Multi talanted model maker
AMC
readers will be familiar with the work of Geoff Wood and his scale model replica Allan Moffat cars. But Geoff has more than one string to his (miniature) bow, and at last November’s Adelaide Motorsport Festival he unveiled something rather unique: the original 1985 architect’s model of the Adelaide Parklands circuit.
This model was used to show off Adelaide’s plan to host the race (above), and it represented the first tangible evidence that Formula 1 really was coming down under, for the very first time.
Once the first Adelaide F1 race was held, there was no need for the model, and so it sat in storage for years. Geoff managed to save the decaying model a few years ago just before they threw it out.
He spent nine months painstakingly restoring it. It was a mammoth task. Consider that Geoff had to ‘replant’ 1300 miniature plastic trees – that alone took nearly two weeks. All of the tiny pit buildings had to be built by hand; and the faces in the crowd – Geoff recreated the 1:750 scale humans by using common table salt, painted different colours…
It’s not an exact replica, because Geoff sought to incorporate some aspects from different years of the grand prix. It’s what he calls ‘a big threedimensional postcard to the grand prix’.
“It’s a history, the grand prix in Adelaide, that’s worth remembering, and the model will hopefully stay like this forever. I have added a few things from different years here and there; the signage and bridges around the track are from 1993, so it’s a bit of a mix and match. But we had 11 years of some of the best grands prix ever, and for me it’s a tribute to all 11 years.” A full feature on Geoff’s resto project appears in F1 Racing’s February issue.