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I built this model not long after the Lotus 78. The white decals offered to adorn the upper body are very thin. When you look at the picture of the model presented in the Tamiya catalogue, it has a nice rich red and deep white
upper body. The decals offered with this kit are so thin they end up pink. I have seen sheets of white decal for sale which could be used to double layer the decal but I decided I would attempt to spray white enamel paint over the red to get a true white colour. That just left the problem of producing the thin red pinstripe lines which run down the side of the car. I found some discarded decal sheets in my oddment box (never throw away bits left over from a kit) covered them with indelible red ink and cut some thin strips with my modelling scalpel. These were then fitted in the correct positions to the areas indicated by the pictures of the car.
The designer of the T1,T2 and T3 cars was Mauro Forghieri. He had the car constructed to the widest width possible within the regulations at that time. The engine was the famous, horizontally opposed, V12 which produced 510bhp. The car ran on Michelin tyres which had been introduced to F1 by Renault.
During 1978 the 312T3 was driven by Carlos Reutemann and Gilles Villeneuve whose car I have modelled. The car won the American GP west at Long Beach, the British GP and the Canadian GP where Villeneuve took his first win.
Ferrari came third in the constructor's championship with Reutemann their number one driver taking third place In the drivers championship.
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