Today we have something a little different to what I normally do. It is a Diecast review, but this model is made by Spark (SPARKMODELS). This is the Sauber C33-Ferrari driven by Adrian Sutil. When Spark make a model car they often tell you which race it is from. This car is from the 2014 season opener in Australia.
I am quite excited I was able to get a Spark model so cheap for my blog, because soon I will be able to compare this one to the Minichamps Sauber C33.
Australian GP 2014
The opening race of the 2014 was held at Melbourne Australia. Lewis Hamilton qualified 1st with home boy Daniel Ricciardo qualifying second in his first race with Red Bull. Rosberg was third.
The Sauber's didn't have the best qualifying with Esteban Gutierrez qualifying 19th but was given a 5 place grid penalty, however with Grosjean starting in the pit lane and Maldonado not setting a time he started 20th. Adrian Sutil qualified 14th but due to Valteri Bottas' penalty he started 13th.
The opening lap saw a collision between Kamui Kobayashi and Felipe Massa. A break by wire issue affecting the former, causing Kobayashi to rear end Massa off the track. Kobayashi avoided penalty due to it being deemed a failure and not driver error.
Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel suffered engine failures early on, while the remaining Caterham driven by Marcus Erricson lost Oil Pressure. Both Lotus driver had Power unit failures and Jules Bianchi did finish albeit 8 laps down and not classified. Max Chilton would be the last of the runners in 14th but would be promoted to 13th due to the controversial disqualification of Daniel Riccirado.
Adrian Sutil finished 12th place and a lap down but was promoted to 11th. Esteban Gutierrez would be promted to 12th also 1 lap down.
In a difficult season were Sauber endure their worst ever without scoring 11th would be the best posistion Adrian Sutil could manage. He did this twice Australia and Hungary.
Sauber's 2014 Season
Esteban Gutierrez was kept on after racing alongside Nico Hulkenberg in 2013. Hulkenberg moved back to Force India and Adrian Sutil moved to Sauber in a straight swap. However the team would endure their worst season in their history. Both drivers would fail to score meaning the team suffered their first pointless season. Adrian Sutil only managed two 11th place finishes and Esteban Gutierrez managed 1 12th place at Australia. Adrian Sutil finished 18th in the standing. Gutierrez finished 20th behind Marcus Erricson in the Caterham. Sauber finished 10th in the constructors with 0 points and beat Caterham in the standings.
The Model
Product Code: S3076
Scale: 1:43
Driver: Adrian Sutil
Year: 2014
This model is based on the car that raced at the 2014 Australian GP.
My Thoughts.
This is a very nice model. I will hopefully soon get the Minichamps version of this car to properly compare the two brands. I like the box that you get with the car. It has the Sauber team logo on the cardboard inside the box and there's a cardboard sleeve that goes on the outside of the box. However that makes stacking them a bit of a problem. The boxes are the same size as the models in the Minichamps 1:43 models which is good because it means if you collect both then you can stack both brands with each other. The fact that the car is based on the Australian GP is good because it is where Adrian Sutil secured his best finish of the season. He came close in the Hungarian GP to scoring points and finished in 11th place.
I would say that if you're a Spark collector then this model is for you but if you're a Minichamps collector then you should get that one. But in all fairness I cannot make a decision until I have both here to review.
I am impressed by the level of detail on the Spark model and it does have some unique features that differs them from other diecast brands.
Thanks for reading.
No comments:
Post a Comment