In the beginning, there was light, there was a car & there was racing…

Since the existence of the “self-propelling” vehicles, there has been races, men will always be boys, and proving who is the fastest, is a distinction that we won’t stop fighting for any time soon.

Its clear that some cars are different than others, either the aerodynamics, the engine power, or any other technological advantages, are there to aid the driver to achieve higher speeds or faster lap times.

And then a time came, were honor found difficult to give the trophy to a man that won with a car that was a far better contender than the others.

 

Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile has entered the chat…

It was because of these discrepancies between vehicles that the FIA was created, however it started with a completely different name.

The Association Internationale des Automobile Clubs Reconnus (AIACR) was founded in Paris on June 1904 and it changed its name after the Second World War.

For their first “World Championship” they released a set of rules that all participants’ cars must follow, this set of rules is called Formula, that’s how Formula 1 was born.

And the first 2 Years (1950-1951) were dominated by none other than Alfa Romeo, which surprisingly didn’t return to defend their championship in 1952.

 

1951 Alfa Romeo 159 "Alfetta" at Nürburgring. Picture taken from https://sportscardigest.com/

 

The Hybrid era

Alfa Romeo made one come back to F1 between 1979 and 1985, however, not as successful as their first 2 years.

 

  

LEFT: Bruno Giacomelli driving the Alfa Romeo 177 at Zolder in 1979

RIGHT: Alfa Romeo 179

 

As of 2019 they made a commercial partnership with the Sauber F1 team, and the Alfa Romeo badge was back at the grid once again.

 

Antonio Giovinazzi, Alfa Romeo Racing C38 testing in Montmeló 2019.

 

The modern Alfa Romeo, more than a competitive F1 team, was functioning as a Junior team for Ferrari, similar to what Red Bull has with his sister team, currently called RB.

They were keeping Ferrari academy drivers like Charles Leclerc or Antonio Giovanazzi in their roster until Ferrari decided to bring them to the main team, like Leclerc, or give them a chance in another category, like Giovinazzi in Le Mans.

All this changed after Audi struck a deal with Sauber, by firstly buying the majority of the team’s shares, to complete the purchase in the middle of this year.

Once it was clear that Audi was in the horizon, the Sauber-Alfa Romeo partnership reached a conclusion at the end of 2023.

 

The Alfa Romeo C43 

This was the last chassis developed by Alfa Romeo and Sauber, and personally, I’m not a fan of the design or color pallets that Alfa Romeo used during this new run in F1, white and red were just too simple, for a team that was not attracting the attention at all with their performance.

  

  

From left to right, top to bottom: Sauber C37, Alfa Romeo Racing C38, Alfa Romeo Racing C39, Alfa Romeo Racing C41 and Alfa Romeo C42

 

It was only until 2023, Alfa’s last year, that they decided to experiment, with a Black and red livery as base and a one-off "Italy" livery for the Monza GP.

TOP: Alfa Romeo C43

RIGHT: Alfa Romeo C43 "Italy" Livery

 

Then for the first Las Vegas GP, they went "ALL IN" with a really interesting design inspired by Las Vegas’ Nightlife.

 

 

Who’s Sparky?

After all this intro, we can start discussing the model, and its maker. Sparky is part of the Spark Models family, specifically, is the part of Spark models that is dedicated to the 1:64 scale line.

They have already released F1 models in the past, 4 in 2016 and one in 2018 to be exact, but recently, probably due to the Drive to Survive series, the demand for F1 models went sky high, and Sparky, instead of releasing 5 models in the last 6 years, went on to release 12 cars (6 teams) from the 2022 Championship and then 34 cars (9 teams) from the 2023 Championship, and there are more coming already from the 2024 championship.

And now you will ask, how 34 cars from 9 teams? Each team has only 2 cars right?

Well, yes, but Sparky is also releasing the special one-off liveries; and one of those liveries is the one that got the top spot this month.

 

For the Win!

We're talking about the Las Vegas GP livery, today's specific model is the #24 driven by Zhou Guanyu.

The boring liveries were left behind, and this reproduction of the model is uncanny.

 

The design of the car is great, you have the front wing and behind it one piece built specifically to look like 3 different rods working from different directions in the front wheels.

 

 

Then you have the ring, the side mirrors and the whole aerodynamic floor design.

 

  

 

In the back, you have the diffuser and the back wing with a simulated DRS mechanism and a center silver piece to recreate the exhaust.

 

  

 

Inside the cockpit you can see Zhou with a crash helmet design that includes the “Chinese pottery” pattern in the top.

 

 

And to move it around, it has Medium Compound Tires and golden wheel covers.

 

But all that is not new, you have the same pieces in the other C43 cars released by Sparky, we’re here, for the dress!

If you thought that putting a card pattern with hearts, spades, clovers and diamonds in a real car was difficult, imagine to do it in a 1:64 scale.

But Sparky did it amazingly, the black background and all the golden accents of the cards and the numbers made this model look like it’s using a black elegant dress to assist the next FIA dinner.

 

 

I think is important to mention that Sparky is not the only brand releasing F1 models these days, as we have the likes of Mini GT and Tarmac Works doing their part, but only Sparky is including a plastic base and an acrylic case with each release.

  

 

If you want to set your car free, the base has a quick release mechanism that will allow you to do so, without the complication that bolts usually bring with them.

 

   

 

The C43 finished in 15^th and 17^th during Las Vegas GP 2023, far from the World Champion Winning results from the early 50s, but this livery, at least in a 1:64 scale model, really made me look back at Alfa Romeo and say:

-Hey, that looks cool!

For now, the dream is un pause, yes, I said on pause and not over.

There are plenty of changes in the F1 universe every now and then, and who knows, maybe Franco Colapinto will join Sauber, maybe he will bring some of the old Maestro’s magic with him, and then, only then, Alfa Romeo will decide to put "ALL IN" again, but not only in one livery, but in a full beast that can bring back home the Constructor’s Championship.