How close are you to F1?

TeamTipper · Post by **TeamTipper** » 09 Sep 2009, 03:09

My dad almost got a job at Williams in 2001 and if that happen I would still be in the UK. My Uncle has brought shares in Justin Wilson and one of my dad side of the family (not sure who) is best friends with Antony Davisons family.
And I hope to work in F1 one day :lol:

watka · Post by **watka** » 09 Sep 2009, 20:58

One of my old mates met the Tyrrell/BAR/Honda every year from 1995 until last year. Yes, that includes Ricardo Rosset. I was personally jealous that he met Ukyo Katayama.

UlyssesBlue · Post by **UlyssesBlue** » 09 Sep 2009, 22:27

Not very, but I've been to this; http://www.tepapa.govt.nz/f1/
For the floortalk by David Lovegrove - Tyrrell Racing Organisation Mechanical Design Engineer from August 1997–May 1998

I should have waited till last weekend, and a chance to meet legendary driver and Reject team principal Chris Amon.

shinji · Post by **shinji** » 09 Sep 2009, 22:32

Oh yes, in addition to the Red Bull and race attendance stuff, I raced for Prost and Minardi in the late 1990s.

RejectSteve · Post by **RejectSteve** » 10 Sep 2009, 14:50

I attended the 2007 US Grand Prix. One of the circuit security staff pointed out that I was walking past Rubinho's motorhome on Friday. On Saturday morning there wasn't any on track action so my friend and I stood around by the paddock enterance. Walking in with the BMW staff was Sebastian Vettel so I can say I was within a meter of his presence, as well as Ron Dennis and countless team mechanics. Most of the other drivers, including ex-drivers-turned-pundits Brundle and Hobbs, drove in with the windows up, as you might expect, except for Jarno Trulli (motorbike) and Rubens Barrichello (scooter).

On the less direct side, I went to the 1998 and 1999 Bosch Spark Plug Grands Prix at Nazareth Speedway when CART raced there, so I caught 11 ex- or future F1 drivers in action: Roberto Moreno, Bobby Rahal, Cristiano da Matta, Juan Pablo Montoya, Michael Andretti, Christian Fittipaldi, Mauricio Gugelmin, Mark Blundell, Massimiliano Papis, Alessandro Zanardi, and even the legendary Naoki Hattori. I managed to see Scott Speed lose a dominant race during his 2008 season in ARCA stock car racing because he was screwed by the safety car.

fjackdaw · Post by **fjackdaw** » 10 Sep 2009, 14:52

RejectSteve wrote:I attended the 2007 US Grand Prix. One of the circuit security staff pointed out that I was walking past Rubinho's motorhome on Friday. On Saturday morning there wasn't any on track action so my friend and I stood around by the paddock enterance. Walking in with the BMW staff was Sebastian Vettel so I can say I was within a meter of his presence, as well as Ron Dennis and countless team mechanics. Most of the other drivers, including ex-drivers-turned-pundits Brundle and Hobbs, drove in with the windows up, as you might expect, except for Jarno Trulli (motorbike) and Rubens Barrichello (scooter).

On the less direct side, I went to the 1998 and 1999 Bosch Spark Plug Grands Prix at Nazareth Speedway when CART raced there, so I caught 11 ex- or future F1 drivers in action: Roberto Moreno, Bobby Rahal, Cristiano da Matta, Juan Pablo Montoya, Michael Andretti, Christian Fittipaldi, Mauricio Gugelmin, Mark Blundell, Massimiliano Papis, Alessandro Zanardi, and even the legendary Naoki Hattori. I managed to see Scott Speed lose a dominant race during his 2008 season in ARCA stock car racing because he was screwed by the safety car.

Within five minutes of turning up for my first ever Grand Prix experience, about 9am on raceday at the 1998 British GP, Schumi rode past me and my brother on his scooter, passing us within two or three feet. That was pretty much the highlight, even though I'm far from a Schumi fan!

FullMetalJack · Post by **FullMetalJack** » 12 Sep 2009, 21:39

The only real connection I have to F1 is that I was born in Birmingham which is also the birthplace of Murray Walker.

shinji · Post by **shinji** » 12 Sep 2009, 21:43

redbulljack14 wrote:The only real connection I have to F1 is that I was born in Birmingham which is also the birthplace of Murray Walker.

