otay, well, its been a minute since I've logged on over here at HAN but wanted to post this for you guys too.

Back in october while on vacation from Afghanistan i went to Japan for the Gran Prix at Fuji, only thing is i didn't buy a race ticket... i scored a paddock pass through connections at Honda Racing F1 and spent the full weekend (wednesday-sunday) in the Honda Racing F1 garage, stayed at the hotel with the team and rode to and from the track everyday with Jenson's team of mechs.

i lived the dream and these are some of the better photos from the first few hundred captured by my new SLR. I've also got pics from my point&shoot too...

clicky: full gallery with larger images

Ross Brawn in the background watching over practice
His disapproving glare can crush you.
Thankfully he didn't mind me in the garage


car set up on suspension alignment gear. ride is height adjusted to the decimal of a mm




our cf hoods, trunklids, canards etc are a joke...
this is the composites prep and repair area of the garage. Engine covers standing up on the right. left side of photo you can see the the end of the radio rack then a spare front nose/wing. F1 Photographer Lorenzo Bellanca in back, left of center, putting away some of his equipment




engine cover going on to Jenson's car


scales Honda uses to corner weight the car. Then the car is rolled down to scrutineering to see how it weighs in there


rolling the car back from the scrutineer's scales


metal porn.
your header will never be this bad-ass.
never, ever.
I have a header from Hy-tech and seeing these in person still made me weak in the knees.




I was given team kit so I'd fit in while helping in the garage. It doesn't matter how poorly they've done this year (or how funny it looks =P ), it was an honor to be able to wear the get-up and i wore it proud

this is me... in a totally candid moment. I was fortunate and didn't have to wear the horrid FILA's that were part of the team kit and just wore my green Adidas. The guys were jealous.


my pass into the magical kingdom F1. thank you HRF1!!




friday morning before practice
Jenson's seat




CTR in our hotel parking lot. I want one. BAD!!




an EK9 CTR driving by in Gotemba, close to the hotel


Sunday morning riding into the track with Jenson's mechanics


F1 photographer Lorenzo Bellanca setting up a camera to take shots of the Honda pit stops


fuelers prepping their rig pre-race


grid girls make great subjects, plus these ones are jDm y0! =P


waiting for the race to start. note all the people in the background on the grid


front-left wheel gun, back up wheel gun, and front wheel fairing ready for action


its race time. everybody is at the ready.


taken thru a 2-way mirror hiding the guest area. Nick Fry and race team cheif mechanic Matt watching the race. Matt and the fuelers have red balaclavas and inverted color (green VS white) fire suits to stand out from the crowd


another taken thru the 2-way mirror. team members watching the race


engineer watching the data stream, er, river coming in from Jenson's car


champagne!!!


pack up is so high paced and intense I didn't get the camera out to shoot any shots b/c i was too damn busy!
5 hours after the race the garage et al has been fully packed and cars prepped for shipping to China

almost nobody ever gets to see this: the post race, post clean-up team meeting and pep talk. Its a cool thing and reminds you that, in fact, this is a team

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If you're still hungry for more I'll get the pics from my point and shoot posted up too

 

Amazing pictures. That must have been a blast.

 

I'm definitely jealous, nice job on the pics and thanks for sharing :thumbup:

Artwork indeed :drool: