BAR-Talk.com Newsletter 015

By Phil Huff (27/01/2005)
January 27 2005

To say things didn't quite go to plan would be an understatement. Yes, BAR-Talk.com's trip to Barcelona for the launch of the BAR Honda 007 hit a few problems, but we're getting through them now!

We got up on Sunday morning, jumped in to our Skoda Superb hire car, and headed off to the Circuit de Catalunya. We got the photographs from the studio launch, and got the photo's from the proper track launch. We sat through the press conference, took some more photographs, and got a couple of our questions answered. I then, somehow, came down incredibly ill.

I have never felt worse in my entire life, and now remember little of the event and most of the following week. I couldn't see, I hurt, I couldn't concentrate on anything, and I slept at one point for 40 hours solid.

Not subscribed to the BAR-Talk.com Newsletter? Click here to register now. Once registered, you can also use your details on the BAR-Talk.com Message Board and throughout the rest of SportNetwork.

Apologies therefore for not keeping the site as up to date as possible, especially through one of the most important times of the year. However, I have to offer full public thanks to Jamie Makin from our sister site at SauberSpeak.co.uk for stepping in and getting the information on the new car out there.

I'm getting married in a few weeks, and will be having a month off on honeymoon, and Jamie will be filling in again. It's a great relief to me to know that the site is in good hands, and I'm sure you'll all make her feel very welcome.

She should certainly do a better job than the team appear to be doing right now - in 6 days testing of the new 007, there's been at least three engine failures. With the new rules requiring that engines last for two races, that's a worrying development.

David Richards isn't convinced that BAR will match their 2004 success either, warning Jenson Button that he's got a difficult year ahead. Given that Richards has played a large part in the preparations for 2005, and that new team boss Nick Fry was his right hand man, he might well have a point.

One thing he does have is an award. The BRDC handed Richards the Colin Chapman Trophy, a special award recognising his success over the last 20 years, something that perhaps came to a rather more sudden end in F1 than he anticipated. Jenson Button also took a couple of awards, scooping a BRDC Gold Star.

It's certainly a step up from the 'must do better' that I always ended up with.

I must do better with the next newsletter, too. If you're reading this on the website, subscribe to receive it by email now. I'm not going to be replicating it on the site for much longer, and I'm going to start giving prizes out in Newsletter Exclusive competitions.

First up will be a copy of highly rated Total Immersion Racing for the PC, a prize not to be missed.

Subscribe now, and I'll see you next week.

Phil Huff
BAR-Talk.com