GP4: 1995 Ligier JS41 Mugen-Honda by David Marques & fongu - released

 

I'm please to share with you another season package of the 1995 Ligier JS41. Once more, this was created in partnership with David Marques, and will be released on both GP4 and Formula 1 Challenge 99-02. As with my other recent releases, this car also comes with a full seasons worth of liveries and body shape changes. 

The 1995 Ligier was driven by Oliver Panis in one seat, and then Aguri Suzuki and Martin Brundle shared the other seat. At the start of the season, Flavio Briatore and Tom Walkinshaw (both at Benetton at the time) owned the Ligier team, with the former taking the Renault engine deal with him to the Benetton team. During the season, Flavio sold his shares to TWR. The team would eventually finish the season in fifth place, with Brundle scoring an excellent podium finish at a rain soaked Belgian GP, and Panis went one better at the season finale in Australia, albeit two laps down where only eight cars were still running at the end. 

In many ways, this is a 1995 Benetton chassis. Whilst Ligier did receive some of the Benetton updates, the French outfit also took its own independent development path. There are differences on the top of the monocoque in terms of the various bulges that are unique to each car, and the top of the rollover hoop is more acute on the Ligier. Ligier start out the season with a sidepod very similar to the 1994 Benetton, in fact, that's exactly where I took it from. Ligier did take on the rear wing endplate double winglet arrangement that Benetton did, but then developed its own winglet system mid-season. They also went their own way for the front wing. Both the winglets and front-wing developments were taken from my 1996 Ligier. There are also low downforce variants for this car too. Thanks to David Marques for making the unique Ligier dashboard object that differs from the Benetton one. So this car isn't simply just taking a Benetton and painting it blue, but at the same time, I appreciate it did not take too long to make the changes. 

I'm very grateful for the excellent paint work completed by David Marques. I'm also grateful for Quickslick for some logo help and testing too. 

Keep your eyes peeled for the F1C '99-02 community for the release of this car: https://wookey.forumotion.com/t1265-f1-1995-season

Happy Racing

GP4: 1994 Ligier JS39B all the versions (preview)

Firstly a Happy New Year to you.

Since the release of my 1994 Ligier JS39B based on the Australian GP, I went back to the car to create the various little changes starting the Spanish GP, the fifth round of the 1994 season. The reason I started there is because the existing GP4 1994 mod has all the versions of each car up for the first four rounds. 

At the Spanish GP, rushed rule changes were brought to force to slow the speed of the cars down. This was the first Grand Prix where there was a speed limit and the mechanics had to remain in their pit-garages unless their car was due in for a pitstop. This was in response to Michele Alboreto's Minardi having one of his wheels come off after their pitstop, striking some mechanics, including Nigel Stepney of Ferrari, the Minardi car striking some mechanics on its way to a stand still. Watching footage of cars going full speed out of the pitlane looks so wrong nowadays. 

Anyway, to the car, and the obvious changes for Spain was that the front wing end-plates no longer extend behind the front wheel, and the diffusers were all cut down in size. Actually the teams arrived in protest, with various accidents occurring in testing due to the swift changes to these highly intricate aerodynamic machines. Basically it wasn't safe to rush these safety-induced regulation changes, which could create more crashes and injuries rather than less. It didn't help that Andrew Montermini had a huge shunt in practice, with his feet visible when the car settled down. 

Spanish GP

The cars continued with the new rules, basically because the poorer teams (i.e. almost all the teams on the grid bar the top four) had already cut up their old diffusers to suit the new rules and had no option to run them to the old rules. History lesson over, and here's the Ligier as it appeared in the Spanish GP. I have to admit, the mid-season diffuser that Ligier ran, I couldn't find any reasonable photos of it to be able to make it and the only source I had was from a 1/43 scale model, so it's running the diffuser as from the late end of the season. 

Canadian GP

More new rules at the Canadian GP, the main visible one being the hole in the airbox. Different teams interpreted this differently, with Ligier and Tyrrell perhaps being the most extreme and making their cars look like they were from the 1980s with just a rollover hoop. This version only lasted one race. 

The other minor change was the fuel cap is on the left hand side of the car. 

French GP

Back to Europe, the middle of the European summer, and it's the first non-tobacco livery of the year. Most the weekend, the team ran with all white sidepods, but decided on advertising their own team name in the Grand Prix itself. 

