It's a fact that the 640 was not a successful car. The reliability was horrible and the famous Milano-based team got hammered by the far more successful McLaren MP4/5 driven by my favourite driver Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost. The late 80's was not Ferrari's era. The late 80's belonged to Williams and McLaren with engines produced by Honda. Besides being extremely unreliable, as the table further below will show you, the F1-89 is unique in another way, the V12 engine. The V12 engine made its first appearance in Formula 1 in 1989 and the technical regulations demanded a naturally aspirated 3.5L engine, meaning that the turbo-bonanza was over. Even though the Honda V10 was more successful than the V12, I still have a soft spot for that V12. The V12 sound is more like an orchestrated symphony while the Honda V10 is more like a rock band, it's a matter of taste.
The reasons I bought this kit are many. The engine being the first, I wanted to assemble that beautiful engine. Secondly, the F1-89 was driven by one of my favorite drivers, Nigel Mansell. Mansell was a really aggressive driver, a trait that seem forgotten in today's motor sport. The third reason being the look of this car, it's beautiful to look at, and who can resist that Scuderia Rosso red? So before you scroll further down this thread, lean back and enjoy the harmony of the Ferrari V12 on the old Hockenheimring and Spa-Francorchamps.
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History:
The Ferrari 640 (also known as the Ferrari F1-89) was the Formula One racing car with which the Ferrari team competed in the 1989 season. It was driven by Britain's Nigel Mansell, in his first season with the team, and Austria's Gerhard Berger.
The car was designed by John Barnard, and it was the first Ferrari he was responsible for designing. It sported a sharp nose, with a narrow monocoque and bulging side-pods designed to house the radiators with maximum aerodynamic efficiency. It originally had two small air intakes either side of the driver, but from the fourth race of the season in Mexico a more conventional large air intake above and behind the driver was specified.
Barnard, who had joined Ferrari from McLaren at the end of the 1986 season, had begun designing the car in 1987 with the intent on it being used during the 1988 season. However, continual problems with the cars revolutionary semi-automatic gearbox saw the team forced to use the turbocharged F1/87/88C in 1988, with the cars debut pushed back to 1989, the first year of FISA's 3.5 Litre atmospheric formula where turbos were banned.
The 640 was powered by Ferrari's Tipo 035/5, a 3.5 litre V12 engine which produced up to 660 bhp (492 kW; 669 PS) by the season end, roughly the same amount of power as the engine it replaced, the Tipo 033A V6 turbo, though without the turbo's fuel consumption worries. This was still down compared to the V10 Honda used by the dominant McLarens which were rated at 675 bhp (503 kW; 684 PS). The transmission that it was mated to, however, attracted more attention, as it contained the very first semi-automatic gearbox seen in Formula One. In the first half of the season, it proved to be very unreliable, and hampered Ferrari's efforts. However, such gearboxes would become the norm by the mid-1990s. Much of the development work was conducted at Ferrari's private test track Fiorano by test driver Roberto Moreno during the winter season (Moreno also doubled as the lead driver of the rival Coloni team). By the time the Grand Prix circus returned to Europe at the end of June, the problem with the semi-automatic gearbox was found to be not enough power from the battery. With the help of electrical experts and team sponsor Magneti Marelli, the power supply to the gearbox was fixed and the 640's reliability rose accordingly.
The car proved to be fast, and Mansell took it to victory in its début race in Brazil, despite fears of unreliability (the potential of the new car, with its innovative aerodynamics, gearbox and V12 engine was clear - Mansell declared on the eve of the Brazilian race that if "the car had even half the horsepower it sounds like it has, we'll win every race this year...."). However, it did not record another finish until the French Grand Prix, and there were to be no races in which both drivers finished. But when the car did finish, it did so in a position no lower than third, with Mansell taking second in both France and his home race at Silverstone, third in Germany, a second win in Hungary and finally third at Spa, before Berger finished second at Monza, won in Portugal - a race where the Ferraris were clearly more competitive than the championship-winning McLarens - and finished second again in Spain.
The carbon fibre monocoque also proved to be very strong, allowing Berger to escape from a fiery high-speed crash at Imola with only minor burns to his hands and a couple of broken ribs. In a 2013 interview, Berger revealed the reason for the crash was the front wing had broken on the car, though as the right front wheel had risen his initial thought was rear suspension failure or a flat left rear tyre. He then revealed that even in the short time it took from the car not responding to the time it hit the wall, he also realised the car was almost full of fuel and could catch fire. From then he was briefly knocked unconscious, but was awake and aware only a minute or so later.[3] Berger's injuries were enough to keep him out of the Monaco Grand Prix, but the semi-automatic gearbox's advantage of not having to take his hands off the steering wheel to change gears saw the brave Austrian return one race later in Mexico where his injuries would otherwise have kept him out.
At the end of the season, Mansell was fourth in the Drivers' Championship with 38 points, while Berger was seventh with 21. Ferrari battled with Williams for second in the Constructors' Championship for much of the year but ultimately settled for third, with 59 points.
A chart that clarifies how unreliable the F1-89 was during the 1989 season:
The 640(F1-89) was succeeded by the far more successful 641(F1-90) driven by Nigel Mansell and Alain Prost
Sources: Wikipedia and Ferrari's website.
Here is the box:
The Construction:
I will build this model straight out of the box as Nigel Mansells car. I am tempted to buy some extra details to the engine, but the local finance minister does not support that motion. The kit includes a figure however, I have not yet decided if I should use it or not. I'm thinking of just decapitating Mansell and placing his helmet on the bodywork (not as morbid as it sounds) painted and without the "head" inside. After a first look the visor looks a little weird, so I will decide what to do, later on. I'm still a little scared of the bodywork. The bodywork on my McLaren MP4/4 did not turn out as I wanted, so that's a big issue going into this kit, how to get a good red finish.
Ok, so that's all for now. I will return shortly with pictures of the sprues and decals. Cheers
P.S. This is only my second car build ever, my first is Senna's McLaren MP4/4 located here: Link(WIP) Link(Gallery) D.S.
