F1

Meet The Team: Adam

Its another Monday and the 5th instalment of our Meet The Team series! This week we meet Adam, our electric specialist. Adam is our youngest

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Monaco Grand Prix 2023

Bridge Classic Cars Director, Gordon, has been spending some time in France lately in order to attend the Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix.

Our good friend, Jack, was also at the event; between them, they shared some incredible photos and videos of the race.

The Monaco Grand Prix is considered one of the most challenging of the racing calendar. The iconic street circuit includes narrow lanes, sharp turns, and unforgiving barriers that can make a seemingly small error have potentially catastrophic consequences.

From Gordon making his arrival by sea to the impressive view that Jack had, the weekend looked to be a fantastic experience for all in attendance.

Mercedes Mechanical Mistake Cost Them The Race

Mercedes found themselves at the heart of disaster at the Monaco GP as Valtteri Bottas’ front right tyre couldn’t be removed during a pitstop on lap 30. This left Valtteri no option but to retire his car

Mercedes have still not been able to remove the wheel due to a damaged wheel nut and can only be removed back at their workshop where it will all need to come apart.

“We eventually didn’t get the wheel off, it is sat in our garage with the wheel still on it,” Mercedes technical director James Allison said, as quoted by Motorsport.com. “It will have to be ground off, get a Dremel out and painfully slice through the remnants of the wheel nut. We will do that back at the factory.”

Team boss Toto Wolff added that it had “never happened to that extent before” and was “something we need to understand”.

The instance happened after the pit stop gun wasn’t applied at a clean angle, causing it to chip away the driving faces of the nut.

Even rival team Ferarri tried to help remove the wheel after the race but with no luck.

Mistakes can be made when working on cars, from the simplest of errors to the larger issues, each in their own is easy to make and often comes with frustrating consequences, but its all part of working with complex machinery.

You can read an in-depth review of the mechanical blunder here or alternatively, click below.

Jessica Hawkins Signed As F1 Aston Martin Driver Ambassador

W Series and Stunt driver, Jessica Hawkins has been signed as an F1 Aston Martin Driver Ambassador, announced today.

Hawkins has said about the announcement; “I am incredibly excited to be joining Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team as its new driver ambassador, and I am really looking forward to working with Lance StrollSebastian VettelNico Hülkenberg and the rest of the team. In fact, although it will surely be a hell of a lot of hard work, it is a dream come true for me. Besides, I am definitely not afraid of hard work.

I also want to pay tribute and say thank you to W Series, which is a brilliant championship without which I would simply never have got this unbelievable chance to work within such a great Formula One team.

I would particularly like to say a big thanks to W Series’ three most senior people, Sean Wadsworth, Catherine Bond Muir and Dave Ryan. Without their amazing efforts to put W Series on the motorsport map in such a brilliant way and in such a short time, female drivers like me would never have found our way onto the radar screens of the likes of Otmar Szafnauer, to whom I should also say a massive thank you.”

Jessica Hawkins stands as a fantastic representative and athlete for women in the sport as she strives to increase the diversity of the sport.

Read more here.

Remembering Murray Walker: The Defining Voice Of Formula 1

Motorsport legend Murray Walker has died aged 97. Best known for his iconic voice and commentating, Murray became synonymous with Formula 1. Murray is best remembered for his endearing and characterful commentating, leading to colloquialisms and mistakes soon referred to as Murray-isms. One of his most famous lines came about when announcing the Damon Hill became the F1 Champion in 1996; “”I’ve got to stop now, because I’ve got a lump in my throat”.

Damon Hill said in an interview after Murray’s death: “He could emote the events that happened in our sport. The shocking moments and the dramatic moments all have Murray’s reaction to them and he made those events stick in your mind forever. And he allowed himself not to be the know-it-all commentator, but the fan who, at times, got over-excited.”

Murray was passionate about all things with wheels and a motor, from bikes and cars. Although his career started in advertising, he soon brought his ear for catchy slogans to F1 in 1978.

“The iconic voice of our sport and a great man, thank you for all you did, you will never be forgotten,” said Lewis Hamilton.

