Dallara F397 - Opel

A little history

Dallara’s dominance of all Formula Three series allowed it to venture into new territories in 1997: it not only designed the chassis of the Toyota GT-One, but also created its very first Indy car. As for F3, its newest chassis, the F397, proved as successful as its predecessors had been. That year, Dallara allowed Jonny Kane to win the British title, Oliver Martini the Italian, Nick Heidfeld the German one, while Patrice Gay dominated the French championship and Tom Coronel won in Japan – no major Formula Three crown escaped Dallara that year!

About the model

Model: Dallara F397 - Opel
Year: 1997
Event: 1997 Italian F3 championship, driven by Oliver Martini (champion)
Maker: Vitesse
Scale: 1/43
Distributed by: Onyx
Acquired: brand new, in December 2006, in Hong Kong, S.A.R.

Such dominance from Dallara upon Formula Three racing gives the possibility to die-cast makers to reproduce these little single-seaters, a single mould being able to represent virtually all champion cars. Vitesse did the job rather correctly with Oliver Martini’s RC Motorsport winning entry. My rating is 13/20.

MEP X27 - Citroën

A little history

During the early Sixties, France ended up with almost no pilot in Formula One - it had never happened for the country since the very first motor race not to have a national competitor on the front line. The only two French pilots to race in the supreme category during those times were the ageing Maurice Trintignant, who had launched his career before World War Two at the wheel of a Bugatti T35, and privateer Bernard Collomb.

What was certainly the earliest attempt to seek new talents was initiated by Citroën, ironically a company seldom associated with motor racing. A promotion class, the Formule Bleue, was created in the mid-Sixties. Cars were identical machines built by small manufacturer MEP, and powered by Panhard flat-twins. Later, they would switch to the Citroën GS' flat-four. Though Citroën's effort was certainly useful, much more successful was the creation of the Formule France in 1968, which became the Formule Renault after three years in existence, or the involvements of oil giants Elf and Shell. The Formule Bleue disappeared during the Seventies.

About the model

Model: MEP X27 - Citroën
Year: 1971
Event: probably a presentation car
Maker: Universal Hobbies
Scale: 1/43
Distributed by: Atlas as no.64 of its Passion Citroën press series
Acquired: brand new, in December 2007, in Souillac, France

Quite detailed for such a low-priced model - and very original, too! My rating is 14/20.