The Warm-Up Challenge: A Test of Skill and Courage

As the sun peeked over the horizon, it was time for a warm-up challenge between two drivers: Meas Star button and Average Joe Sutcliffe. The test would push Button out of his comfort zone, and he had to navigate through 12 laps on a road-legal Honda Civic Type RS. The goal was to demonstrate how close a skilled driver like Button could get to one of the most wanted men on the F1 grid, Steve Harvey.

Button took off first, completing three flying laps before setting a fastest time of 1 minute and 14.40 seconds. This marked the start of the competition, and Button knew he had some ground to make up. He completed four more flying laps, with his last lap setting the fastest time of 1 minute and 13.45 seconds – just under a second quicker than Steve Harvey's. The data showed that Button was taking corners slightly later than Steve and carrying more speed into them.

Meanwhile, in the pit garage, James Rosetta, Honda Super Aguri F1 test driver and Formula 3 winner at Silverstone, prepared for his first run of the day with the RA107 car. This time, it would be driven by Rosetta himself. He began installation laps to verify the car's setup and ensure the circuit was warm enough for a good baseline lap time. As he drove, he recorded a benchmark comparison with Steve Harvey's performance on his first lap through the circuit.

Rosetta made driving an F1 car in tricky conditions look easy, but Steve Harvey had some concerns lingering. He had driven a Jaguar R3 around Barcelona three years ago and completed seven laps that day – a significant experience for him. The mechanics and engineers fine-tuned the RA107 for this test, aiming to prepare it for Steve's performance.

Steve Harvey took his seat in the RA107, feeling both pressure and confidence. His thoughts were focused on getting out of the pits cleanly and navigating through the circuit without stalling or spinning. As he prepared to start, Andrew, Jensen's race engineer, asked about turning off the pit lane speed limiter. Steve pressed the orange button, which was supposed to disable it, but wasn't quite sure what it did. He turned his attention to pressing the correct button – the yellow one.

The moment of truth arrived when Steve pulled away from the line and engaged the gear. The RA107 sprang into action, propelling him forward with incredible speed. As he approached the first corner, his visor began steaming up due to the air rushing in. Despite this, Steve was determined not to stall or spin, taking deep breaths as the car hurtled around the corners.

On the second lap, Steve finally felt more comfortable with the RA107. He had taken off quickly and navigated through the corners with confidence, albeit a bit recklessly. As he accelerated down the straight, his visor continued to steam up due to the air rushing in. This made it difficult for him to see, but he didn't let that deter him from pushing hard.

Steve's nerves were evident as he took in the sights and sounds around him. The crowd of spectators cheered him on, and Andrew urged him forward over the radio. Despite the challenges, Steve continued to drive with a mix of determination and caution.

Looking back at the video footage, it becomes clear that Steve faced incredible pressure during this test. His nerves were high, but he managed to stay focused and push through. The RA107 performed flawlessly under his control, thanks to the fine-tuning by Honda's mechanics and engineers. As Steve brought the car back into the pit lane, he had achieved something remarkable – a taste of F1 racing that would stay with him forever.

The RA107's performance was just as impressive. It showcased its speed, agility, and handling capabilities, setting a benchmark for future tests. With Rosetta at the helm, Honda was confident in its car's abilities and looked forward to the challenges ahead. As for Steve Harvey, his experience had opened his eyes to the world of F1 racing, and he knew that this was just the beginning of an exciting journey.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enarmed with buttons tips then and emboldened slightly by a glimpse of sunlight it was time for a warm-up challenge a time trial between meast Star button and Average Joe sutliffe in totally road legal Honda Civic type RS this test would move button out of his comfort zone how many laps can I have it would also demonstrate how close a typically Keen driver can get to one of the most Wanted men on the F1 grid Steve went out first after three flying laps he set a fastest time of 1 minute 14.40 the Line in the Sand had been drawn but surely Jensen would obliterate it button did four flying laps in the Civic and in true last minute qualifying style came in with the fastest lap time of 1 minute 13.45 a time set on his last flying lap and just under a second quicker than clifts the data shows that button break for Corners slightly later than Steve and also carried more speed into them so it was round one to the professionals back in the pit garage the team Reed the ra 107 for its first run of the day this time it would go out in the capable hands of James Roseta Hond and super aguri F1 test driver and a man who's won races at Silverstone in Formula 3 Roseta would do a few installation laps in the car verifying its setup for Steve and generally ensuring that the circuit was warm enough to run on the lap times he recorded would also serve as a benchmark the comparison with Steve's sry that was first time through cops did he look like he was kind of taking a bit easy roset made driving an F1 car in the tricky conditions look easy but Steve's concerns were lingering I drove the F1 car this morning and uh it was very cold a little bit I see but uh we managed to get a good Baseline and make sure the car was set up well for Steve I'm quite scared of this even though I've done it before I didn't drive it when it was icy and snowy before and even then I spun it see if you look at this here you still got ice and although they' put this very nice chemical which warms the circuit up doesn't dry it out but it just takes the temperature brings the temperature up a bit it's still very slippery and the worst bit of all is that there's a nice bit of Shadow just where that bridge is down there opposite the race control and the sun's just not getting to that and that's absolutely right on the Apex of woodco which is normally completely flat out in one of these things but not at the moment one when it's this cold um yeah yeah I have but the thing is the problem is getting a tire temp so for you I think you're running um wet anyway so yeah you should be fine and you think that they'll still stay warm cuz they're soft they're really soft tire good I like to P that so be fine there are few icy patches though oh really oh there we gone mate the sun's out don't worry sections of the circuit were still in Shadow and likely to be slippery they were hardly what you'd call ideal conditions for a beginner the time had come Steve was about to get his first proper lapse in a car that both Jensen button and Ruben's barello had struggled to keep on track in 2007 the pressure was on but for the ice Steve would have felt a bit more confident back in 2004 he drove a Jaguar R3 around Barcelona he got a grand total of seven laps that day around the circuit he didn't know but it was enough to prepare him for the incredible performance of these cars that was Spain it was 3 years ago and it was 20° while the mechanics and Engineers got the car ready Steve's thoughts had centered on getting out of the pits and around the circuit cleanly so I think they're going to push me out now okay I'll switch the RS off RS means race start which you have to switch off in order to get the thing off the line properly unless you really start properly and at this point all I wanted to do is just not stall look at that crowd of people okay we'll do I think I was talking to Andrew shove the Jensen's race engineer about trying to get the pit lane speed limiter off which again there was this orange button somewhere on the steering wheel and I didn't really know what it was supposed to do but I knew it wouldn't go properly without me turning it off so at this point I start to make a bit of a fool of myself pit limiter is a yellow button or the orange button it's the orange button you fool and you need to turn it off in order to get it going properly my heart was really starting to go at this point it stopped I got to position I know what button to press or what to do in the car at all however I got it going again that even sound fast now looking at it on video I mean at the time that just feels absolutely incredible it's so quick when you put your foot down the trouble is my visor then started to steam up so I had to open the visor up as you can see now and um that just allowed all this kind of forced air into the helmet as well so my eyes started the street however that's that's coming back into the pit Lane now now which means I didn't stall it and I didn't spin it viser is a bit of a problem it's steaming up quite a lot okay this is the second time out in the car first time I got to drive it really properly and I was going a bit better this time felt bit more comfortable with the car but as you can see I was still being a complete Nutter Primadonna when it came to the visor yeah this visor is not good though trouble is it's not steaming up sorry the visor is not steaming up but Air's getting through so I'm I can't actually see anything I can't see much cuz there's a gap so the Air's coming up kind of streaming into my eyes blind me it's my first GE all time oh\n"