In a touching video by Formula One, they describe Murray as part of the F1 family, for racers and fans, “It was never work to Murray, it was never just commentating, it was simply telling the world about something he loved. And for that, the world loved Murray too.”

You can read more about Murray Walker here. You can also see his life in pictures here.

According to Eurosport, here at the top Murray-isms:

“Unless I am very much mistaken…. I AM very much mistaken!”

“Mansell is slowing down, taking it easy. Oh no he isn’t IT’S A LAP RECORD.”

“This is an interesting circuit, because it has inclines. And not just up, but down as well.”

“The lead car is absolutely unique, except for the one behind it which is identical.”

“The most important part of the car is the nut that holds the wheel.”

“I know it’s an old cliche, but you can cut the atmosphere with a cricket stump.”

“Tambay’s hopes, which were nil before, are absolutely zero now.”

“And there’s no damage to the car. Except to the car itself.”

“That’s the first time he had started from the front row in a Grand Prix, having done so in Canada earlier this year.”

“Here in Malaysia, it doesn’t rain here by the bucketful, it rains by the ocean.”

“How you can crash into a wall without it being there in the first place is beyond me!”

“Excuse me while I interrupt myself”

“And the first five places are filled by five different cars.”

“And Damon Hill is following Damon Hill.”

“Michael Schumacher is leading Michael Schumacher.”

“Jean Alesi is 4th and 5th.”

“Villeneuve is now twelve seconds ahead of Villeneuve.”

“Frentzen is taking, er, reducing that gap between himself and Frentzen.”

“This has been a great season for Nelson Piquet, as he is now known, and always has been.”

“It’s lap 26 of 58, which unless I’m very much mistaken is half way.”

“I’m ready to stop my start watch.”

“Only a few more laps to go and then the action will begin. Unless this is the action, which it is!”

“I can’t imagine what kind of problem Senna has. I imagine it must be some sort of grip problem.”

“He’s obviously gone in for a pit stop. I say obviously, because I cannot see anything.”

“And the first three cars are all Escorts, which isn’t surprising as this is an all Escort race.”

“He is exactly 10 seconds ahead, or more approximately, 9.86 seconds.”

“Look up there! That’s the sky!”

“There’s nothing wrong with his car except that it’s on fire.”

“I don’t want to tempt fate but Damon Hill is now only half a lap from his first Grand Prix win and… and HE’S SLOWING DOWN, DAMON HILL IS SLOWING DOWN… HE’S… HE’S STOPPED!”

“As you look at the first four, the significant thing is that Alboreto is fifth.”

“He’s the only man on the track, except for his car.”

“You might think that’s not cricket, and it’s not. It’s motor racing.”

“And Michael Schumacher is actually in a very good position. He is in last place.”

“One light, two lights, three lights, four laps, five lights, go, go, go!”

“That’s history. I say history because it happened in the past.”

“There are a lot of IFs in Formula One, in fact IF is Formula One backwards!”

“Anything happens in Grand Prix racing, and it usually does.”

Fernando Alonso’s Sensational Demo Lap

Fernando Alonso wowed audiences this weekend with his demonstration lap in his 2005 R25 v10 Formula 1 car that won him the 2005 world championship.

Viewers who found the weekends race otherwise fairly tame counted Alonso’s appearance as the highlight of their F1 experience.

2005 was the last era of V10 before Formula 1 moved to the more efficient Turbo Charged V8’s. The newer V8 engines are quieter, smaller and more efficient than their raucous 2005 predecessors however they don’t carry the same iconic roar.

Alonso suggested that the screaming v10 engine is what modern F1 is missing, as it evokes such emotions with its sound that the new machinery cannot match.

You can see the video here.

“It is something that we are missing honestly,” Alonso said after his lap.

“I think not only the fans, everyone in the paddock, we miss the sound. We miss the Formula 1 that we got in love with when we were kids and we were watching television.

“So now, to witness this car at this circuit, I think it was pretty special for everyone in the paddock.”

Alonso’s demonstration lap stood as a powerful sign off for the last race of the season. In a tweet on Saturday, Alonso expressed his excitement for the car and for his return with newly re-named Renault next year.

