Hot Wheels is finally adding Formula 1 cars to its catalog, but there’s another F1-powered model due out soon that’s a lot more obscure than a championship-winning single-seater. It’s the 1994 Renault Espace F1 concept, which was pegged at the unlikely intersection of F1 and minivans.
On the surface, there’s nothing terribly cool about a Renault Espace. The original model was developed by Matra as a potential replacement for the Rancho and initially offered to Peugeot, who turned it down. Citroën said “thanks, but no thanks” as well. Somewhat desperate, Matra then sold the project to Renault, and the first-gen Espace made its debut in 1984. Big, spacious, and versatile, the Espace was the French equivalent to the Chrysler Town & Country in the sense that it spent decades as its home country’s top family hauler, and pretty much created a segment.
But the model joining the Hot Wheels catalog isn’t a run-of-the-mill second-gen Espace with cereal spilled all over the floor and a peeling tint on the windows—it’s the Espace F1 concept that was presented at the 1994 Paris Motor Show to celebrate the model’s 10th birthday. It was designed jointly by Renault, Matra, and Williams, and it’s powered by a mid-mounted, 3.5-liter V10 engine sourced from the Williams FW15C Formula 1 car.
There’s a lot of space in the Espace—”espace” means “space” in French, after all. Renault probably could have set up a V10 in the back of a regular-production model, but it started the build largely from scratch. Low and extra-wide, the concept is built with carbon fiber and aluminum, and it features four bucket seats. It’s fully functional, too: rated at about 800 horsepower, it takes 2.8 seconds to reach 62 mph from a stop. Alain Prost notably drove the Espace F1 on a track several times during the 1990s, and Jean Ragnotti drove it at the 2002 Goodwood Festival of Speed.
Which, somewhat indirectly, brings us to your nearest grocery store’s toy aisle. Reddit user Skoda-Superb-Matter posted a picture of what looks like the final version of the 1/64-scale Espace F1. We’ve only seen one photo of it so far, but it looks like the super-van is about as accurate as you can expect a Hot Wheels car to be. The proportions and the two-tone paint are right on, though the roof-mounted spoiler is body-colored instead of black, and details such as the air vents and the “Espace F1” decals on both sides are accounted for. We don’t know where the picture comes from, there’s no source attributed to it, but it looks legit to us. Besides, Hot Wheels already hinted at a new Espace F1 model in 2024.
The Hot Wheels Renault Espace F1 should land in stores (and on my desk!) in the coming months.
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