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Die-cast: Looksmart’s 2016 Ferrari SF16-H

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Looksmart delivers sharp Vettel Ferrari from 2016 Australian GP …Ferrari SF-16 F1 racer

Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari joining forces seems a deal worked in heaven, or at least Maranello, which to the tifosi is one and the same.

Vettel is a four-time world F1 champ and Ferrari has the most wins of any F1 team ever, 227. So when Vettel came aboard three seasons ago the tifosi’s dreams of another F1 title grew quickly.  By 2016 they were expecting wins, if not a title, and the new Ferrari SF16-H looked to be the car to do it.

Looksmart, a fairly new Italian die-cast maker, has just begun making gorgeous 1/18-scale resin models and this version of the SF16-H is as it appeared in its debut race, the 2016 Australian Grand Prix. The review car is a replica of Vettel’s ride that day. He finished third. Replicarz provided the review model.

The History

Scuderia Ferrari, started by Enzo Ferrari in 1929 to be Alfa Romeo’s factory racing team, has been successful in Formula 1 racing since its inception. It’s the only F1 team to compete in each season since F1 was formed in 1950.Ferrari SF16-H F1 racer

Ferrari has won 16 constructors’ championships and its drivers have won 15 driver championships, most recently Kimi Raikkonen in 2007.

The SF16-H (SF for Scuderia Ferrari, and H for hybrid) ran the entire 2016 season. Vettel had the best results for the team although the car never won a race. Vettel notched seven podiums including three second-place finishes, while Raikkonen had four podiums and two seconds. The team was third in the constructor’s contest.

However, this car led to the SF70-H which is proving much more successful. It already has won three F1 races as of this writing, putting Vettel atop the F1 driver’s championship. Continue reading Die-cast: Looksmart’s 2016 Ferrari SF16-H →

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Die-cast: Corgi 2012 Lotus F1 E20

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Corgi’s 1:43 F1 Lotus E20 racer offers detail at value price

By Mark Savage

Lotus and its founder Colin Chapman are legendary, especially in Formula 1 racing circles. Chapman perfected the lightweight, fully stressed monocoque chassis and rear-engine design that revolutionized open wheel racing, both F1 and Indy Car, in the 1960s.Corgi-Lotus-F1-Team-E20

Under Chapman’s guidance Lotus won seven world constructors championships in F1 and six world driving championships with the likes of Jim Clark, Graham Hill, Jochen Rindt, Mario Andretti and Emerson Fittipaldi. But after Chapman’s death in 1982 the Lotus team slowly declined and exited F1 in 1994.

But the Lotus name returned to F1 in 2010 and in 2012 the Lotus Renault Team became Lotus F1 Team, carrying the former Team Lotus’ vintage black and gold racing colors that it ran in the 1970s and 1980s when it was backed by tobacco firm John Player. It’s no longer strictly a British team, being owned by Luxembourg-based Genii Capital, a venture capital group. This team started its life as Toleman Motorsports in 1981, with its headquarters in England, but has undergone several re-inventions of itself, along the way picking up backing, and engines, from Renault.

That’s a short history of what brings us to Corgi’s smartly executed 1:43 version of the Lotus E20, raced in 2012 by former F1 champion Kimi Raikkonen of Finland. Corgi delivers a beautifully rendered Lotus, and also offers the team car driven by France’s Romain Grosjean in the 2012 season. Continue reading Die-cast: Corgi 2012 Lotus F1 E20 →