Previous | Next :: Its All Over For The Honda F1 Race Team : Jerez : Spain | December 6, 2008, 1:47 am

Redneck Marc pointed out on the blog yesterday that the Honda Formula 1 Race team was being closed down....... a fact that had completely passed me by....... even though I had previously been their photographer shooting advertising images with them. Redneck Marc was on this shoot with me in Jerez Spain a test day........ on which I was nearly run down by Michael Schumacher.......... (for anyone too American to know him its like being run down by Tiger Woods or Babe Ruth.......) ........ stuck and killed in the pit lane by the Ferrari of 7 times F1 world Champion Michael Schumacher I guess its more glam than going under a bus on the Old Kent Road......... but it all adds up to the same thing..........

It costs $200million a year to run an F1 team...... its no wonder Honda are getting out...... rumor has it that you can buy the whole operating team for $1....... but you will need another $200 million to keep it operational for a year...........

I loved being in their garage during race and practice days......... its madness of course you need to be a petrol head to enjoy F1....... but really a lot of people love it worldwide. I Shot great stuff of the Honda team cars driven by Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello some shot in the mad blur style you see deployed on taxis........ I was really looking for one of those......... but I also shot tons of stuff with the mechanics and the team in the pit garage and trailers........... none of which appears to be on the drives I have plugged in to my laptop right now......... when I search for Honda I get only this image above............ its of the symbol on the warning covers running over the cables running from the mighty Honda articulated trucks full of technology measuring the telemetry of the car to the Honda pit garage on race days.

This image was obviously not what I had been looking for........... but it suddenly seemed to sum up the state of affairs for the Honda team. I'm sad to learn apparently they will no longer have jobs as of today.

Cheers Jez XX

PS........... I see i was underestimating by more than 50% the cost of running the team............ Honda spends about 50 billion yen ($542 million) a year to maintain the racing team, the Nikkei newspaper reported.