#909 POLISTIL - BRM P 201, FERRARI 312 T2, WILLIAMS FW07, FERRARI 126 C3 and MCLAREN MP4 (RJ7, RJ55, RJ70, RN24 and RN25) (1976, 1978, 1980, 1983)

Something I enjoy while writing about Polistil F1s is browsing the wikipedia for the years in which they ran, who were their pilots and how well they did that year. It is very interesting and informative, reading what happened in the F1 seasons from the 70s and the 80s.

I collected 5 more race cars ranging from 1976 to 1983.

We will go from older to newer. And precisely the first one is the most interesting of the lot. From the 1976’s season, the BRM P 201 is a rare model. Except Polistil, I do not know any reproduction of the car in this scale. This is probably due to the fact that the car was not very good (the golden era of BRM was long gone) and this car did not achieve any points in the championships. This model was reproduced by other manufacturers too. As a reader of this blog pointed out, there are BRM P201s made by Yatming, Playart, Tintoys, Summer and TimmyToys... maybe even more.

Driven by Ian Ashley (with RN14) in 1976, it was also used the next season with the same number by driver Larry Perkins. The BRM team (Stanley BRM) ran its last season in 1977 and disappeared as such.

BRM P 201 (RJ7) – 1976, Ian Ashley RN14
FERRARI 312 T2 (RJ55) – 1978, Gilles Villeneuve RN12

The car is not in excellent shape but it is rare to find. I guess it did not sell as well as Ferraris and other faster cars back in the days. It has reference RJ7

The car near the BRM is, of course a Ferrari. Most accurately, the 312 T2 from 1978. This model represents the car driven by Gilles Villeneuve with RN12. He didn’t do a great season, ending 9th, but winning the last GP of the season in Canada. The figure in the cockpit is not original.

The William FW07 with Saudia stickers is one of the iconic cars of the 1979 and 1980 seasons. It was a great car, making a third place in 1979 (and winning 4 races) and winning in 1980. I am talking, of course, about the Australian Alan Jones. Both years he carried RN27. In 1980, Williams-Ford won the constructor’s championship with a huge difference to the second team.

MCLAREN MP4 (RN25) – Niki Lauda 1983, RN8
WILLIAMS FW07 (RJ70) – 1979 and 1980, Alan Jones RN27

The next car is a McLaren MP4 with RN8. This car was driven by Niki Lauda in the 1983 season. This was not a very successful one for the Austrian pilot: he got only 12 points in 11 races, making two podiums in the first two races, and then two 6th places. He would win his third championship the following season.

And finally, we see another Ferrari, this time the model that ran the 1983 season. The RN28 belonged to René Arnoux, who did a great season, ending 3rd, right in front of his colleague and countryman Patrick Tambay (RN27), what gave Ferrari the constructor’s trophy.

FERRARI 126 C3 (RN24) – 1983 René Arnoux RN8

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: BRM P 201, FERRARI 312 T2, WILLIAMS FW07, FERRARI 126 C3 and MCLAREN MP4 (RJ7, RJ55, RJ70, RN24 and RN25)
• Scale: 1:55
• Year: 1976, 1978, 1983, 1980 and 1983 (respectively)
• Company: Polistil (Italy)
• Size: approx. 7 cm