Back in 1976 Ken Tyrrell ran a Formula One Race team. He employed an innovative car designer named Derek Gardner. Up to this point in Formula One or Grand Prix as it is called, many designers tried some pretty radical designs in the hopes of gaining an advantage over the other competitors. Mr. Gardner came up with one of the wildest designs and it worked. This was the Tyrrell Project 34 six wheeled car. He felt that by reducing the drag on the front end the car would have an advantage in front line speed. By doing this he put four small (10") wheels on the front thereby reducing the drag and still keeping the grip. This car ran for 30 races between 1976 and 1979 and achieved a win in the process at the Swedish Gran Prix.

Having recently gotten back into car modeling, more specifically Group "C" type cars, I jumped at the chance to review this pre-painted (blue) 5-point Sparco harness set. As with most high speed racing endeavors, the rules require some very stout driver to seat retention systems (seat belts), but these are poorly represented by either molded-in details or by decals. Eduard has come to the rescue with these excellent looking seat belt/harness sets.

I had to do a little research and stash cross-referencing to see what Group "C" car model that I had that would use the blue harnesses. After a short search, I found that the 1988 Le Mans winning Jaguar XJR-9LM (the Tamiya kit) used this color harness. The belts have a very nice texture to them and the colors are quite brilliant. As can also be seen in the photos, the lettering is very sharp and clearly printed.

Produced to fit the Tamiya Porsche 962 kit, this set contains four turned and polished aluminum wheels, cast white metal inserts, and a fret of photo-etched trim rings. Assembly is a very straightforward affair that involves installing the centers into the rims, and attaching the trim ring to the center. I recommend painting the center insert gold before installing them on the rims. After the photo etched trim ring is added, a dark wash was used to give a little added depth. The tires pressed on, and they were complete. The center lug nut could be polished, or painted depending on the car you’re modeling. Check your references when deciding what to do with the nut.

When I wrote the first part of this review, I briefly outlined the story behind this unusual race car. In this part I'll actually build the kit.

Upon opening the box I found 144 parts. All molded very crisply with fine detail. I didn't follow the instructions step by step as I was anxious to build the engine. This consisted of 44 parts. Assembly went very quickly with a terrific fit on all parts. Basically no cleanup was needed. When completed I primed it with Duplicolor Automotive light grey primer and then airbrushed with Duplicolor Silver. When this was dry, I gave the engine dark washes and a light drybrushing with bright silver. This really popped out the detail.

Background

The 1990 F-1 Grand Prix series turned out to be one of the most exciting and controversial in history. After driving for McLaren, Alain Prost was hired by the Ferrari team to drive their new F-1 car powered by a 3.5 liter V12 packing 685 horsepower and mated to a seven speed transmission. In 1990 he would drive this car to one race win and five podium finishes. But it was the end of the season that made it memorable. For the second season in a row, Alain and his arch rival Ayrton Senna would decide the championship with a crash. In 1989, it was Prost who came out on top. At the second to last race of the 1990 season in Japan, Senna made contact (some think intentionally) with the rear wing of Prosts' car as they raced for position into the first turn from a side by side start. The crash took them both out of the race but Senna would win the championship based on points. The Ferrari involved in that famous incident is the subject of this build.