GP4: 2020 Haas Updated Liveries by Fongu & Excalibur

I wanted to update the liveries for the 2020 Haas painted by Excalibur as they were painted just before the start of the season, so this is just a small update to bring it up to date really. 

The changes are mostly very subtle. 

1. I've darkened the white a little, the reason being that I've added the white border on the nose. 
2. I've combined the front wing liveries from the launch and Barcelona test liveries. 
3. I've lightened the black stripes on the alpha channels, just to make them stand out a bit more. 
4. I've added the #WeRaceAsOne logo on the rear wing endplates. 

New default livery (Grosjean & Magnussen):

I've also added updated the livery for the final two GPs, with Pietro Fittipaldi jumping in the car for the Sakhir GP after Romain's horrific crash the previous week. 

And for the final round at Abu Dhabi, it was the Haas 100th GP, so I've added the 100GPs logo onto the nose and the airbox. 

A big thank you to Arnaud for his part in this project. 

Here's the link: 

Pre-season:

2020 season package:

GP4: 2020 Haas VF-20 by Fongu & Excalibur Released

Here it is, the completed 2020 Haas VF-20: 

Pre-season:

2020 season package:

Into the archive:

- Haas F1 team VF-20_readme file ( tyres positions and rear lights positions included)

- 2 cars (Grosjean and Magnussen)

- Tex files (Launch and Barcelona pre-season testings liveries included)

Arnaud (Excalibur) has done a great job in the presentation as always, with fixing my mapping and doing a great job on the textures. I'm really pleased with the result. We hope you like it too.

Launch Livery:

Testing Livery:

GP4: 2020 Haas VF20 WIP 2

I've finished shaping the Haas car in recent days. Here's some shots of the car before I started attacking it with bodylines and final small details. The car came close to the GP4 polygon limit of just over 65,000 faces, and I've managed to finish the car with about 100 polygons to spare and no reduction in detail, so I'm quite pleased about that.

Not since 2011, when I created the Ferrari F150th, that I have created a 'modern' F1 car, having been focused on 1990s cars. So it was noticeable that with all the more complex winglets and details that everything took a while longer. For example, the 1990s cars had 3 flaps on the front wing and maybe a vane or two underneath, but now there are 5 elements with more complex curves, with curved holding devices and tyre sensors. 

Obviously the recent attention on the bargeboards area has sprouted so many extra vanes, with the Haas in particularly having lots of different elements. Thankfully there were just a development of the previous year's car, so it did not take too long to decipher photos. I decided to go for the gills on the side of the cockpit, as per the launch version and I almost regretted it when I was running low of polygons towards the end. I hope it adds just a little added interest as they tested various configurations of it during testing. 

For 1990s cars, I would usually be spending lots of time trying to brighten up photos and take a best guess, but thankfully at the launch of the real car in Barcelona, there were some very clear shots of the diffuser. The only element I did not include was the slotted vanes on the underside. The rear fins are unique on the Haas, with the S shaped vents. They seemed to have eliminated any vents at the leading edge of the rear endplate, which suited me when I was modelling it. 

From a more aerial shot of my car, you can see a bit more of the detail on the floor, the slotted vents and all their associated vanes and flips. In order to get all that detail, I had to be economical on the main shape whilst still keeping it smooth, which I think I was able to achieve. 

Since those shots have been taken, I have now mapped the car, split up all the parts to work in GP4 and put a very quick livery on it. The car is now with my friends at RSCT to put the livery on it, I look forward to the results. Until then, here's a quick screenshot of the car ingame. 

GP4: Haas VF20 WIP 1

I thought I would take a break from my 90's GP4 cars, and at the beginning of launch season, I thought I would tackle a 2020 car, and why not the first car that released pictures. It's now the beginning of May and the car is still a little way off.

The Haas VF20 is a mix between the 2019 Ferrari and the 2019 Haas. 

As with the 1995 Ferrari 412T2, I used a mixture of the high poly models of the Ferrari and Haas (around 90,000 faces) from Codemasters 2019 game and also the lower poly versions from Real Racing (around 32,000 faces), and I'm aiming to be somewhere in the middle. 

