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

1/43 Model Review: 1994 Jordan 194 Hart

Background

The ban on driver aids seem to aid the competitiveness of the Jordan team as they recaptured some of their debut season form as well as the new 194 car aesthetically looking similar to the 191. Whilst Barrichello came 4th in the season opener, Eddie Irvine was to blame for a four car crash and eventually banned for three races. Aguri Suzuki took his place in Aida, where Barrichello earned the team's first podium at that race, the Brazilian being second in the Championship after two rounds. Barrichello was lucky to come away with his life after a kerb made the car airborne and smashed into the barriers. Andrea De Cesaris also raced for the team in place of Aguri Suzuki earning 4th place at Monaco. Barrichello also earned the team's first pole position, making use of drying conditions at the Belgian Grand Prix. Both Barrichello and Irvine continued to score points throughout the season, finishing 5th in the Constructors' Championship, with Rubens finishing 6th in the Drivers' Championship. Irvine was hampered by reliability issues, causing many of his races to end early.

At the French Grand Prix, Jordan put the score of the Republic of Ireland's victory over Ireland in the FIFA World Cup to celebrate that achievement, only for Minardi, at the following race, to respond with "Italia IN - Ireland OUT" in larger letters on their engine cover.

Onyx

Onyx 196A

Only Onyx made a model in 1994, producing this early season version of the 194. For a budget model at the time, this was a good representation of the car, with the drooping front wing, the angled head rest, and the triple plane rear wing. My only real complaint would be the sidepods. Onyx attached the front wheels with a central axle, as if it was a toy, but
Score 6/10

Minichamps

In 2001, Minichamps released a set of twin car sets to celebrate 10 years of Jordan GP. They created and updated all the Jordan cars to make the set, some previously not made before, the 194 being one of them.

Minichamps 402109394

This lovely car is of the late season car, with the updated diffuser and barge-boards with the livery from around the German Grand Prix. To me, the cockpit is a little bit too far forward, meaning the engine cover and sidepods are a little too long and stretched, and also the nose is a little scrunched up. There's a couple of photos from a slightly skewed angle that suggest these proportions, but I'm a little skeptical. I also would have preferred the triple plane rear wing. However, this is a lovely model from Minichamps, I think the colours and decals are spot on and it's got some nice details like the hole in the engine cover, and the vent just in front of the rear wing. It's got nice suspension and wheels that had moved on from the cars they produced in the mid-90s. Its a shame that it doesn't come in other versions with a driver figure.
Score 7/10

Other Versions

There are kit versions from Tameo and BBR around that look nice and accurate, particularly the Tameo offering. In recent years, in the Brazilian market, they have released an IXO version (Eaglemoss) of Barrichello's car but these are not models that I have ever owned.

Tameo TMK183

A lovely model, great proportions, lovely detail, great decal set of this late season version of the car.

Score 9/10

BBR MET15

A nice model, but compared to the Tameo, it just doesn't quite have the same level of accuracy in terms of proportions. Still, it's nice to have the early season version. 

Score 8/10

A really nice budget model from IXO, a shame it's not included in the Formula 1 Car Collection that I'm aware of. 

Score 7/10

Overall, I'm quite happy owning the Minichamps version of this beautiful car, even despite my nitpicking. I think it benefits from being made some 6 years later and model accuracy had improved, but I can only dream on of a resin remake of this car. I may have to keep an eye out for a built Tameo version.

You can read more of my 1994 model reviews here: https://fongugp4.blogspot.com/p/1994-model-review.html