The Motor Museum in Miniature

The Italian Collection.

The Italians weren't in the top three countries to build a car but they were certainly very quick to get in on the concept. And, they added Italian design flair to the mix of German efficiency and French "joie de vivre".

Through motor racing they proved their worth in the early 1900s and later gave us such races as the Mille Miglia and Targa Florio. Itala, A.L.F.A., F.I.A.T. and Isotta Fraschini gave way to Lancia, Alfa Romeo, Maserati and Ferrari, just as long distance City-to-City races changed to Grand Prix and then F1 racing circuits.

Italy's main contribution is arguably in automotive styling, to this day automotive manufacturers from all over the world take their design ideas to Italy for refining. Bertone (1912) Carrozzeria Ghia (1916), Zagato (1919), later followed by Pininfarina (1930) and Italdesign (1968), all gained world wide acclaim designing for the very greatest sports and supercars to the humblest family cars. And they still do.

Click on the photo's for more information on each vehicle.

1980 Osella FA1 "MS Denim"

Hi-Fi Automodelli kit in 1/43rd scale

Designed by Giorgio Stirano, the FA1 monocoque chassis was made from Aluminium honeycomb as was the standard of the time. It was a wing car using air flow under the car to suck it down onto the track.

Unfortunately the car was around 100kg over weight, which created a real handicap at the start of the season. This preponderance was reduced to 45kg in the FA1b but it wasn't enough to make a difference. Eddie Cheever tried to qualify the car all season but in a disappointing year failed to reach the grid 4 times and never saw the chequered flag at all.

1987 Benetton B187

Gunze Sangyo kit in 1/24th scale

Having sponsored the Tyrrell, Alfa Romeo and Toleman F1 teams Benetton Formula Ltd. was formed at the end of 1985 when the Toleman outfit was bought by the Benetton family.

The Benetton B187 car, designed by Rory Byrne, replaced the B186 of the previous season. A noticeably different car from the ‘86 chassis it started a development series that ran through the ‘88 and ‘89 cars too. Also notable was the change in colour scheme which ran on through the following years although the colour positions were alternated.

1988 Benetton B188

Tamiya kit in 1/20th scale

While appearing very similar to the 1987 car the B188 was

a markedly different car. Ford had decided to stop it's Turbo engine scheme in preparation for the new naturally aspirated engine rules for the 1989 season. Benetton had to fit a much bulkier V8 engine into the space of the previous turbo and feed air effectively to the engine air intake, moving the scoops further forward beside the driver rather than over head.

Another rule change instigated by FISA for 1989 was the front axel line had to be ahead of the drivers feet. A number of head on crashes had resulted in horrendous foot injuries. This new rule was a part of the ever growing safety steps across motorsports to reduce unnecessary risks as much as possible. For the B188 that meant a longer smoother nose section than the B187 and a wheelbase increase too.

Benetton team took 3rd place in the 1988 constructors championship with a creditable 39 points. In the times when only the top 6 finishers got points and there were 15 races the team could score from not the 20 odd of the 2020s era.