Nelson Piquet

Nelson Piquet F1 car models


As with Gigi Galli, it was a bit of a violent act of this driver which prompted my interest.
I fear there seems to be a bit of a sleeping violent personality trying to find it's way out...
I was a bit of an F1 follower by that time anyway (we're talking 1982 here), but wasn't really following a particular driver. But at the time I was about 10 years old, so that's not very surprising.
During the GP of Germany in 1982 one incident peaked my interest. During that season the Brabham team, led by a certain Bernie Ecclestone, was the first (and only) team to adopt a refuelling strategy. By sending out their cars on a lower fuel level they gained a speed advantage compared to the other competitors. And they used this advantage to good effect in (amongst others) the German GP.
Nelson Piquet was leading by quite a margin when he came up on a backmarker named Eliseo Salazar. And where this backmarker first appeared to leave enough room for Nelson Piquet to pass him, he than seemed to think otherwise. And suddenly there were two cars going for the space of one car.

Final result was a showcase of some (admittedly sloppy) martial arts action from the Brazilian driver.
For the interested I've posted a link to a youtube clip of the incident.
But after this incident, I've started following the career of Nelson Piquet. His highs and his lows and ultimately his final race in 1991 for Benetton.
A sad moment to see such a great driver leave the arena, really.

As a kind of tribute I've decided to try and build all the F1 cars he ever drove.

Built (or partially built) models:
  • 1986 1/20 Williams FW11 Honda F-1 (Tamiya 20019) - gallery
  • 1991 1/24 Benetton Ford B190B (Hasegawa CF-13) - build report
Models waiting to be built:
  • 1978 1/20 Ensign N-177 1978 Version (RTN Models)
  • 1978 1/20 McLaren M23 Ford (Tamiya 20002)
  • 1978 1/20 Brabham BT46 Alfa Romeo (Tamiya 20007)
  • 1979 1/20 Brabham BT48 Dutch GP 1979 (AMD 20014)
  • 1981 1/20 Brabham BT50 BMW Turbo (Tamiya 20017)
  • 1982 1/20 Brabham BT50 BMW Turbo (Tamiya 20017)
  • 1983 1/20 Brabham BT52 (Model Factory Hiro K069)
  • 1983 1/20 Brabham BT52B (Model Factory Hiro K014)
  • 1984 1/20 Brabham BT53 (Studio27 FK20149)
  • 1985 1/20 Brabham BT54 (Chequered Flag 20009)
  • 1986 1/20 Williams FW11 Honda F-1 (Tamiya 20019)
  • 1987 1/20 Williams FW11 Honda F-1 (Tamiya 20019)
  • 1988 1/24 Lotus Honda 100T (Wave F1-47)
  • 1989 1/24 Lotus 101 (Wave F1-39)
  • 1990 1/20 Benetton B189B USA GP '90 (Studio27 FK2051)
  • 1990 1/24 Benetton Ford B190 (Hasegawa CF-10)
  • 1991 1/20 Benetton B191B (PY Models)