Midland Toyota M16 launch

Proud to be Midland
By Huw Alban
February 7 2006

It’s Sunday 5th of February – 2 days after witnessing the launch of the first Midland Formula One race car, the M16, and the images and sounds from the day are still so fresh in my head that I still can’t quite believe that we were there.

As fans of the sport you can all imagine the feeling upon receiving the official invite from the team to be their guests at the launch of the M16? I can't find the right words to be honest (unusual for me) but I can tell you that I was very excited! I spent almost the entire week before the big day making sure that I had cleaned my camera lenses, cleaned the CCD on my digital camera, had plenty of freshly recharged batteries, charged up and tested my camcorder, refreshed my head on how to trim and encode video clips - the list seemed to go on and on.

We had checked with the team first as to what material we could use here at Midland F1 Online, and we wanted to be prepared. Despite this, the evening before and as soon as I got up on the Friday the nerves started jangling. I asked Phil how he was, "No problem, not worried," was his reply. I remember thinking that I wished I could have been that calm.

On the day we were ushered quickly through the front gates and followed the signs to the car park behind the Brooklands Suite. As we walked across the car park to the entrance to the building, Phil said nervously, "My stomachs going now," and I have to admit so was mine.

All so quickly we were there standing in this huge room, feeling very out of place, in amongst the likes of Christijan Albers, his girlfriend, Johnny Herbert, Louise Goodman, Tiago Monteiro (who remembered me again - top chap !), Alex Shnaider, Roman Rusinov, Tony Jardine, and the worlds press and TV journalists. I have to admit that I didn't know where to look or what to do, and was scared witless that someone would ask me who I was.

Fortunately a team transporter pulled up outside the suite and everyone started to move outside to watch the M16 being unloaded. We took up a position on the balcony and decided very quickly that it would be a good place to watch the car being unveiled. Before the proceedings got under way we were very lucky to be introduced to some of Christijan's and Tiago's management and hopefully we can take those experiences forward and both work together to the benefit of both drivers.

Everyone then started to move back inside in order to watch the key personnel interviews. The M16 meanwhile, shrouded in it's drape was being carefully positioned at an angle in front of the team transporter. The personnel interviews were a nightmare for me. I'd spent time carefully positioning a tripod with the camcorder on it in order to be ready for the unveiling, but completely neglected the fact that it was zero degrees outside. As soon as I brought the camcorder inside it immediately fogged up, and as a result Colin Kolles' interview was visually terrible. ITV (the British TV channel with the rights to broadcast the Formula One championship) pundit Tony Jardine ran the interview session, introducing the team and fielding the questions. Colin Kolles looked very nervous, and someone admitted to me afterwards that he was worried about the interview, but I thought that he did very well. Technical Director James Key looked simply exhausted, and I was impressed with the way that he stopped and spoke with anyone and everyone that asked him questions: admirable commitment on his part. Tiago and Christijan sounded very confident, and appeared to have already established a good relationship on which to work from, with both drivers individually admitting that they needed to work together to pull the team forward and develop this car. It was quite stirring stuff, and yet another reason for me as a fan to really look forward to the season proper.

After brief chats with the four development drivers everyone moved into the freezing temperatures outside and very quickly Tiago, Christijan, Alex, Colin, and the development drivers pulled the wraps off the new car. Poor Tiago had the front wing and wheels to uncover and his drape got stuck meaning he had to make a quick dash around the front of the car to free the cloth. I have to say that all the team members stood there on the day positively swelled with pride at the new car, and I have been told on the quiet that the staff at the factory are also very proud and confident in their new racing creation.

Phil and I kept out of the way, as we'd been advised to do, whilst the 'real' photographers craned forward and got their pictures of the car, the drivers, and the team bosses in various poses. TV companies then moved in very quickly to collar these people and secure their interviews, and it wasn't long before the throng of people around the car started to thin out.

I nipped downstairs, and was quickly joined by Phil to grab some images of the car closer up. It's worth always keeping your ears open in situations like this, as I overheard Adrian Burgess asking one photographer to stop taking very close up detail images of the rear wing: I kept my distance from the car after overhearing that.

It was a very special feeling to stand so close to this car. The livery and finish of this vehicle is simply stunning and the team are really going to stand out on the World Championship grid this year. I wish now that I'd been able to stand close to the nose cone and gently pat it to wish the chassis good luck for the season and it would have been a special image to have on this site too. Perhaps next time I'll have the confidence to ask and arrange the opportunity…

All too soon the team wanted to pack the car up and prepare it for some limited running in the afternoon. Phil and I decided that we really wanted to see that despite the zero degrees air temperatures and so retired back to the Brooklands suite for a chat, a bite of hot food to eat, and a can of Rhino energy drink.

Interviews of all kinds we still taking place all around us as we sat down and reviewed our pictures and video footage so far. Mental note to self: remember to pack your FlashTrax to PC connection lead so that you can start to work on video clips whilst waiting for the team to run the car. All that time preparing and I'd forgotten something. As Homer Simpson would say, "Doh !"

Phil and I ventured out in the car to plan our on track coverage. We'd decided to split up to double our chances of getting some decent pictures. A quick tip to garage 10 and a chat with the pit lane marshal revealed that the team were planning to hit the track with the new car at 14:30, so we scarpered quick and took up our positions. Phil went for the inside of Maggotts and I took the outside of Luffield.

At 14:40 a V8 engine fired up and the car could be heard entering the pit road. The team were only using the national circuit so very quickly the M16 shot past the Brooklands Suite and into Brooklands corner. Christijan Albers' first lap was very cautious, mind you the track was frozen, this was the cars first ever lap, and no doubt Christijan had been told not to prang it !

The car pitted immediately, but 15 minutes later ventured out for a further single exploratory lap. This time the car looked more confident, and Christijan was definitely less 'tipee-toee'.

Then came a long wait, and I gave up at Luffield and joined Phil at Maggotts. From there we witnessed a couple of runs, but the cold had got to both of us and we decided to end the day with a trip to the garage. From the pit wall we witnessed Christijan growing in confidence in the new car, with his laps looking more and more serious. With light failing fast the team called it a day around 16:00, although Phil did overheard one team staffer talking about a gearbox software issue which could have contributed to the cessation of running.

It's quite hard to describe to you how honoured we felt on Friday, and words cannot express our thanks to the team staff that put significant faith and trust in us in extending the invite. I hope that through the content that we've been able to create and share as a result of the experience, that our gratitude speaks for itself. I came away from Silverstone even more fired up and passionate about this team than when I started the day. I mentioned to Phil in the afternoon whilst we were waiting for the car to commence another run, that if you cut us open you'd find the word Midland just as if you'd cut through a stick of seaside rock. Right now as I finish this piece of text I really believe it to be true.

Huw Alban - 5th February 2006