Formula 1 fighting spirit

The recently discovered Formula 1 Fighting Spirit Sets are some of the most interesting collectables to surface in years. Recently graded by PSA, collectors can finally get their hands on unique, authenticated pieces featuring some of the first Refractor sports cards ever produced.

In 1991 F1 was at a fever pitch in Japan. The last 5 years in a row, the Suzuka Grand Prix was set to be the defining race to crown that season’s champion. Not only that, Honda was responsible for all 5 of those F1 Constructors Championships creating a nation-wide fervor for all things F1 racing in Japan. A small Japanese card company called Amada decided the timing was right to re-enter the sports card market.

Interestingly, the Amada Formula 1 Fighting Spirit sets may contain the first Refractor type sports cards ever made, predating Topps Finest in 1993.

Amada made Dragonball Z cards that were sold in card vending machines and packs throughout Japan. They featured refractor cards of the popular anime characters.

In 1991, Amada decided to once again produce F1 cards. In addition to their popular Dragon Ball Z sets, they previously created Pro-Wrestling, Godzilla and Bruce Lee cards in the 1970s. In 1977 they also tried their hand at F1 after the excitement of the first Grand Prix in Japan. But in 1991 they may have unwittingly changed the sports card landscape by adding refractor hits to their 1991 F1 set.

They called them laser cards which were refractors similar to Prism or X-Fractor designs that wouldn't be used on cards in the US for several more years.

The 1991 Formula 1 Fighting Spirit Set were sold in Japanese candy stores in cardboard hanger packs that hung over the register. The refractor hit was exposed on the front of the pack, sometimes even taped to the front. As you can imagine this didn’t help the condition of these cards and the few that have survived aren't in the best of shape. The packs contained approximately 30 base cards and the one refractor.

As fate would have it, in the 1991 season a rookie driver named Michael Schumacher started to create a massive buzz as he was consistently knocking at the gate of the established F1 order at the time of Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna and Nigel Mansell. In the 1992 set, Amada added Schumacher’s card as the only rookie refractor. The card is one of that year's 6 laser refractor card hits.

The 1992 Amada Formula-1 Fighting Spirit set is quite rare with only 2 cards (Both Schumacher) in the PSA population report. One each of the base (Card 35) and the Laser Refractor (Card 17). It appears that the 1991 set has now begun to be graded by PSA as well which could be of interest for historically minded collectors of both F1 and Refractor cards in general. As far as access to these cards are concerned, according to Terapeak and 130point.com, The 1991 set has come to market a handful of times recently, compared to the 1992 set which has only one sale on record over its 31 year history.

Now the big question: Is it Licensed?

In short, I believe yes.

A concern for many years with the Formula 1 Fighting Spirit sets was over licensing issues. The 1991 set is explicitly written that (license) permission is granted by FOCA, the Formula One Constructors Association.

The 1992 sets had two print runs. Both print runs show two different copyrights as one shows copyright Bigstone and the other shows Vandystadt. In the middle of 1992, Bigstone left the project and for the second print run, the French Sports Photography firm Vandystadt was added. Vandystadt and Hachette created a variety of F1 licensed magazines and books in the 1980's and 90's . Amada contacted them and it seems they used their F1 licensed photography for the second set.

For the serious sports fan, Michael Schumacher’s name needs no introduction. He is joint all time with Lewis Hamilton for most World Driver's Championship titles ever and is widely considered to be one of, if not the best, driver of all time. His rookie laser refractor is certainly one of the more interesting cards to surface in the last several years. In addition, the discovery of new refractor cards for legends like Ayrton Senna, Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost and Mika Hakkinen is a new chase for the card collecting hobby.

Disclaimer: All images, photographs and information on this website are for educational purposes only. The use of any copyrighted images or photographs on this website is strictly for non-commercial, educational purposes, and is intended to comply with the principles of fair use under copyright law. If you are the owner of any copyrighted images or photographs used on this website and believe that their use constitutes copyright infringement, please contact us and we will remove the images or photographs promptly.