Sebring 2005

[Fax]

Chris,
I don't know if you've ever done this or not but next time your over here you should think about taking a tour of the Hendicks Racing facility near Charlotte.  Most of the NASCAR teams are based right in the Charlotte area and most of them offer daily tours of the shops.  My dept. manager here at the office is like you a die-hard Gordon fan and every year goes to the spring race at Bristol, the Brickyard 400 at IMS and the autumn race at Charlotte.  While in the Carolina's he always tours a couple of the team's facilities, been to Hendicks, DEI, Childress, etc.
Fax

[Matt Harper]

Shame, shame, shame on you Matt.

See you and Sebring in a few weeks for a good slapping !  

Chris, you got me bang to rights. There were a couple of other mitigating circumstances, but I'll not make excuses for my unforgivable behavior.
I think your gritty enthusiasm for the sport in all it's form is a real credit to you. I'm not as dyed-in-the-wool a fan as I used to be and whether I like it or not, it's one of those things that kind of get taken for granted, because there is so much quality motorsport going on here.
I know this sounds a little trite, but that's how it is. UPS also give me Pepsi 400 hospitality at Daytona - and I like the race under the lights - but there's no excuse really for my no-show at the 500.

[Chris24]

Chris,
I don't know if you've ever done this or not but next time your over here you should think about taking a tour of the Hendicks Racing facility near Charlotte.  Most of the NASCAR teams are based right in the Charlotte area and most of them offer daily tours of the shops.  My dept. manager here at the office is like you a die-hard Gordon fan and every year goes to the spring race at Bristol, the Brickyard 400 at IMS and the autumn race at Charlotte.  While in the Carolina's he always tours a couple of the team's facilities, been to Hendicks, DEI, Childress, etc.
Fax

Fax,
Been there done it and pretty much bought the T shirt !

Whenever we go to Bristol we fly to Charlotte and spend a day or two going round all the shops. On my first visit to the 600 in 1996, I wrote to Hendricks ahead of my trip asking about the possibility of getting detail pictures of the Corvette GTP. They basically fell over themselves to help, opened the car up for me and then took my dad and I on a tour of Jeff Gordon's shop and the whole facility. And i mean the whole facility. Chassis shop, machine shops, engine building rooms, dyno rooms etc. Was shown what they do to an engine to modify it from a stock block to a race engine etc. Saw them testing one on the dyno etc. You could eat your dinner off the floor in the machine shop ! At the end of the tour they gave my dad and I a free jeff Gordon hat from the shops stock room.

A letter from England can go along way with the Nascar teams. The other year Bret Bodine spent 30 mins chatting with us and showing us around his team shop personally. He is a really nice person and its a shame he hasn't got a ride anymore other than driving the pace car.

I also did the Richard Petty ride along experience at Charlotte and that is awesume and a $99 well spent. My driver was the Busch driver Jimmy Kitchens.

[BigH]

They basically fell over themselves to help, opened the car up for me and then took my dad and I on a tour of Jeff Gordon's shop and the whole facility.

Jesus H Christ Chris!! Try that in the uk and the bastards will probably try to think of some reason to sue you! Why is it we get it so wrong over here? - I once dropped into the Lister workshops near here and when I made a similar enquiry was pretty well told to p*ss off. Now I know one of their engineers, and dropped his name, but to no avail - "he's not in today". I have to add that I wasn't smelling particularly bad that day, nor did I have the five day old winos beard and odd training shoes.
I reckon if I tried that at Woking they'd set the dogs on me, and then send a pair of psychos with pliers and a blowtorch round to visit the remaining members of my family.
Aaah, hospitality. Or maybe just hospitals.
H

[Fax]

You were ahead of me on that one Chris,
The NASCAR teams do a pretty good job of looking after their supporters, as Matt said there is so much quality competition for the motor sport enthusiast dollar over here that you better have something special up your sleave to keep your fans coming back for more.
The NASCAR drivers are every bit as big a celebs over here (maybe even more so) as the F1 guys over in your neck of the woods.  A buddy of mine has spent some time in Charlotte, was staying with some friends just down the street from where Jeff Gordon and his ex-missus lived and said that Jeff decided to move when one morning he was having breakfast and there were a bunch of photographers out on the lawn chasing his cat around trying to get photos of it.
H you mentioned Woking...I've got an invitation to visit Paragon (McLaren's headquarters)  Just have to find a way over there!
Fax

[BigH]

Hey Fax! I don't live far from Woking, let me know if you make it, and we'll have to meet up.
Have they mentioned wearing carbon fibre trousers or anything?
H

[Fax]

Its a deal H, first pint's on me. No mention of kevlar trousers but I suspect Ron does have a few German Shepherds patrolling the place.
Fax

[Steve Pyro]

I witnessed some pressure testing of some pipework at Paragon when the place was nearing completion.
The pipework was in connection with the big autoclaves that they cure the carbon fibre chassis structures in.

I was shown around the facility, bearing in mind this was prior to the car bits moving in.

I was lead to believe that they were going to allow tours around the plant (by prior arrangement) as a lot of the contruction areas have elevated glass walkways above and they (allegedly) received grant money because of this.

[BigH]

I suspect Ron does have a few German Shepherds

Throwing sausages at each other, I bet.
H

- We could squeeze a tour of Brooklands in as well, - see it before it's turned into a shrine to Mercedes.

[Snoring Rhino]

I got a tour around Maclaren (at the old Woking site)  back in 85/86 curtsey of a mate who was a fabricator (in the days when wishbones were made of internally webbed aluminium fabs). Ron was doing a stock check in a store and wanted to know if I had been to any other teams. The canteen was typical Formica tables and plastic chairs, but surrounded by glass cabinets with all the trophies on display, good motivation.
Good old days!

[Paddy_NL]

IRW>> you sound like a guy I know from the McLaren-forum; Richard
Those definitely were the days, no limits for real fans


Anyway, wishing you guys who go and visit Sebring (BigH, jpchenet et all) lots of fun, and bring back some good memories to share, will 'ya! We'll talk about at MB, sharing a cold one!

[Fax]

It would be interesting to see Paragon but to be honest I would be mostly interested in seeing the collection of historic McLaren's on display.  I have about as much interest in contemporary F1 as I do in underwater basket weaving.  Apparently Ron has spent a few years re-acquiring some of the more important examples of the Mclaren make and I'd love to have a good look around a M23 or some of the early McLaren/Project Four cars, the MP4/1 or MP4/4 Tag turbo would be nice (had a chance to get a good look at a Yardley M19 at the Mid-Ohio historics a few years back).
Fax

[jpchenet]

Haven't McLaren moved down to Portsmouth now??

[Steve Pyro]

Here's the McLaren Tech Centre / Paragon outside of Woking.

[Paddy_NL]

Yes, they are somewhere outwide Woking now. I'm on the list to visit the new headquarters as a team member somewhere in the near future I hope (should be spring). Pictures will be shared here if wanted