BlueBrixx 1979 Turbo Formula Racer White/Yellow Set 103393

BlueBrixx's 1979 Turbo Formula Racer is a 1:18 model built from 634 blocks in white and yellow, weighing around 480 g. Designed by Adrian. No stickers or prints.

1979 is the year the turbo stopped being a joke

Formula One had been running normally aspirated engines for decades when one team turned up in 1977 with a turbocharged 1.5-litre in a white and yellow car.

It was a disaster. The engine had enormous power and almost no throttle response — a driver would ask for power, wait, and then receive all of it at once, usually mid-corner. It overheated, it failed constantly, and the pit lane named it the yellow teapot for the steam it emitted while retiring.

The regulations had always permitted 1.5 litres with forced induction as an alternative to 3.0 litres without, and nobody had bothered, because the numbers looked unpromising. The team persisted for two seasons of public humiliation.

At Dijon in July 1979 a turbocharged car won a Grand Prix for the first time. Within four years every competitive team had one, and by the mid-1980s qualifying engines were producing well over 1,000 horsepower from 1.5 litres — figures that have never been approached since in the sport.

The era was ended by regulation in 1989 because the cars had become too fast. Turbos returned to Formula One in 2014, in a form the engineers of 1979 would have found scarcely believable.

Specifications

Pieces: 634 · Scale: 1:18 · Designer: Adrian · No stickers · Weight: approx. 480 g