Sid,
I'm a little bit surprised, Ugo's English is actually very good....but he speaks English English.....
the 1st version of Betsy was the 1991 FIA record....this model was called later A
in 1996, during SW, Al had a issue and the engine went on fire which done some damage on the bodywork...especially the paint work....
in 2000 Al set a B class record and Ugo done another version of the model, especially it was very popular and the run of a model was limited to 300...
so more collectors had a chance to get a Betsy model....the new model, called 12 B....had also the now paint work as the car appears after the rebuilt in 1996...like the number 76...which was different after the fire
Al set his final record in 2002, FIA record....Banks, one of the sponsor was interest to get a version from that record....but than he stepped back....this version showed some more sponsor stickers and also had the bracket of the wing, Al used during SW.....as there were still 12 B available and the special order stopped...Ugo had no reason to go into a production...and so he produced one for my collection....
Ugo always needs a minimum amount on orders to get a chance to go for a production....
After 2008, when the world wide financial crises hit everyone, the market for so high quality models collapsed....and Ugo went into trouble as there wasn't enough buyer for a product run...
he had several other projects in mind....all went on ice....and finally he closed the model business
I have the one that Al & Jane gave me, I didn't know there were two different ones. I remember when Ugo wandered into the pits looking to take measurements & pictures & we all thought, What! Who the hell is this little guy? He spoke very little English so our communication wasn't very good. We had no idea at that point of the quality of his work. Do you know if he stopped building models or changed to a different motor sports with a bigger following?
Sid.