Unfortunately, before I was able to compose said historically accurate and in-depth article, I received the new Monaco GP set from Mattel. My attention totally distracted by the new (year 2000) Formula One cars enclosed therein, I immediately put Mario to the side, and picked up in the much more recent past of Formula One. In this case, with the well detailed replicas of the Williams-BMW driven by the young (20 years old) Jenson Button of England, and the Jaguar Ford, driven this year by the ex-Ferrari and Jordan Ulsterman, one Eddie Irvine

Set or Cars?

I should point out right up front that the only reason I bought this set was to get the cars! And while I do understand (somewhat) the merchandising that must be done to sell HO slot cars and sets in today’s toy market, the net effect is just so much wasted track, controllers, “wall-wart” transformer and several feet of wire.

Classic in what way?

On top of that, Mattel has the audacity to call this a “Classic Racing Circuit” right on the front of the box! Well, yes, Monaco is a classic racing circuit, but the simple figure eight (figure-of-eight in England!) included in the box is neither classic, nor much of a racing circuit! The $35 price of the set (including shipping from the cyber market-place of Joe Skopinski), works out to a bit more than usual for a new in the blister pack Mattel (dare I say Tyco?) car, but not exorbitantly so.

The Cars

Okay, the cars! You knew I’d get to them eventually! First of all, if you have been following Formula One for the last two or three years, you probably know that if your favorite driver is not piloting a McLaren or a Ferrari, he is not likely to make it to the top step of the podium. He’s not likely to make the podium at all, actually, yet a few have been talented (and fortunate) enough to do so! Therefore, it’s great that Mattel has chosen to model a couple of the mid-grid cars of the 2000 season. Maybe that’s not exactly fair of the Williams, since Ralf Schumacher has had several top three finishes this year. But then, Mattel didn’t model Ralf’s car! No, the 1:64th selection went to the #10 car of Jenson Button, the number two driver on the Williams team. Yes, I know Frank says he has no #1 and #2 driver, but certainly based on the results, it should have been the Schumacher car that came in the set. Perhaps Jenson got the pick because he did so unexpectedly well in his rookie season in F-1, or because the set was aimed more at the British market? All that said, we are given a well-represented version of the Williams FW22 that contested the Formula One World Championship in the year 2000.

The Williams-BMW Deco Job

The body line markings are, of course, compromised by the designer being required to work around the somewhat oddly shaped Tyco F-1 body. And, . . . the somewhat oddly shaped body was compromised by having to work around the Tyco (now Mattel) motor - chassis. Working within these limitations, however, all the body decorations and sponsor markings have been picked out in the correct colors, and located in (close to) the right places. The “BMW Williams F-1 Team” on the airbox should have had “www.” preceding it, and “.com” following it, but there clearly wasn’t room for the whole WebSite address (the limitations of our chosen scale!). There was, fortunately, room for “Button” on the upper section of the air-box, even if my aging eyes were unable to read it without the help of a magnifying glass! That is the sign of excellent detailing, when the application and execution is so exact that naked eye needs assistance to pick it out!

Otherwise, the sponsors all get their due, with Compaq and Castrol the most visible, then Nortel Networks, Rueters and even a very small “Intel Inside” logo! Perhaps Mattel went one step too far, trying to put the “Williams” logo on the very front tip of the nose. Even with the magnifying glass, their tampo technique was unable to put it down in a neat and clear fashion. If I were nit picking I would point out that the driver’s suit is the wrong color, and the helmet color isn’t even close! The truth of the matter is that if the rest of the deco work hadn’t been so wonderful, I wouldn’t have thought about complaining about the driver details. So, . . . body shape aside, I would give Mattel a solid eight out of ten for the Williams-BMW.

The Jaguar-Ford

Even further down the grid we find the Jaguar team, with the #7 and #8 cars driven by Eddie Irvine and Johnnie Herbert respectively. As dedicated F-1 fans already know, the Jaguar team was created by Ford when they bought the Stewart team (that car seen exclusively in the Mattel offering of the Monaco set in ’99).

The fact that the traditional British Racing Green of Jaguar’s past really didn’t show up very well on TV led to the medium metallic green seen on the Jaguar cars this year. Mattel is to be commended for an accurate scale re-creation of the “new” Jaguar green, as well as the correct placement of the red accent stripes and very nice depiction of the Jaguar logo on the air-box. As with the Williams, Eddie’s #7 Jaguar’s sponsors are well represented, with the HSBC bank getting top billing. These are supported by fine renderings of the Lear, Visteon, DHL and MCI Worldcom markings; and lesser supporting roles in the case of Hewlett Packard and Texaco. In all instances the logos are correctly placed and clearly applied. The “Irvine” on the top of the air-box is more readable than the “Button” of the Williams, but still a magnifying glass job for those with less than excellent vision! The only exception to absolute top marks would be the small nose-logo of “Jaguar” which suffers the same limitation as the “Williams” nose markings mentioned above. I have the same complaints about the driver’s suit and helmet too, but anyone so detail oriented as to care will probably correct those points easily enough! Again, this one rates an eight out of ten, and both cars would be fine additions to the collection of the HO slot F-1 fanatic.

Over the last couple of years, we should be thankful that Mattel has been willing to offer the F-1 cars in such a great variety. Last year we were able to get both McLarens, both Ferraris, a Jordan, a Williams and a Stewart. This year (so far) we’ve gotten an excellent Williams and a Jaguar. I have heard rumors of another McLaren (Mika Hakkenin’s #1 car) and the latest Jordan, but have yet to find them for sale.

My only hope is that they are selling well enough (worldwide) that more will continue to be offered. It would be nice to see a Sauber, a more recent Benetton, or perhaps even an Arrows, BAR, Prost or Minardi . . . but that may be asking too much! We haven’t seen a Minardi in our favorite scale since the glory days of the Tomy F-1 cars of the late 80’s and early 90’s. For some great photos of the real cars represented by the Mattel F-1’s I recommend www.dailyf1.com In addition to photos, they also have the latest news of Formula One, a very active Forum, and tons of links to the various teams’ websites. As the name suggests, their information is updated on a daily basis. And yes, . . . next time you may be hearing all about Mario and the Aurora G-Plus Lotus 78!