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iSport.in brings to you the experience of Red Bull F1 team assembling their car for the upcoming event 'Speed-Link' in Bombay.

Looking at the dummy McLaren at Oberoi mall in Bombay was the closest I ever got to a F1(though it wasnt the real one) car, till today. Watching a F1 car zoom past oneself on a proper track has always been every F1 fan's and for that matter even a petrol head's dream, but being able to look at it up close and observe every single minute detail and parts of the engineering marvel is probably on the 'things to do before I die' list even though it may be lower than the 'attend a MetallicA concert’! But none the less it was a dream till today. iSport.in was invited to attend the Red Bull F1 Racing car assembly today here in Bombay prior to the event 'Speed-Link' where David Coulthard himself will be driving the 2006 Red Bull F1 Racing car on October the 11th.

The event started with a warm welcome at the JW Marriott Juhu and a glimpse of the F1 car covered up under the sheets. I was thinking to myself what part of the car am I going to look at first and was hoping they allow us to get as close as we`d like to. Only the tyres were visible and FYI they were the extreme wet tyres, I think RBR F1 must have been worried of the recent heavy showers in Bombay.

One obviously wants to sit in a F1 garage and watch the mechanics pick each and every single part from the boxes and hook them to the car, well I was being a little too optimistic to see how the engine and gearbox are bolted onto the car but considering the mobile garage that RBR setup in the hotel I wasn't going to let this bit affect me. The car was held in a metal cage kind of structure which rolls with car to avoid and damage to the body part, completely concealed within was a car without the front and rear wings, engine cover, steering wheel, driver’s seat and some smaller bits here and there.

As the team slowly started their usual procedure (which they might have carried out a million times) of setting the tools in place and lifting the car onto an elevated position to work on. One by one the men did their bits and soon the car was stripped of all the covers and tyres, as one got to fit the rear diffuser and rear wing the others were working on cleaning the air filter and the intake manifolds (God that intake made of carbon fiber looked beautiful). One begins to wonder what kind of synchronisation required to take a F1 car apart and put it back together in matter of hours. Also one gets flashes of the garages we are usually accustomed to seeing, grease here and engine oil there, tools scattered all over the place and a lot of commotion. Well this was the exact opposite of that.

The best part of the experience was that we were allowed to get close to the car as the mechanics were done fitting the essentials, actually interacting with them as they were putting the other pieces of the jigsaw together. As I was moving around the car still thinking is this real, I started talking to one of the mechanics about the things they had to do to for the Sea-Link road surface and conditions, and was surprised to know there wasn't much except the fins on side pods and the radiator fans! Is our sea link road surface that good to allow a F1 car to run on it without the guys worried about ground clearance? for once I felt proud about the roads in Bombay!

A brief chat with one the team's senior member gave us an insight on how Red Bull F1 Racing personal thinks of the current issues in F1 and the tremendous success of theirs in the 2009 season. Very excited to see new teams come in the next season and believes that whichever team starts with a clean slate can have a good chance to perform well, though not beat the champions. Concerns over the in-season testing ban were also felt as it drastically slows down the car development process and the gamble involved in designing the car. If you get it wrong at first then Friday testing is the only time to develop your car, well that’s quiet a steep slope to climb for any team, McLaren are one example as per the mechanics.

Being one of the few to witness the process, I`d like to share a few things that I noticed about the car. Firstly once the nose cone and the front wing are in place, the car looks pretty long and wide too. The rear suspension unit is a masterpiece and the packaging behind the engine is flawless, silver and gold foil is used for covering important cables and areas to reflect as much heat as possible. The front and rear disc brakes have their calipers on opposite side to improve weight distribution, how brilliant is that! The brake discs are so closely packed with the suspension on wheel support that I was beginning to wonder if there is any clearance between the two, but after quiet a long inspection and a chat with the mechanics I saw the smallest of a gap to exist between the rear disc brakes which will be rotating at mind boggling speeds as the car runs close to 300 kmph! The radiators are huge and the exhaust pipes are indeed a piece of art with perfect welding joints and curved 5 into 1 pipe design on either side.

One particular thing you always here while watching the F1 commentary on TV is the importance of lower centre of gravity in these cars, and if you see the pictures of the car without the engine cover, its hard to believe there actually is a V10 engine and 7 speed gearbox beneath that air intake. The drive shaft probably is just centimeters above the car floor which its self is only about 5 cm clear from the ground.

The last piece to complete the car assembly was the David Coulthard sticker on either side of the driver’s seat and then she was ready to roll.

This car in particular could not be classified as RB3 as it had some parts from the previous and later version of cars and now has become a show car which will run on the Bandra-Worli sea link on the 11th of October. Be there to hear the sweet sound of a V10 F1 engine!