GP4: 1999 Jordan 199 by Hega & fongu - RIP Eddie Jordan

Hega writes: Here's our tribute to Eddie Jordan. This was the most successful car in the team's fifteen-year history, scoring two wins, a pole position, and third place in the Constructors' Championship.

Thanks to fongu for the 3D model, and quickslick for logos, testing, and feedback.

10 different shapes + textures for full 1999 season included.

Earlier this year, the world is a poorer place after the sad passing of former team owner and principal, Eddie Jordan.

This is actually the second Jordan car I've been involved in releasing this year, but the 1999 car was where the team almost became legit championship contenders, they never looked so strong (albeit with no Michael and McLaren trying hard not to win). The trajectory was so promising that even Ron Dennis acknowledged it after their Monza victory. From there, the pole position at the Nurburgring was probably the epitome of Jordan GP. This car, to me, represents the hopes of my young Jordan fandom... just a shame it was downhill from the moment that Frentzen forgot a procedure at the pitstop and ground to a halt.

Most of the credit for this car goes to Hega, I played a little part with some shaping help, tweaking and refining what he had done. But I'm priveleged and grateful to be involved in helping make this new car for GP4.

Download: 1999 Jordan 199 by Hega & fongu

v1.1 update April 2026

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GP4: 1994 Williams FW16B Renault Australian GP Version download

Here it is, the first release of the 1994 Williams FW16B in Australian GP configuration.

As the main car uses every available polygon allowed in GP4, I've created lower lods. If you run a lower end machine, you can rename the lod_1 or lod_3 car to lod_0 to get better performance. 

I've also included a range of different sized textures, again to help you run it on a lower end machine. With the Extra-High resolution, the main texture is 4096x4096 in size, which is the same for my other 1994 cars. 

The texture pack includes a David Coulthard's car, with the white number 2 on the nose. 

Most of all, I hope you enjoy this release. Here's the link and some screenshots.

Download

For more information about this car, and a my build diary of sorts, you can find articles here: https://fongugp4.blogspot.com/search/label/FW16B

GP4: 1994 Williams FW16B Renault WIP update 6

I was looking back and I can't believe it's been a year to the day since my last update on this Williams. Well with a couple of smaller tweaks, I finally learned to use Photoshop and I can now paint my own cars again, which gives some motivation to mapping. The first fruits of that was the 1994 Ligier JS39B, released a few weeks back, and now it's time for the Williams FW16B. I'm still far from the best painter, shaping is still my strength I feel, but it's better than the cars having none at all. 

There's still a fair bit of work still to do on the car, but I thought I would give an update nevertheless as the bulk of the livery is done. What's quite deceptive is that a lot of the TV and photos of the time gave the impressions that the cars were quite dark, whereas they were deliberately painted quite bright to be noticed. I went down to Donington museum just before it closed, and it had one of these Williams cars on display, in Australian GP spec, and the colours were quite vibrant. Transferring that direct onto this car however made it look wrong - especially as there are some bright tracks in GP4. So it wasn't the most straight forward to choose the right palette. 

The other thing about GP4 is that although it had quite a good reflections engine, with the sky domes being added to custom tracks, it makes the cars super shiny. Testing between various tracks gave vastly different results. As I haven't tweaked the alpha layer yet (the part that manages the strength of reflections in GP4) I picked Mid-Ohio as a place for these screenshots, a mix of lovely high resolution textures and barely any reflections and shininess. 

My other issue is that I'm right on the polygon limit that GP4 allows, there's actually a bit of detail I had to leave out of the shape in order to get it to run in-game. So it does mean that whilst my model contains various onboard cameras and a couple of other nice parts, I'll have to make a decision on what the final in-game release spec will feature. 

For the time being, enjoy the screenshots, I'll release the Australian GP spec car as soon as it is ready, whilst I busily work on the other versions of the car. 

GP4: 1994 Williams FW16B Renault WIP update 5

Well, I think I'm finished with the Williams FW16B based on the Australian GP in terms of shaping now, so just to update you on the last couple of changes I've made. 

I've updated the top part of my old 2D seatbelt, and made it much thicker, as it had quite a bit of padding around the shoulder area. Back when the cockpits were more exposed and you could see more of the driver, I felt it deserved something a bit more substantial, fitted around my driver figure. 

I mentioned last time about the inside of the sidepod without taking a screenshot where you can see it, so here it is. I took quite a lot of photos of the car when it was still at the Donington Park museum just before it closed, and it revealed to me this unconventional layout.

As I mentioned last time, I've completely reworked the rear of the engine cover. There's quite a few changes in gradient, some gentle humps, and it's not easy to see when a lot of it is white. If you look at photos, the Renault logo is slightly distorted as the engine cover is shrink wrapped around the internals. I think if I was to start this area again, I could get it to look a bit smoother, but this looks OK to me.