The engine cover received some work, with the holes now being at the rear of the engine cover, although the screenshot doesn't show it, it was one long thing hole along the back end of the airbox. Also a new rear wing assembly, a mid-downforce configuration compared to the previous two races. 

Being a French team, at a French track, Panis ran an onboard camera. 

British GP

A week later, the cars ran in the same specification for the British Grand Prix, albeit with amended non-tobacco livery and the fuel cap returning to the right hand side of the car. 

German GP

The German Grand Prix brought more rule changes. The car is higher, with a plank underneath - if you ran my GP4 cars side-by-side, you'll see that is the case with my cars. The car would feature much larger front wing endplates, this being the specification they will run for the rest of the season. 

As the Hockenheimring is a low-downforce track, I removed the gurney flaps from the front wing. The rear wing is also visibly much smaller, running just 2 elements on the upper section rather than the usual 3. 

The Ligier also had a completely new engine cover. The smooth bump around the Renault logo is now much more shrink-wrapped, with two smaller bumps rather than one big one. The hole at the rear is  now separated into two sections. 

Up to this race, the Ligiers were hopelessly slow, the only two things going for it was the Renault engine, the same as front-runners Williams were using, and the car had bulletproof reliability. Those were the perfect combination for the German Grand Prix, as many runners retired, Panis and Bernard earned themselves podium finishes. 

Hungarian GP

Onto Hungary, a high downforce, narrow twisty track, so on goes a big fat rear wing. The rear wings with an additional element that hung out at the front of the rear wing, common features on almost every car at the beginning of the year, were now banned. The rear wing on this Ligier looks like a barn door, there's so much of it! 

Perhaps after the success in Germany, the cars featured onboard cameras. The other change was the rear brake ducts, no longer are they the periscope ones, the new ones are much more neatly tucked away. Panis would earn another point at this race.

Ligier had actually agreed to sell the team, with Benetton's team principal Flavio Briatore and Tom Walkinshaw investing in the team at the beginning of the year. Flavio, over the course of the season, essentially handed the running of the team to Tom and his TWR team, eventually selling his stake over to TWR. With that arrangement, Frank Dernie, working at Benetton at the time, started working on the Ligier, so some of the solutions to the Benetton were mirrored by the Ligier team. The front wing end plates, the twin holes at the rear of the airbox and the triple rear wing with curvy lower elements all found their way onto the both cars. The cars would look near identical in 1995. 

The same car ran at Belgium, so nothing new to show here. It's interesting with the butchering of Eau Rouge, the team opted to stick with their ultra-high downforce configuration. 

Italian GP

Onto Monza, and another low downforce track. The team introduced their version of a three element rear wing, creating much less drag. Not much else to report in terms of changes and there was no repeat success for the real thing either. 

Portuguese GP

The rest of the season would see the car run in pretty much the same configuration, with the new high downforce version of the rear wing as mentioned earlier. Williams had pioneered the anhedral (triangular shaped) lower rear wing at the beginning of the year, allowing the ends of the wing to interact with the diffuser and also reducing drag. In turn, you do lose a bit of overall downforce, but I think they look pretty. Running with the additional middle element on the rear wing did allow them to run much less angle on the upper main plane. 

European GP

Race 14 was originally intended to be in Argentina, but the Buenos Aires track was not complete in time and the race was given to Jerez, the second Spanish race at the popular test track, dubbed the European GP. 

The team switched out Eric Bernard for Johnny Herbert, the Englishman becoming ever more frustrated at the Lotus team. But a good showing at Monza reminded us just what a good job he's been doing in a terrible car, and he was rewarded with a promotion to Ligier. Bernard would contest just one race for Lotus before being dropped for pay drivers. 

Herbert would beat his team-mate, the reigning F3000 champion of 1993, finishing just ahead of Panis in the race. Impressing the management with this performance, he was recalled to Benetton for a test and then a race seat for the remainder of the season. 

Japanese GP

With two races to go, test driver Franck Lagorce (because Eric Bernard hardly shone in his performances to recall him back I guess) was given the race seat. Panis ended the year with a fifth placed finish. Panis would end up 9th in the Drivers Standings, and the team finished 6th.

In case you missed it, v1 of the Australian GP car is available on this 

GP4: 1994 Ligier JS39B Australian GP Version download

Though the carshape was created back in October 2019, I finally got around to mapping and painting this car. Watch out for more versions of this car coming soon, but for now, enjoy the Australian GP version. 

