on privileged F1 factory visit
Tom Harvey admitted that he was ‘buzzing’ after an ‘amazing, once-in-a-lifetime’ tour of the McLaren-Mercedes F1 factory during the course of which he met his hero Lewis Hamilton – a man whose exploits the highly-rated young South Wales speed demon hopes one day to emulate.
Tom was invited to take part in the VIP visit along with several of his rivals and friends from the national Formula Kart Stars (FKS) Championship – the same series as first set Hamilton himself on the fast track to future superstardom just under a decade-and-a-half-ago, and one now supported by both the 2008 F1 World Champion and the sport’s influential ringmaster Bernie Ecclestone.
The 12-year-old Bonvilston-based hotshot earned his place on the trip by dint of finishing a superb third in the country in the 2010 MSA British Cadet class of FKS – although he admitted that initially, he didn’t know if he would be able to go at all...
“I was really excited when I found out about it,” he enthused. “It’s not every day you get to go round an F1 factory or meet an F1 World Champion, is it?! Unfortunately, though, the day before the visit I felt really ill – I had an infection in my eye, cold sores and a really bad head all day and almost couldn’t go, but I’m so glad I did because it was just such an amazing experience!”
A guided tour of the impressive McLaren headquarters in Woking, Surrey, began with a privileged opportunity to take a look at some of the team’s most celebrated and successful creations, from the beautifully-preserved, very first model campaigned by its eponymous founder Bruce McLaren almost half a century ago through the nigh-on invincible MP4/4 of 1988 and right up to Lewis Hamilton’s title-winning car of 2008.
There was also the pioneering, never-raced six-wheeler of the 1970s, the distinctive M23 with its innovative high airbox – a car driven to world championship glory by Brazil’s Emerson Fittipaldi back in 1974 – as well as the machines from McLaren’s dominant era in the 1980s, when the likes of Niki Lauda, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna all claimed the ultimate prize behind the wheel of one of the red-and-white cars.
“For just a normal person like me, to get to see all the old cars and feel so much history there was just incredible!” Tom confessed, having palpably enjoyed his lesson in McLaren’s tremendous heritage. “I got to touch Senna’s car – a car that was once driven by the greatest legend in motorsport...”
Moving nearer to the present day, Mika Hakkinen and Kimi Raikkonen’s cars were also on show, and it was not just F1, either, with models that competed in the iconic Indianapolis 500 across the Pond in America, the similarly stateside Can-Am Series and the famous round-the-clock Le Mans 24 Hours – including the race-winning 1995 entry and striking Gulf-liveried F1 GTR of two years later. There was even the unique, record-breaking MP4-T5 soapbox, at 80mph downhill, the fastest ‘Gravity Racer’ of the 2002 Goodwood Festival of Speed.
“We saw the McLaren F1 supercar that Lewis wants, too,” revealed the Cowbridge High School pupil, adding that he and his fellow future stars were allowed a sneak peek inside the McLaren road car factory, an experience that he reflected was ‘really cool’. “Ron Dennis has said he can have it when he wins three F1 World Championships, and Lewis told us he has put some individual marks inside the car, so if they switch it he’ll know!”
Other highlights included the team’s impressive collection of 600-plus drivers’ and constructors’ trophies that has accumulated over the years – including one, won by Hamilton, that is 100 per cent recycled – a glimpse of the new, 2011 McLaren chassis ‘hot-off-the-press’ and the gym with its steering wheel weights machine that caused Tom to quip: “It’s nuts to think I’ve touched the same equipment that Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button use to train, just mental!”
“We also saw the team’s wind tunnel,” he went on. “They can replicate the wind you experience going through a corner at racing speed – a real F1 car hits winds of 240mph, which is impossible to produce in a wind tunnel, so they scale the car down to half-size for 120mph winds. It’s brilliant what they can do! I wish I was driving one of their cars...”
Give it time, and that wish may just come true should Tom maintain his current impressive form, but in the meantime, the Vale of Glamorgan ace admitted that the greatest highlight of the day was when he met Hamilton himself for the first time, as he plots his own career trajectory with the ultimate goal of eventually joining the 14-time grand prix-winner on the grid.
“I’m a really big fan of his,” he acknowledged. “He’s an excellent driver, smooth round the corners but aggressive when it comes to overtaking, which is how I try to be, too. He’s the best overtaker in F1 – when he
places the nose of his car up the inside of someone, you just know he’s going to get past. He really focuses on what he has to do and is a brilliant role model, I think.
“He was really chilled when we met him, cool as a cucumber. It was a bit surreal, because he went around the room shaking all of our hands, almost like he wasn’t the big F1 star but like we were the important ones instead! Considering Lewis is my favourite racing driver, to be able to meet him was just awesome!
“He spoke to each of us in-turn and remembered all of our names, which I thought was amazing. He told us what his favourite karting circuits were from when he raced in karts – Clay Pigeon and Rowrah – and I asked him what he thinks about before he goes out onto the grid. He said he just tries to chill by putting on a comedy show or listening to music.
“I have a lucky pair of boxers, too, so I asked him about superstitions; he said you shouldn’t really have superstitions as a racing driver, because if you lose those lucky pants, you’ll be out of your routine and your mind won’t be focussed properly. I thought that was really good advice. He taught us all his little secrets, and told us how important it is to have a healthy rivalry with your team-mate as well.
“I was just buzzing afterwards, and I want to say a big ‘thank you’ to FKS for such a fantastic opportunity, to McLaren for letting us all look round and to Lewis for taking the time out to talk to us like he did. It really was an amazing opportunity – the kind that only comes around once-in-a-lifetime. Unless I get to drive for them when I’m older, of course...”