Finally, you can see a slightly different angle of the rear of the engine cover. I've added a fuel cap, on the right hand side of the car for the Australian GP, and you can see the extinguisher handle.

So that's it, after almost a year, the car is complete and here's some final shots of the car. This is by far the most detailed shape I've created to date, and there were areas where I held back a bit (just so that it will run in GP4). I would add the camera in front of the cockpit and a coil to fit behind the steering wheel, but I personally am not going to miss them. I'd also redo the mirrors, but these ones will suffice for now. Anyway, I hope you like it and I hope you enjoyed the journey with me. Drop my a line if you want to contribute to me making my 3D cars.

Now I have a back log of cars to map before I get too tempted to start my next car.

GP4: 1994 Williams FW16B Renault WIP update 4

I've been quite busy over the past few months, but I've been doing little bits here and there on the Williams FW16B. There's still a fair bit left to do, but it's coming together quite nicely.

Not too much has changed from the front view, other than adding some onboard cameras, the mirrors have been slightly tweaked, and some work has been done on the inside of the sidepod. 

Taking off the nose cone and and you can see I've added quite a bit of detail onto the front of the monocoque. For GP4, this will have to be cut down in detail, but I quite enjoyed fitting some detail into this section of the car.

I've finished the barge boards, the number of supports seem a bit overkill to me, it was just more for me to model. 

A lot of work has been done on the cockpit and I've tried to keep it as accurate as possible. I've thrown a bit more polygons than my other 1994 cars to date, and I think it will look quite good when properly painted up. I aim to redo the seatbelts to better fit around my new driver body (from the 1995 Ferrari 412T2).

I've added the hole at the top of the rollover bar, and also added a small hole just behind the onboard camera, and on the other side, it's got the fire extinguisher hoop. Renault engined customers ran these extra inlets at the rear of the engine cover, and this carried over to the 1995 cars too. I still aim to redo the area around the rear light, it's going to be one of the last things I do on this car.

The rear suspension is complete. There's a lot less elements due to the unique rear suspension concept ran on the FW16B, where the top wishbones and the driveshaft are all encased in a wing- shaped cover.  This lowered the whole rear of the car, allowing them to run the unique anhedral lower rear wing. I've also added some body lines onto the sidepod. The rear end plate has been tweaked slightly since the last update.

Moving to the rear of the car and that's a lot more complete now. With the McLaren and Ligier, I already increased the detail around the gearbox area, but I went a little further with this car as there were clearer pictures to work from. You can see how it all integrates with the rear suspension, and you can see the exhaust on the bottom of the diffuser.

Here you can see the detail I've put in on how the rear suspension is mounted onto the gearbox casing and a selection of wires and detail have been added. Unfortunately all the detail comes at a cost and it pushes this car over the allowable polygon limit allowed for GP4, which is just over 65,000 polygons. I'm surprised I reached it so quickly, but I have been a bit more liberal with my polygon use on the detailed regions, whilst the car itself is fairly economical, certainly compared to models being created for more modern games.

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: 1999 Jordan 199 Mugen-Honda

Background

The 1999 season would prove to be the most successful season for Jordan in its 15 year Formula One history. Riding off the high of their first win and 1-2 finish in Spa the previous year, the team would see Frentzen win two Grand Prix and pose a credible threat for the title up to the final few races, finishing third in the Drivers' Championship and third in the Constructors' Championship.

This was also to be 1996 World Champion's Damon Hill's final season in Formula One. Having never got to grips with the grooved tyres introduced in 1998, Damon struggled to match the impressive Frentzen, who himself was looking to prove himself after a difficult couple of years at Williams.

Hot Wheels (Mattel)

Hot Wheels 22811

Hot Wheels produced the Jordan 199 car and it was a pretty reasonable attempt. I'm not a big fan of the yellow that they chose, but the shape is generally not bad, good proportions, nothing sticks out as particularly wrong.
Score: 7/10

Minichamps

Minichamps 402109900

Though Minichamps never released this car as a stand alone nor with a driver figure, we have to settle for the car as part of the twin set with the EJ10 as part of the 10 year anniversary of Jordan series. The shape is very similar to the Hot Wheels, but on closer inspection, this car has a better finish and slightly better detailing.
Score: 7/10

Ixo / Formula 1 Car Collection

The Ixo car shape is not bad, looking very similar to the Hot Wheels car. This car is based on the Italian GP with the super skinny rear wing and sidepod flip ups. It's a shame that the decals feel a little slap-dash, the front wing support is yellow instead of black, and the rear wing just seems a bit rushed. The winglet just in front of the sidepod is also on the small side. Looking at some of the decal conversions that have been done, it really lifts this model, but the manufacturer applied decals leave a bit to be desired.
Score: 6/10

Tameo

Tameo TMK279

This Tameo model is also based on the race winning car from the Italian Grand Prix. This is another excellent car from Tameo. A great shape, and nice details in the cockpit, the t-cam, the transparent flip on the front wing end plate and a nice skinny rear wing assembly.