Work begins at the front of the car, with the nose from the 2019 Haas and the front wings from the 2019 Ferrari. 

As the car developed, I worked on the monocoque and main chassis structure. The rollover bar is mainly the Ferrari whilst the front of the sidepods and vanes are from the VF19. The actual sidepods themselves are unique, and it took a few goes for me to get them as I liked. The rear end of the car is very similar on both models. Front wing end plates have been added, it's basically the late season Ferrari one. 

Having completed the chassis (bar minor tweaks and improvements), I started working on the rear wing. The little indent on the top trailing edge of the rear wing is also unique, with the 2019 cars featuring only one dip in the middle, whereas the 2020 VF20 contains two of these dips. This is also the first halo I've created and I rushed them a bit, but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I also started the first iteration of the boomerang wing, which featured on the late season version of the VF19. It took me a few goes to get this right. I also started work on the suspension elements, again mostly a direct copy from the 2019 Haas car. 

The front suspension upper arm at the front is now two separate elements, with a larger surface area to direct the air more. It reminded me of the late 2006 Super Aguri SA06 that I modelled years ago. The front camera was added, along with the top elements of the rear suspension and the beginnings of the super complicated bargeboard and floor areas, along with the triple boomerang that's unique on the 2020 grid. 

Below, this is the latest progress on the car, a lot more complete, but still a long way to go. I felt like the last month I've just been making flips and slots and they are taking forever to model! The vanes under the nose are from the Ferrari, with some additional vanes, and then the bargeboard area is largely a development of the 2019 Haas. The floor along with side of the sidepods is essentially the 2019 Ferrari except the very rear which is a bit more unique to the 2020 Haas. But as you can see it's just endless slots, managing the boundary layers and creating vortices and I can't wait to get to the end of it. 

I put a bit more detail into the cockpit, basing it more on the Real Racing 3 model which seems to have a more accurate cockpit than Codemasters which has a generic one. The mirrors are new, and they look very similar to the 2020 Ferrari. The sidepods and airbox have been refined as has the rear end. The diffuser is from the 2019 Ferrari with changes. The brakeducts have also been added, the rear one in particular has at least 9 winglets attached to it. 

Hope you like it so far. There's still someway to go - I've written a to-do list and it's too long to post here. But when its complete, I'll post some close up shots. 

Stay tuned for some more GP4 news coming soon. 

1/43 Model Review: 2019 Haas VF-19 Monaco GP version (Minichamps)

The Monaco GP will be most remembered for the weekend that paid tribute to three-time World Champion Niki Lauda after his passing away. Many cars carried a fitting tribute, with Haas running a red strip on their shark fin.
The Monaco GP itself never really puts on an entertaining race, and there wasn't much racing to talk about at that stage of the season. Both cars finished, with Grosjean finishing in 10th place for a single point, which are hard to come by for the team in 2019.

Minichamps 417190608

Minichamps 417190620

I believe there are a couple of Monaco GP versions of the 2019 grid due to be released by model makers, so I suspect there will be more to feature soon. On this Minichamps model, I can't see much difference in terms of the shape to make it track specific and it's interesting that these cars are not limited edition with a set number of models made.

Because there's barely any difference from the base model, I'm not going to score it here, but you can read my review here.

1/43 Model Review: 2019 Haas VF-19 (Minichamps)

Haas have been riding high after a successful 2018 campaign and there were signs of genuine pace that could have seen them be contenders for fourth place. With the F1 Netflix documentary, Haas were as popular as ever. However the team announced a deal with Rich Energy as the team's lead sponsors, which was met with more than a raised eyebrow of suspicion, lost a court case over copying another company's stag log and culminated in a social media mess around the time of the British Grand Prix, saying they would stop their sponsorship on account of the team's poor performance that lead to William Storey leaving the company he founded and an apparent rebrand. Yesterday it was announced they have finally gone their separate ways, good news for Haas. On the track, the team managed some strong qualifying performances, but their race pace was nothing short of a disaster, with the cars often slipping backwards as they struggle to switch the tyres on. The team currently lie in 9th place, just ahead of strugglers, Williams. Whilst Magnussen has been solid enough, but the team-mates had a spate of on-track battles that more resembled dodgems. Grosjean also insisted the upgrade packages made the car worse, with him running a few races with the Melbourne spec car mid-season. All in all, it's been a year to forget for the team, which is a shame, because there is potential for much more for this small team.