Meet The Team: Adam

Its another Monday and the 5th instalment of our Meet The Team series! This week we meet Adam, our electric specialist.

Adam is our youngest member of the team however he comes with a vast amount of experience in the car engineering industry. Although he’s currently our electrical specialist, Adam has worked in both electrics and car interiors.

Adam first started with a local automotive company where he worked on re-upholstering vehicle interiors, spending a lot of time on Toyotas. During this time he worked towards an apprenticeship in Manual Handling.

He then moved on to working with high-performance cars at BF1 Systems where he was involved in building wiring looms for F1 cars, touring cars and high-end motorsports vehicles. Adam also worked as part of a team that produced a wiring loom for the Ferrari F1 team. Whilst working here, Adam also went through in house training alongside one of the pioneering engineers in the British racing scene. Not only that, but Adam was also studying an apprenticeship at Poultec in Norwich building parts fo Speedway bikes.

In February 2019, Adam joined Mercedes AMG HPP where he was building wiring looms for F1 cars and assisting with the formula e-cars.

With such an impressive experience so far, it’s a great pleasure to welcome Adam to the team as one of our most recent additions in the workshop.

Adam told us about his eagerness to continue to learn and grow, wanting to pick up more knowledge about various aspects of the industry. We hope to be able to further his experience in electrics as well as expand his knowledge in mechanical engineering.

“I’d like to continue with this career, I want to learn each aspect within the car industry, so having done car interiors and car electrical work, I would like to go on to be capable with engines and more of a mechanics role because ultimately I want to be building cars in my spare time”

For each member we look up their car of the year, the car that we’ve picked for Adams birth year is the Mercedes CLK GTR which also happens to be his dream track car!

Opinion: Lewis Hamilton Deserves To Be Knighted

With his recent 7th Grand Prix win, Lewis Hamilton has now become the joint-most successful F1 driver of all time, drawing with Michael Schumacher.

Image Credit: Macau Photo Agency

His hard work and determination have already given him a career of 94 wins and 97 podium finishes. Hamilton’s success is clearly shown through the astonishing statistic that he has won more than 1 in 3 Grand Prix races he’s ever entered.

There are now strong calls for Hamilton to receive a knighthood for his sportsmanship. Hamilton did receive an MBE in 2008 after his debut championship race, however, he has so far been denied the higher honours among claims that Buckingham Palace is rethinking how titles are being given out.

With his great sporting achievements and amazing track record, fans hope for his name to be called in the New Years Honours list.

Lewis Hamilton has always and continues to stand as an amazing role model for children not only in the UK but around the world. In his comments as he crossed the finish line on Sunday, Hamilton said:

“Thank you so much, guys. That’s for all the kids out there who dream the impossible. You can do it too man! I believe in you guys! Thank you so much, everyone, for your support.”

Transporting a Formula One Car

Earlier this week Freddie and Craig had the wonderful opportunity to transport this incredible 2011 Sauber F1 car. Our covered, secure trailer is perfect for discreetly transporting precious cargo.

This F12 car was raced by the both Serio Perez (Barcelona and Turkey) and Kamui Kobayashi (Singapore).

Specs:

  • Carbon-fibre monocoque
  • Suspension – Upper and lower wishbones (front and rear), inboard springs and dampers actuated by pushrods.
  • Brakes – Brembo six-piston callipers, Carbon pads and disks
  • Transmission – Ferrari 7-speed quick shift gearbox, carbon, longitudinally mounted, carbon-fibre clutch.
  • Steering wheel – Sauber F1 team
  • Kers – Ferrari kers system
  • Tyres – Pirelli P Zero F1
  • Wheels – OZ
  • Engine – Ferrari 056, NA V8, 90 degree cyliner angle, Sand cast aluminium cylinder block, 3L displacement, 98mm bore, Electronic injection and ignition, Weighing under 95kg.

Do you need a classic or special vehicle transported? Give our friendly team a call today to discuss your needs.

We’ve just been sent this image of the F1 car without it’s livery, ready for delivery.