Lotus Garage Tour: F1 Cars Look Just as Sweet Partially Disassembled [2012 F1 U.S. Grand Prix]

We admit that touring a Formula One team's garage likely isn't something the average fan attending this weekend's race in Austin might be able to swing, but that's why we're sharing our tour of the Lotus garage with you. After all, we're a giving bunch, and even though fans may not ever catch a glimpse of the inside of a team garage, the goings-on in these places are critical on race day. Here's what we saw: First, although we were able to photograph the garage and its contents—including the team!—we could only do so from beyond the doors that open to pit lane. (Hence why all of the photos you see here show only the front of each Lotus racecar.) The reason for this directional photographic restriction, of course, is that Lotus doesn't want any of its setup secrets spilling out; plus, the view from behind the racecars is filled with monitors displaying all kinds of sensitive info. Despite not being able to photograph the cars and equipment from inside the garage, our access was surprisingly unrestricted. We could roam amongst the cars and people, pretty much so long as we didn't get in the way. Better still, during our visit the cars (driven by Romain Grosjean and Kimi Räikkönen) were being semi-torn-down for post-practice-session analysis, meaning we got to see some of their dirty bits. Dirty, smokin' hot, carbon-fiber dirty bits. Where were we? Oh, right, the cars. One was on a wheeled dolly, while the other had been raised up on tall jackstands; both sat under an array of what looked like operating-room lights and were connected to banks of computers by a multitude of cables. The atmosphere in the garage was very much like that in a NASA clean room, laboratory, or, appropriately, an operating room. Everything was spotless, with the only "mess" to speak of being a small Tupperware container filled with assorted screws and bolts sitting askew on one of the cars' side pods. Outside of the garage sat several racks filled with replacement parts, and behind the building that houses the team garages stacks upon stacks of fresh wheels and tires littered the area. Pit lane is magical, and walking among the refueling equipment and jacks that will be used with swift care in Sunday's race had us wanting to don a team onesie and join the pit crew. On second thought, we're probably too slow and weak for that job, but we digress. Read full story » from Car and Driver Blog http://blog.caranddriver.com

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