Minichamps 417190008

Minichamps 417190020

I was a bit disappointed with the Haas livery when it first came out at the launch, looking like a knock off Lotus from the 80's and early 2010's. However, the livery was tweaked, and before Rich Energy lost the rights to the logo, it looked pretty cool on the engine cover fin. I much prefer it to the greys of the previous years. Around the black cockpit, you can actually see flashes of the driver's helmets, if only they more distinguishing colours. I'm a little impartial to black cars, they have a certain simplicity mixed with elegance about them, but I suppose it hides the parts you don't like, like the thumb nose, the overly complicated bargeboards and the halo.

Anyway, the model is another beauty from Minichamps, this one in resin. There's lovely detail on the bargeboards, and on the rear of the engine cover and the rear wing attachments, and the cockpit is nicely done with the wide positioned mirrors. Even the front wheel rims are beautifully recreated in such lovely detail, the pitot tube has received effort in detailing and it's just a lovely model.

It's always difficult to see the rear end of the car, the diffuser and rear suspension, but these are all accurately modelled by Minichamps. Minichamps continue to push the detail in their modelling and their models are getting better and better, as things do with competition from Spark. Sadly it means a rise in prices, to a level where I'm struggling to collect all the cars from a season. However, these 2019 models are awesome.
Score:8/10

Race Specific Editions

Minichamps 417190608

I've written a seperate review for this model here

1/43 Model Review: 2009 Renault R29

Background

With the new 2009 rules and very different looking cars to the rest of the decade, Renault produced one of the ugliest cars of this era. Alonso was once again joined by Nelson Piquet Jnr, with Alonso being the most competitive during the season, scoring all the teams' 26 points including a podium at Singapore. Piquet struggled with pace all year, and was eventually dropped by the team in favour of Romain Grosjean, who faired little better. Piquet, annoyed by the situation, revealed the story of crashgate at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, having been asked to bring out a safety car by deliberately crashing and helping team-mate Alonso to victory, on the proviso that he would retain his seat for 2009 - which he thought was the whole season. Various sponsors, including title sponsor ING, pulled their support and removed their logos immediately.

Minichamps

Minichamps 400090008

Neither Minichamps car had the drivers name on the cardboard overlay, but thankfully the driver helmets were present and correct. Correction, Romain Grosjean got a limited run of models and his name is presented. Minichamps have created a nice diecast car, the proportions are nicely done, and the lack of complexity on the real car makes for an easier model to create.
Score: 7/10

Norev

Norev 518952

I've seen that Norev have made a couple of Renault F1 cars, and here is their R29. The model is based on the launch car which didn't have the sidepod vanes and the rear of the sidepods the bulbous shape. It was used during pre-season testing, but I don't think it made it to a race, I could be wrong. The main shape is of similar quality and proportions to the Minichamps models, but where it gets to some of the detail, it's a little blocky and thick. The driver body is not too bad. It's not a bad alternative to the Minichamps, it's a little cheaper, so you don't get quite as good detail.

Score: 6/10

Provence Moulage

Provence Moulage PM0044

I'd never come across this brand before, but they make some F1 model kits. Again, this car is based on the launch car. I'd say it's lacking a bit of detail, but there were no real details to get excited about on the launch car, so it's pretty accurate then! Actually, this is a resin car, so the details on this are pretty nice, the aerial and pitot tube for example is the best one I've seen. The mirrors are nicely defined too. No driver figure for this car. It's just a shame they didn't base this on the race car.

Score: 8/10

Where are they now?

Renault and Romain Grosjean are about to enter the 2019, though Grosjean will be driving for Haas. Fernando Alonso has only just retired from F1, seeking to win the triple crown as well as other prestigious racing categories. 

Nelson Piquet Jnr has burned his bridges with F1, and has competed in a host of other series, including endurance, Brazilian stock car, NASCAR and rallycross, but perhaps most famously winning the first Formula E Championship, where he still competes.