichamps 431952701

Benetton secured the standard setting Renault engines by the craftiest of means. Williams had blocked Benetton securing Renault engines to maintain their advantage, but Ligier also ran the Renault engines. Briatore saw an opportunity to buy the Ligier team and then transfer the engine deal across to Benetton, genius! The result was that the 1995 Ligier looked nearly identical to the B195, but the Benetton was a great car. Williams had also produced a great car, but their drivers made too many mistakes, whilst Schumacher dominated with 9 wins from 17 races. 

Though Minichamps have re-released this model a few times in recent years, and Spark have released their version too, my favourite is still this original one, the Alesi taxi version from the Canadian Grand Prix. 

Score 7/10

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1996 Ferrari F310

Minichamps 510964311

 Schumacher moved to Ferrari in 1996, but it would take several years before he would be winning championships again. The F310 was not a great car, it was even nicknamed 'the truck'. Yet Schumacher managed 3 victories, in a class by himself in the wet in Spain, a glorious victory in front of the Tifosi in Italy and an opportunistic win at Belgium where Williams messed up their pit strategy behind the safety car.

I liked the bolted on high-nose conversion that appeared from the Canadian Grand Prix onwards, but it's the Spanish Grand Prix model by Minichamps that I want to put here. It was a very rare model for many years and commanded quite high prices, but I managed to snatch a bargain price for this one.
Score 7/10

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1997 - 1999 Ferrari F310B, F300 and F399

In 1997, Schumacher famously crashed into Villeneuve and earned a disqualification from the Championship, ruining a great campaign in a car that was clearly 2nd best and showing many fantastic drives such as Monaco and Belgium.
In 1998, McLaren were so far ahead, thanks to the new regulations and the arrival of Adrian Newey, and Schumacher did wonders to make a fight out of it. The win in Hungary stands out, as well as finishing the British Grand Prix in the pit-lane.
In 1999, Schumacher had a brake failure on the first lap of the British Grand Prix and broke his leg, ending his Championship hopes. Had that not happened, he would surely have been champion.

Hot Wheels (Mattel) took over an exclusive model making contract in 1999, but their mass-produced, budget cars lacked the quality of its rivals. But there were two models, both from the 1998 season by Minichamps, that I quite liked, the black test car, and the 'tower wing' version.

Minichamps 510984300

A nice model from Minichamps. 

Score 7/10

Minichamps 510984333

I'm trying to be objective and not be swayed by the ugly tower wing, so I'll stick with the same score.
Score 7/10

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2000-2004 Ferrari F2000, F2001, F2002, F2003GA, F2004

The battles with Hakkinen in 2000 were intense and fantastic to watch and when Schumacher won the race in Japan, with three years of missing out on the championship fresh in mind, he clinched his first Championship at Ferrari, who themselves had not won a Driver's Championship since 1979. The Japanese Grand Prix was flat out all the way through, both drivers and teams pushing to the peak of their abilities, and on that day, Schumacher clinched the race and the title. For the next 4 seasons, Schumacher and Ferrari and Bridgestone dominated Formula 1 and records began to tumble. 

I've grouped these together because the models by Hot Wheels were not particularly great. Not even those that were released under the 'Mattel Elite' series made much improvement. But at least they made an effort with some special releases, this of the 2000-2002 series of cars with arms raised and dirty cars remains in my collection today.

Hot Wheels B7022

Score 6/10

The 2003 and 2004 cars are the standard cars.

Hot Wheels B1018

Score 6/10

Hot Wheels B6206

Score 6/10

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2005-2006 Ferrari F2005, F248-F1

For 2005, the FIA had so set the regulations that it favoured Ferrari's rivals, and in particular, the Michelin tyres ran by their main competitors. Shockingly, Ferrari were a mid-field team for 2005, and only have one race win that season at the USA Grand Prix due to a problem with the Michelin tyres forcing all their cars to withdraw from running the race. In 2006, Schumacher and Ferrari competed for victories again, though Renault still had the faster car. 

Schumacher retired at the end of the season, and produced a fantastic drive at his final race in Brazil where he fought his way back through the field after starting 10th, then had a puncture battling with Fisichella, and then fighting through the field to finish in 4th place. 

Again, these are the standard Hot Wheel cars for 2005 and 2006. There are slight improvements from the earlier Ferrari models, but if you compare them with the Minichamps cars of the same era, I can't score it any higher.

Hot Wheels G9731

Score 6/10

Hot Wheels J2967

Score 6/10

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2010-2012 Mercedes W01, W02, W03

When Felipe Massa was injured at the Hungarian Grand Prix in 2009, Schumacher was keen to substitute for him, but for neck problems to put a halt to it. Brawn, who had been with Schumacher at Benetton and Ferrari, took the opportunity to sign the German to a three year deal at Mercedes. The 2009 World Champions did not have the finances nor the infrastructure to compete in these three years, and they were largely building years that laid the foundations for the current Mercedes domination. 