That's not a real connection IMO. Millions upon millions of people have been born in Birmingham.

FullMetalJack · Post by **FullMetalJack** » 12 Sep 2009, 21:46

shinji wrote:
redbulljack14 wrote:The only real connection I have to F1 is that I was born in Birmingham which is also the birthplace of Murray Walker.

That's not a real connection IMO. Millions upon millions of people have been born in Birmingham.

True, I have no real connections then.

Debaser · Post by **Debaser** » 12 Sep 2009, 22:00

I've sat in a Jordan F1 car (it was painted in 99 colours) at my local car pageant. And my Grandad and his wife lived in Staines, very close to the McLaren factory on Woking. My late Grandad promised to take me to a mysterious McLaren custom built test track. Several years after he died I realised he was joking...

Many Blue Flags · Post by **Many Blue Flags** » 12 Sep 2009, 22:01

shinji wrote:I went to the 2007 British GP.

Which stand were you at?

Ide · Post by **Ide** » 12 Sep 2009, 22:09

I'm quite close. My dad is a carbon fibre specialist, he's worked for Haas Lola, McLaren and as a supplier to various teams during his time. He's currently building parts for USF1 and has been spending some time out in Charlotte.

Whis · Post by **Whis** » 12 Sep 2009, 23:48

i've got a friend who's Pantano's cousin.

and i live quite near the Imola Circuit.

sometimes i go there... last time was 2 years ago when they were a bit late on the works...

Jordan · Post by **Jordan** » 13 Sep 2009, 00:18

Ide wrote:I'm quite close. My dad is a carbon fibre specialist, he's worked for Haas Lola, McLaren and as a supplier to various teams during his time. He's currently building parts for USF1 and has been spending some time out in Charlotte.

That can't be true! USF1 is nothing more than desks and computers! :mrgreen:

shinji · Post by **shinji** » 13 Sep 2009, 10:43

Many Blue Flags wrote:
shinji wrote:I went to the 2007 British GP.

Which stand were you at?

At the very top of Abbey.

Post by **tommykl** » 15 Jul 2013, 17:47

eytl wrote:I should let Kuwashima speak for himself, but Ryan Briscoe was a year below him at school and they used to talk F1 together ...

Very sorry for the absolute necro-bump, but this prompted me to do a quick wikipedia search.

I don't know how that school managed to handle the pure epicness of Jamie McGregor, Ryan Briscoe AND Jordan Raskopoulos at the same time.

Carry on. Nothing else to see here.

mediocre · Post by **mediocre** » 15 Jul 2013, 20:59

I sat in a 2002 or 2003 BAR Honda at my local car dealer. I was something like 10 years old so basically I disappeared as soon as I tried to sit down inside the cockpit.
Also, the owner of the dealership took a photo of everyone who sat in the car. Just as I was in there, the camera ran out of film and I had to "sit" in the cockpit and wait until he changed it. I remember being pretty pissed off, because it took so long. Also, I wasn't too concerned about all the stuff inside the cockpit, the buttons on the steering wheel etc. Today, I would (almost) die to get that sort of insight. :evil:

Backmarker · Post by **Backmarker** » 15 Jul 2013, 21:05

mediocre wrote:I sat in a 2002 or 2003 BAR Honda at my local car dealer. I was something like 10 years old so basically I disappeared as soon as I tried to sit down inside the cockpit.
Also, the owner of the dealership took a photo of everyone who sat in the car. Just as I was in there, the camera ran out of film and I had to "sit" in the cockpit and wait until he changed it. I remember being pretty pissed off, because it took so long. Also, I wasn't too concerned about all the stuff inside the cockpit, the buttons on the steering wheel etc. Today, I would (almost) die to get that sort of insight.

Also these days a camera wouldn't run out of film!

A friend of a friend works for Caterham - on facebook she had pictures of her with Pic, Montagny and other drivers at Silverstone.

good_Ralf · Post by **good_Ralf** » 15 Jul 2013, 21:10

The father of a friend of mine at my old school knew an F1 driver and so his children were named after F1 drivers, namely Italian ones.
That's the closest I've got so far.

EDIT: I completely forgot how at the end of 2011, I went to Milton Keynes to see a Red Bull demonstration of their F1 cars, with Vettel and Webber driving just metres from me.

