Lyneham witnesses many different sounds in
the background skies, with the array of aircraft sounds we
experience, that either arrive, depart or approach the busy
military airfield. You may have heard Wednesday morning a
rather different purring sound of a Formula 1 racing car resonance
in the background, it was not the aircraft undergoing trials
for a super fast engine but we had the Honda Racing team on
the station testing their car for a new world record attempt.
Lyneham’s Fat Albert, C130 Hercules, was given the
ultimate run for his money on 29 Mar 06. A Honda Formula One
racing car was zipping down the main runway at speeds in excess
of 180 miles per hour in preparation for a World Record attempt
later this year at Bonneville Salt Flats. Albert only reaches
approximately 110 mph down the runway before take off.
A team of personnel from Honda Racing Formula One Team was
visiting RAF Lyneham to conduct low-speed testing on their
Bonneville 400 car. The Bonneville 400 project is an attempt
by the Honda Team to set the fastest ever speed in a Formula
One car and this was achieved at Mojave, California last year
when the car reached 415kph. The team are now preparing to
take this car to the Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah, USA to set
the record for the fastest F1 car over a measured mile. The
Team were initially scheduled to conduct low speed testing
at another airfield, however this fell through at short notice
and it was here that Lyneham stepped up to the breach and
the Station Commander agreed to allow Honda to use Lyneham’s
main runway for the day.
Throughout the morning, the car made 4 runs of 2 or 4 lengths
of the runway collecting data on the car’s onboard systems,
with some 45 minutes allowed between runs to download the
data and allow the mechanics and engineers to adjust the set
up of the car.
The team’s Manager John Digby and the driver Alan
van der Merwe were both extremely happy with the results
of the test runs, claiming, in fact, that it was one of the
most straightforward and beneficial runs they had made to-date!
Once the testing had finished, the team were hosted for lunch
in the Junior Ranks Mess by a selection of RAF Lyneham’s
personnel. The team were kind enough to spend the afternoon
showing off the car to Lyneham personnel and children from
Lyneham Junior School. As a thank you, the team were shown
around a Tornado F3, visiting from RAF Leuchars, and of course
a C130 Hercules.
Gary Savage, Honda Team Technical Director said: “I
would like to extend a big thank you all RAF Lyneham personnel
for accommodating us and making it such a successful day for
the team. I hope that this marks the start of a fruitful relationship
between Honda Racing F1 and RAF Lyneham. This test today was
the first test and shakedown of the car's fly-by-wire rudder
that we have fitted, for safety purposes to help us cope with
the low grip situations at Bonneville. Secondly, it was the
final shakedown before the Bonneville record attempt”.
John Digby, Honda Team Manager said: “We met and exceeded
all our objectives at RAF Lyneham. This would not have been
possible without the help of the Fire and Rescue crew, the
Control Tower and in particular the assistance of all the
Operations staff. The weather was not ideal, however the windy
conditions did help us with the rudder tuning which was our
main objective for the day. We hope that our presence did
not cause too much disruption and we very much hope that we
will be able to have a healthy relationship with RAF Lyneham
in the future.”
Wing Commander Maddox, Officer Commanding United Kingdom
Mobile Air Movements Squadron, who oversaw the project said:
“It is very interesting to see the processes the Honda
Team goes through to put a car onto the track. It is not dissimilar
to the logistical operations of the military of putting an
aircraft in another country. Both teams face difficult challenges,
but over come them with lots of team spirit and a sense of
purpose. It would be great to work together with Honda again
in the future.”
Thanks go to Gary Savage and John Digby from Honda and all
the RAF Lyneham personnel who made it such a successful day
and we wish the Team the best of luck for their runs at Bonneville
this summer. To find out more about the Honda Bonneville 400
project, go to www.bonneville400.com. |