 

GP4: Updated 1994 Cars Download Links

Whilst I'm busy with my other projects, I wanted to share with you my WIP cars that can be played in GP4. There's quite a lot released. 

GP4 1994 Ligier JS39B

EDIT: the complete car is available here

GP4 1994 Williams FW16B

EDIT: the complete car is available here

GP4 1994 McLaren MP4/9

This is an updated Work in Progress release of my 1994 McLaren. I have put the basic livery on the car, and I’ve done a quick AO map, baking shadows onto the shape. The car has changed since I done the shadows, like where I’ve moved the camera forward, so the shadows need updating but it’s a start. **update, I've fixed this now*** There's been some small updates on the car too. 

EDIT: the complete car is available here

I've also reuploaded a mirror to Loren's late season Minardi M194 which includes a mid-season French GP version and a Hungarian GP version. These are all excellent low poly updates, maybe one day I will get around to doing a higher quality version.

French GP:

Hungarian GP:

Update 2 of 1/43 Model Review: 1994 Ligier JS39B Renault

Well I couldn't help myself to some new 1994 models, and with Spark and Minichamps both releasing the 1994 Ligier, when Schumacher tested the car, I couldn't resist getting them both, taking some pics and comparing the two. If you want to see my other posts about this model and my GP4 car, then you can see the articles here.

Spark

Minichamps

It's nice how Spark have put on most of the tobacco decals leaving just a little bit to finish off, but both cars come with the decals to update the cars, not that I trust myself, particularly when these models are so expensive when new now. Almost immediately, playing spot the difference, there are quite a few to spot and from the wide shot, there's quite a few differences in proportions.

You don't get the difference in the modern models, as I believe they get geometric data from the teams, which is why the quality and proportions are very accurate. I can only assume they don't have that data for these models. As noted in other reviews, the front wing is massive on the Minichamps model, but what is there is a lot more refined. There is also much more curvature on the Minichamps model, which I think is a bit more realistic. The rollover bar and sidepods are very basic and quite similar on both models, the only real difference is right at the back of the engine cover, there is a square cut out of the Spark model to allow for the rear wing supports.

Spark

Minichamps

Spark have done some more squat mirrors, which I think over exaggerates the real car a little bit. Bot cars model the round cockpit well, but the Minichamps driver figure and seat fit into it better. Though I prefer the Minichamps helmets, they clearly didn't look at photos of the test as Schumacher ran an early season version of his helmet without the red 'wings' and elf logo. In terms of the overalls, Spark seem to have created some Ligier colours with Benetton logos, odd. On that front, I much prefer Minichamps. 

Spark

Minichamps

The Spark front wing looks so boxy, and the endplate doesn't quite have the unique contours, which I think Minichamps does a lot better in capturing (if it wasn't for the fact that it's huge!). Again the Minichamps wheels and rims are for me much better proportionally speaking. 

Spark

Minichamps

I do prefer the Minichamps suspension, just the points where it attaches to the chassis is much more accurate. However in terms of the lumps and bumps on the monocoque, Spark do seem to have them more prominantly.

Spark

Minichamps

I remember when I was doing the GP4 car that the rear of the engine cover around the Renault logo was not easy, but both manufacturers have done it well, but as I said earlier, the Spark version does have a better trailing edge. Notice the great difference in depth of the main rear wing plain, the Spark car running a particularly low downforce configuration. 

Spark

Minichamps

It's clearer from the above angle the rear wing differences. The bigger difference is in the diffusers, with Spark sporting the early season diffuser whilst Minichamps have produce the end of season version. 

Spark

Minichamps

My, the front wing is huge on the Minichamps car, did I mention that already? Minichamps have added a visor, which is a nice touch, whilst Spark have painted it in the colours of the chassis. The steering wheels are fairly standard and dull, but I prefer Spark's aerials and pitot tubes. 

GP4: 1994 Ligier JS39B (Australian GP) WIP 3

In the last of my walkaround work in progress shots of the Ligier, I concentrate on this post on the central and rear parts of the 3D car I have shaped. 

For my 1994 cars, I've been fairly minimal in making the inside parts under the engine cover, but for where some of the cars that have holes cut in them, you can see through the airbox. One of the problems with modelling this is in GP4 you can get some flickering if the internal parts are too close to the surface.

The engine cover changed a bit for the late season, the hump at the back begins much sooner, and there is an additional bump above it (this is a bit clearer in the previous screenshot). The top of the sidepod is flat and not curved or at an angle, so that was quite simple to model.

