GB3 front-runner Joel Granfors received his prize tour of the Oracle Red Bull Racing F1 Technology Campus yesterday (Monday), with the Swedish contender enjoying a detail look at one of the sport’s state of the art facilities.
The prize, provided by John Cavill, was awarded to Granfors for leading the GB3 Championship standings after the Donington Park rounds in June.
The day provided an opportunity for the 16-year-old to get a clear vision of how F1’s top teams go about their work, and began in the MK-7 event space, where a stunning line-up of the team’s cars since 2005 are on display, including Max Verstappen’s 2022 title winner.
If that wasn’t inspiring enough, Granfors was then whisked away to the main reception area, where every trophy won by the team is on a floor-to-ceiling display.
He was also able to see the various manufacturing processes that enable championships to be won, as well as a viewing of this year’s RB18 chassis that was undergoing a secretive painting process ahead of this weekend’s British Grand Prix.
Some of the latest technology was also on show, as Granfors was shown the 3D printing processes that go into creating the thousands of parts produced each year for wind tunnel testing, and a look at the machine shop where parts were being manufactured for future races in state of the art machines.
The tour also took in a visit to the autoclaves where carbon fibre race parts are cured and prepared at high temperatures, as well as a stop by the NASA-designed operations room, which becomes a hive of activity on race weekends, where race-winning race strategy decisions are often made.
Finally, the tour ended in the race bays, where the cars for this weekend were being prepared, with one even fired up into life during the visit.
“It’s been amazing!” Granfors enthused. “A big thanks to John Cavill and GB3 for making this possible and it’s been an amazing day.
“It’s was great to see how big this thing is, they said they had to create 25,000 parts every year per car which is absolutely stunning. I thought maybe 200 parts maximum but it just exceeded my expectations.
“It makes you realise how hard you need to work to achieve your goals. It’s so big, like nothing you can even imagine, it’s been a really exciting day. It’s given me more motivation ahead of our next round at Spa!”