Where were you at 05:00 last Thursday morning? Tucked up in bed? Perhaps awake, relishing the thought of another couple of hours’ sleep before you needed to get ready for work? Not if you are a member of the Renault F1 Team Fan Club…
More than 850 members of the Club visited the Catalunya Circuit for the opening round of testing for the 2005 championship season where they visited the French team’s pit, pit-lane and watched the cars from the grandstands surrounding the Spanish track.
5:00 am was the meeting time, at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport, for 350 people drawn from the fan club, Renault and the Renault dealer network, to make a special day-trip to Spain. A chartered aircraft was waiting, ready to fly them to Barcelona for a day of ‘F1 Emotion’ – a VIP behind the scenes view of the winter’s first test session at the Catalan circuit. When they arrived, they were joined by 500 more fans who had made their way to Barcelona by their own means.
Guests rubbed shoulders with new recruit Giancarlo Fisichella, got the opportunity to meet test driver Franck Montagny and received guided behind the scenes tours of the team’s garage, as well as keeping an eye on the action out on track from viewing areas around the circuit and privileged pit-lane access. In addition, one garage was reserved for a very special visitor – chassis R23-04, Fernando Alonso’s Hungarian Grand Prix winning car from 2003.
The day flew past in a blur of camera flashes, autographs and enthusiastic encouragement from a sizeable contingent in the huge main grandstand at the Circuit de Catalunya. On a cold winter’s day in Spain, it was a perfect reminder of the burning passion that drives the team to ever greater heights – the dedicated support of its fans.
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