Schumacher did not beat Rosberg in overall points and mistakes came too often that had looked to tarnish Schumacher's reputation. However in hindsight, Rosberg was close to Hamilton in pace and even beat him to a World Championship, so Rosberg was a quick driver, if not a little under-rated. Schumacher had days he would demonstrate his old pace and was at times a match for Rosberg, like qualifying fastest in the 2012 Monaco GP and a podium finish at the European Grand Prix, but he was nowhere near as consistent as he was in the first part of his career. But I appreciated that he came back, that even though these were no longer his glory days, he was a living legend nonetheless and at times there were 5 World Champion on the grid (Schumacher, Alonso, Hamilton, Button & Vettel).

Minichamps 410100003

Minichamps added to the Michael Schumacher Collection, but they also released a number of special versions. The 2010 car here is with Mercedes packaging.
Score 8/10

Minichamps 412912011

In 2011, they released a Spa special with a 2 car set, one from his debut 20 years previous, and his 2011 car with the golden helmet he wore for that race.

Score 8/10

Minichamps 410120407

In 2012, Minichamps released his final Grand Prix where he took a flag around on his final tour, with 'Thank you, Goodbye Michael' on the car.

Score 8/10

1/43 Models, my humble beginnings as a collector

I remember seeing in a TV magazine that Heritage Racing were selling a set of 1994 season 1/43 scaled model cars. I persuaded my parents to get me the cheapest set that included Schumacher's Benetton B194, Hill's Williams FW16 and Berger's Ferrari 412T1 (more on them later). And there I began my F1 model collection. In my youth, I had persuaded a few more models to be bought for me until I was old enough to be responsible for my own money and increased my collection to around 20 models.

I didn't have the spare cash to pay for new models, and so I began buying and selling models, and the profit I made from them I reinvested into new models. My memory of the majority of them are mostly in photographs. Today, I have a collection of around 60 cars, but I have owned over 800 cars and many gigabytes of photos.

Many brands have made F1 cars from Onyx to Minichamps in the early days, Hot Wheels/Mattel to Brumm, to Spark have all created excellent affordable 1/43 scale models. I've owned a few BBR and Tameo models, as well as a few of the IXO and F1 Car Collection models in recent years.

I aim to review some of the models that I have owned over the years and some of my personal stories that go along with them.

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Heritage Racing 1/43 1994 cars

I was pretty happy with my new found collection. I preferred the scale 1/43 as it was big enough to appreciate the details, yet small enough to collect and store. I loved the vibrancy and the varied shapes in the 1994 season, from the low nosed Williams with the anhedral lower rear wing, to the high nose of the Benetton with its multiple element rear wing to the Ferrari with its shapely sidepods with teardrop inlet and its long engine cover to house that V12 engine.

All the shapes are in the early season form, with their large diffusers, and the front wing endplates extending behind the front wheels. They did the job for me, representing the basic shapes of the cars, with their non-tobacco liveries - though Hill's car was meant to pass for the Australian Grand Prix. The shape had moved on by then, the fuel nozzle cap was on the wrong side and the non-tobacco bars they put on the upper rear wing was not seen on the car any race. Plus, the helmet sat so low, he could not even see out of the cockpit. 

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Bburago 1/24 cars

As well as my 1/43 collection I had a handful of other F1 models back when I was young. These Bburago 1/24 cars were toys to be played with rather than my 1/43 models which were displayed in their boxes. I had the 1991 Williams FW14 with Mansell's famous 'red 5' on the nose cone. I also had the Ferrari 641/2 with Berger's name on the car. I was confused, because the 641/2 was the car raced by Ferrari in the 1991 season, but Berger had moved from Ferrari to McLaren. 

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Scalextric

I also had a Scalextric set and a few F1 cars. I didn't have many, and I can only remember these three which were beautiful creations: the 1989 Benetton B189 which I loved for its unique engine cover to the side of the driver, which is not dissimilar to the 2018 Sauber. 

I also had the 1991 late season Ferrari 643. Again I was impressed by the quality of the car. 

My personal favourite, though, was the 1993 Benetton B193. I personally loved the livery and the detail from the high nose and the delicate front wing, to the nice barge boards, the humps on top of the nose and a pretty accurate rear wing. I think back then I even modified the helmet to Schumacher's design with a little tippex and permanent markers.

I'm getting very nostalgic now with my old Scalextric and so I thought I'd share some of my non F1 favourites, which I sadly no longer have:

• Jaguar XJ220 (the fastest production car at the time)
• Ferrari F40 (my personal favourite non-F1 car)
• Ford Escort RS Cosworth (with its unique high rear wing and nice rims)
• Ford Mondeo BTCC

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Lego Technic

I loved Lego, and the early Technic sets were affordable and had some nice details. As always, the building and modifying and perfecting my own designs were apparent even back then. I had a couple of Lego Technic cars, the smaller 8808 set, which I remember modifying completely to resemble the Benetton B194. 

And I also had the larger 8440 set with working steering, moving pistons on the engine, and exposed detail with the sidepod radiators, engine, and suspension. I remember this is my first foray into the inner parts of a Formula 1 car. 

That's it for now from my childhood models and toys. I was blessed to have so much, and yet not have too much, that I appreciated what I had. I had models that I could reminisce over my favourite F1 season, I had Lego to build and design my own cars and I had Scalextric to race against my friends.