14 Hundred Hours · Post by **14 Hundred Hours** » 15 Jul 2013, 21:35

I had work experience at Williams and Force India but have absolutely no connection to them now. I'm also going to work at Xtrac for two weeks in August so that's pretty close to F1!
Aside from that my mum had a friend who used to live near Fernando Alonso, and kissed him when she first met him cos she thought that's how things were done... or something like that. (I'm hazy on the details- when my mum was telling me it was more "my friend's so lucky to live abroad" rather than "she met an F1 driver")

FullMetalJack · Post by **FullMetalJack** » 15 Jul 2013, 22:56

A distant relative of mine worked for a sponsor of Renault F1 team, I remember getting some Renault F1 books and stuff that explained regulations from around 2005. Not sure what company and if he still works there as it's been a few years since I saw him.

the Masked Lapwing · Post by **the Masked Lapwing** » 16 Jul 2013, 05:11

I saw a Red Bull at the Top Gear Festival at Eastern Creek earlier this year.

That's about it really :lol:

Hound55 · Post by **Hound55** » 16 Jul 2013, 05:29

My dad's cousin knows one of the people that helped with the sponsorship deal between GE and Caterham.
So I'm entirely off the radar :lol:

wsrgo · Post by **wsrgo** » 16 Jul 2013, 06:22

My maternal uncle is the boss of Timetooth Technologies, which worked with Algo (associated with McLaren) till 2010.

wsrgo · Post by **wsrgo** » 16 Jul 2013, 06:28

BTW, is this the right forum for this?

CoopsII · Post by **CoopsII** » 16 Jul 2013, 06:40

My Pa used to work for a large US engineering company who once had a sponsor sticker on a NASCAR for a few races in the early eighties.

Its not F1 but its all I've got.

Shizuka · Post by **Shizuka** » 16 Jul 2013, 06:53

Same nationality as HWNSNBM.

Backmarker · Post by **Backmarker** » 16 Jul 2013, 07:36

Shizuka wrote:Same nationality as HWNSNBM.

If we had a Monegasque member, they would stand a good chance of knowing a number of drivers.

Post by **tommykl** » 16 Jul 2013, 07:39

Shizuka wrote:Same nationality as HWNSNBM.

/thread

Ferrim · Post by **Ferrim** » 16 Jul 2013, 07:47

I'm from Spain and my first name is Fernando.

Sadly, I'm not a two time F1 champion, I don't work for Ferrari, my surname is not Alonso... and I don't make even a thousandth of what he earns :lol:

andrew2209 · Post by **andrew2209** » 16 Jul 2013, 08:58

No connection really, but my dream job would be to be an engineer in Formula 1.

madmark1974 · Post by **madmark1974** » 16 Jul 2013, 09:21

From before I was born, until I was about 3 years old, my Dad worked at Lotus Cars at their base in Hethel, Norfolk. This would be from the late 1960s to mid 1970s. Although he was in the road car division rather than
the F1 side, the employees were able to watch the F1 cars on their test track, and Dad got to meet Colin Chapman a few times.

When Emerson Fittipaldi won the WDC for Lotus in 1972, a commemorative book was produced called "A Very Special Year" and was given out to (I believe) all Lotus employees, along with a Die-Cast Scale Model of the car,
and we still have both. The book is individually signed by Colin Chapman, sadly it's in a bit of a state these days but I'm sure it'd be worth a bit.

EDIT : Found one on Ebay : http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/A-VERY-SPECIAL-YEAR-Lotus-72-Emerson-Fittipaldi-/330953796773?pt=Non_Fiction&hash=item4d0e622ca5#ht_373wt_1399

So, to quote an old cliche "F1 has always been in my blood", we always had an interest in and supported Lotus, Elio de Angelis was the first driver I really liked (never rated Mansell at Lotus), followed by Senna, who I followed to
McLaren and have stuck with supporting them ever since ...

I've never been to a Grand Prix but have seen many future F1 drivers at my local track, Snetterton, and attended a few WEC races in the early 1990s (on hospitality with Hydro Aluminium, sponsors of Brun Motorsport), saw Martin
Brundle win at Silverstone in the Silk Cut Jaguar, a race in which Sauber Mercedes ran a junior team with one of the cars driven by a certain Michael Schumacher, and got to meet Walter Brun and drivers Oscar Larrauri (F1 reject) and
Harold Huysman. My Dad won a raffle for a race helmet signed by Brun and the drivers, so we have a proper piece of reject 'merchandise' there. We were discussing selling the helmet a while ago, but don't really have much idea of
what's best to do with it (is Ebay really the best option?). So, to answer the question "How close are you to F1" I could say that if I were to put that helmet on, I can share space with a true F1 reject.