Moving to the rear of the car, and we have a new diffuser. The outer parts of the diffuser are from my 1994 McLaren, with the exhaust integrated into the top part of it. The central diffuser section is quite unique, with three seperate elements, and the top central part is transparent so that you can see the rain light. The jack points are always a fun bit of detail to put in. As so much of the underside of this car is exposed, though still difficult to see with it being under shadow, I've put a bit of detail on the gearbox, the suspension mounting points and the actual suspension springs themselves.

Here you can see the opening at the rear of the sidepod, and you can see the rear suspension and rear wheel hub.

On the late season Renault engined cars, and into 1995, there is this small inlet, almost like a periscope sticking out of the engine cover. I found someone selling a late season rear wing endplate, so there were a couple of nice reference photos from that. Again, you can't see it on the screenshot, but I've put a bit of detail on the rear wing. It's interesting from the front view, the main black element covers the middle element, looking like they are running quite low wing. If you remember my model review of the Spark model, I complained that they basically only modelled the top element and coloured it all white, but I can kind of see how that mistake happened having inspected various photos.

I hope to get this car mapped fairly soon, and I will release the car as is for anyone who has the talent and time to paint this car.

GP4: 1994 Ligier JS39B (Australian GP) WIP 2

In this blogpost, I'll do a walkaround some of the details of the 1994 car. Buried away in the Ligier museum, there are a few good detail shots of the car on my usual resource site http://www.gurneyflap.com/ligiermuseum.html

Ligier ran quite a small front wing endplate at the beginning of the season, but upgraded to quite a big endplate for the end of the season. I've put the wireframe on so that you can see there is quite bump half way down the endplate, I'm not quite sure why. The under side on the leading edge curves outwards, before directing the air to the inside of the front wheels on the trailing edge. So it's not quite as straight forward as I had initially thought, but I'm always pleased to add the detail onto my 3D model. The front wing is pretty basic, the main plane is raised in the centre section, a smoother version of their 1993 concept. The two white dots on the nose I'm not sure what they were for exactly, but again it's always nice to add a few details on when I spot them. 

The nose itself is an interesting shape and one where my version differs from my resources. The flat side does not go all the way to the tip of the nose, instead it is rounded for half the width of the front wing. It also sits higher than the early season resource models I've been referring to, and is actually not too dissimilar in height from the 1993 car which was slightly raised. I also added a hole at the trailing edge of the nose cone for the steering arm as per the real car. 

The front suspension is actually lifted from the 1994 Williams, just amended in position to fit this car. The brake duct is new, although I could not find any good shots of the brake ducts from the late season car, but I put on quite a generic one. The mounting points are different from the Williams, but quite straight forward on this car. For the front lower wishbone, I had to cut out a section of the monocoque, again in a similar way to the Williams. It's not very clear on this screenshot, but I've put quite a bit of detail into the section underneath the nose.



Ligier run a double pitot tube, one directly behind the other. The team added bargeboards mid-season, it's quite a simple rectangular shape, though it has a bit cut off for the suspension arm to pass through. There are also a couple of bumps on the monocoque to factor in, the one above the diagonal suspension arm, which I had to put a hole in as well, and there are two small bumps on top of the monocoque, in between the pitot tube and the aerial. For me, it's quite a fun challenge to get the normals working well with the flat side of the monocoque and the curved section along the top, which dissipates as you get towards the opening of the sidepod and the cockpit. You can see the curved bodyline at the sidepod opening which wasn't easy to get right. Actually, I departed from my normal method of doing body lines, simple having detached indents to save time and actually is slightly more effective.

The mirrors sit quite low on the Ligier, but when I modelled the rear wing elements, I realised it had a very small gap to see through. The Ligier had quite a large and rounded cockpit opening, particularly along the sides. It means much more of the driver body (taken from my 1995 Ferrari) and the seat is exposed. The dash and steering wheel mounts are all covered by the top of the monocoque, and though the rules threated to change this arrangement (in accidents heads were hitting the front of the cockpit), it didn't get fully implemented until 1995 (as far as I can tell). From the photos that I have, there was simply just a screen, or for the museum car most of the cockpit had been stripped. Other cars have done a generic dashboard model, but I've decided to follow the pictures and just have a small rectangular screen and one button for the fire extinguisher. The visor (coloured in black here) is also an upside down L shape, which has been a feature of Ligier cars in the early 90s.