GB3 front-runner Joel Granfors and GB4 title-challenger Nikolas Taylor received their prize tour of the Oracle Red Bull Racing F1 Technology Campus yesterday (Monday), with the duo 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 and Taylor for leading their respective GB3 and GB4 Championship standings after the Donington Park rounds in June.
The day provided an opportunity for the Fortec drivers 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, they were then whisked away to the main reception area, where every trophy won by the team is on show in a stunning floor-to-ceiling display.
They also got a glimpse of the various manufacturing and design 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, with a look at the 3D printing processes that go into creating the thousands of parts produced each year for wind tunnel testing, and a tour of the machine shop where parts were being manufactured for future races in state of the art machines.
The experience 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 realise 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!"
Taylor added: "It's been a pretty astonishing day. Thanks to John Cavill and the GB4 Championship for making it happen.
"To see how everything works in a massive factory just to put together a race car is amazing.
"I'm pretty sure we saw two monocoques from the cars that are racing at Silverstone this weekend and to see them so close, within touching distance, was pretty cool.
"When you walk through the reception and see those trophies, you just want that sort of thing to happen in your career."
For more information about each championship, visit www.gb-3.net and www.gb-4.net.