Mouthy316 · Post by **Mouthy316** » 16 Jul 2013, 09:28

My 2nd Cousin's husband has worked for McLaren, Williams, Renault (Lotus as it is now) and Mercedes GP. Not exactly sure of his role but it was to do with quality control of carbon fibre or something.
He told me one story when he was at Renault where he plucked up the courage to ask Fernando Alonso for an autograph but Fernando said "not now, I'm busy".
An hour later Fernando came to his office and asked "Where's the guy who asked for an autograph?", found him and signed a big poster for him.

That says class to me and I'm not the biggest Alonso fan!

Alextrax52 · Post by **Alextrax52** » 16 Jul 2013, 09:32

Twice on School Trips in Italy I've seen actual Ferrari F1 Cars: One of the Dominant Cars of the Early 2000's and the other which i saw a few days ago was Schumacher's first Ferrari: The 1996 F310

dinizintheoven · Post by **dinizintheoven** » 16 Jul 2013, 09:48

So, let's see what my credentials are:

My mother's side of the family are called Bailey, just like Julian.
I've got the same hair as Jackie Stewart had in 1971.
I've got one arm shorter than the other (in a way), just like Alessandro Nannini.
I had a Scalextric Benetton B189 and Renault RS01 (which slid about all over the place before it broke).
I still have both Codemasters' Grand Prix games for the ZX Spectrum (and for anyone complaining about what CM do to their F1 games now, you really have no idea how lucky you are...)
I went to school with Damon Hill's mum's hairdresser's grandson.
My great aunt once bought a battered sausage from the same fish and chip shop that John Booth grew up next door to.
My car has wheels on it, just like a Formula 1 car, and the rear tyres are Michelins.

Oh, and I went to the British Grand Prix in 1991. I've still got the mug with Nigel Mansell's Williams on it, and the official programme with all that rejectful goodness in it. And I saw Murray Walker wandering around the merch area afterwards.

WaffleCat · Post by **WaffleCat** » 16 Jul 2013, 10:57

I,actually,have some pretty high-up links for some who is 16.

Let's see,I got autographs from Heikki Kovalainen,Jarno Trulli,Vitantonio Liuzzi, Nick Heidfeld, Robert Kubica,Romain Grosjean,DC & Brundle, Damon Hill, Adrian Sutil,Sebastian Buemi and Niki Lauda. I also managed to have some reasonable chatter with Lauda,Vijay Mallya and Sir Frank Williams himself.

Not to mention I got a shirt signed by Lewis Hamilton,partially because I left my autograph book in my hotel room that day.

Not to mention that I had dinner in a teppenyaki restaurant room the day before Mr Bernie Ecclestone booked the room for dinner,or so I'm told.

These perks come when your dad is a very high-ranking worker in a hotel company where most F1 drivers stay for the Malaysian Grand Prix. Lucky me,I guess...

Faustus · Post by **Faustus** » 16 Jul 2013, 12:59

14 Hundred Hours wrote:I had work experience at Williams and Force India but have absolutely no connection to them now. I'm also going to work at Xtrac for two weeks in August so that's pretty close to F1!

Sweet!

Jocke1 · Post by **Jocke1** » 16 Jul 2013, 16:30

How close am I to F1?

I think I saw a guy in a gas station once. He might have worn a Williams cap.
Then again, it might not necessarily have stood 'Williams' on the cap.
And in fact, thinking back on it now, I don't think there even was a guy there.
I might have been alone, it was pretty dark I recall...

watka · Post by **watka** » 16 Jul 2013, 17:59

I spoke to a old chap on the bus the other week who used to work for Brabham when they had their factory in Chessington. He told me that he was invited to a lot of Nelson Piquet's parties but he was too old to be hanging around with young 'uns like him, surrounded my women and crates of beer.

F1 Adam · Post by **F1 Adam** » 16 Jul 2013, 18:17

I've got the press officer at Caterham F1's business card on my desk at work.

I also have a Ferrari business card but it's for a bloke in charge of the road car divison rather than F1.