Score: 9/10

1/43 Model Review: 1996 Williams FW18 Renault

Background

Damon Hill was in his fourth year with Williams having been runner up to Schumacher for two consecutive years. The German would move to the struggling Ferrari team, leaving Williams to dominate the season. Hill was everyone's favourite to secure the title, but it wouldn't be until the final race of the season until he sealed the title, as his rookie team-mate, reigning Indycar champion, Jacques Villeneuve, proved a worthy contender. Hill won the title, despite not having his contract renewed in 1997, becoming the first father and son to have been World Driver's Champion, Graham Hill being a former three time champion.

Jacques Villeneuve was in his first season in Formula One, in the quickest car of the year designed by Adrian Newey. He lead most of the way on his first Grand Prix only for a mistake in the first corner caused him to lose out to team mate Damon Hill. It wasn't until the fourth Grand Prix of the year when Villeneuve would become a Grand Prix winner at the European Grand Prix after being chased home by Michael Schumacher's Ferrari. He would win a further three Grand Prix during the season, fighting for the championship until the final Grand Prix.

Minichamps

Minichamps 430960005

The standard model comes with the early season livery before they moved the number off the rear wing to the winglet. Some of these models have a Japanese GP sticker on the lid.
I actually bought this one with the lid of this model signed by Damon Hill.

The rollover bar is too big and wide, and the sidepods also too tall. The nose is a little too rounded along the top edge too. The bargeboards are too small too. For me, it was one of the nicer looking cars on the grid, but Minichamps, to me, haven't done a great job in reproducing it.

Minichamps 433960205

The UK were able to purchase a special run of 4 cars with Damon Hill driving. The FW18 came with a driver figure (with no effort put into the face, they could have at least given him bushy eye brows) lifting the trophy aloft. They also amended the rear wing end places and removed the winglets, but they didn't put a low downforce rear wing on it. They also added an onboard camera, not that they bothered to paint it or put any detail on it. It's nice to get a different version with an amended shape, but all the failings from the original model remain.

Minichamps 402969701

Minichamps also did a run of twin car sets celebrating 2 World Champions at a time - this one with the 1996 and 1997 World Champions. This is the standard model again, but with the added onboard camera, and the number moved onto the winglet from the rear wing endplate. 

Minichamps 436960005

The World Champions Collection version came a few years afterwards with another updated version of the FW18, but with factory applied tobacco logos. They have updated the suspension, the driver figure and the driver headrest which makes the airbox look much better. Whilst the World Champions twin set had stickers on the onboard camera, strangely this one does not. 

Minichamps 400960206

The latest FW18 from Minichamps to be released is the first win of Jacques Villeneuve from the European GP. This has an additional camera on the rear wing, though there's no stickers on that, but the camera on top of the rollover bar has the most detail yet.

I will score these together, even though there are many versions. If it was just the original car, I probably would have given it a low 5 score, but with some of the newer additions and the amended cockpit area means I have upped the score by a point.
Score: 6/10

BBR

BBR Met59

I went for this BBR version of the Australian GP model. This is a really lovely model. The nose, the airbox and bargeboards are all a massive improvement on the Minichamps offering. I like the cooling outlet just under the winglet at the rear of the sidepods. It's a shame the Rothmans logos are a different blue to the car, and the whole inside 

Score: 8/10

Tameo

Tameo TMK215

I like the Tameo version too, this version from the Argentine GP. The nose is a little thinner than the BBR version and a bit more realistic to me. I like the exposed gearbox casing detail on this model too, although it is present in the BBR version too. The logos on the engine cover are just a bit too small, and the opening of the airbox is just a little too boxy and square for me, and so these things prevent it from getting top marks from me. Still a stunning model though. 
Score: 9/10

Onyx

Onyx281

Onyx's 1/43 model of the FW18 isn't great. The front wing is too big. The wheelbase seems too short making the whole central part of the car seemed squished. Minimal effort has been applied to the upper rear wing both in terms of shape and decals.
Score: 3/10

RBA/Altaya

RBA have produced a German GP model of the FW18 and caters for fans on a budget. All the issues I have with the Minichamps model are the same for this one, their moulds looking very similar indeed. But the finish is nowhere near as complete as the Minichamps model.
Score: 4/10


To read more reviews from the 1996 season, click here: https://fongugp4.blogspot.com/p/1996-model-review.html
This is also featured in the World Champions Model Reviews, for more click here: https://fongugp4.blogspot.com/p/f1-world-champions.html