I'm passionate about BAR Honda. I've been passionate about the team for far more years than I can remember, going back to long before British American Racing had even been thought about. I was a Tyrrell supporter.

Ken Tyrrell raced in the 50's in F3, but also ran a couple of F2 cars for other people. He set up the Tyrrell Racing Organisation in 1960, and built it up to F1 level over the next ten years. His car managed to take the F1 world championship in its first full season, with Jackie Stewart taking five wins on the way to his second championship.

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Over the years Tyrrell have had, amongst others, Jackie Stewart, Jody Scheckter, Ronnie Peterson, Didier Pironi, Martin Brundle and Jean Alesi driving for them.

Tyrrell won 23 races, had 20 fastest laps, 14 pole positions and one world championship. On race wins, they're the eighth most successful F1 team of all time, and are one of just 11 manufacturers to win the world championship.

Tyrrell were a very human team - I remember very well having the honour of spending some time with then driver Toranosuke Takagi back in 1998, the teams last year. Despite the obvious winding down of the team, he remained so upbeat and cheerful, even taking me on a tour of the pit garage at Silverstone, despite the fact that people were calling for him to get in the car. To this day, I still rate Tora as simply the nicest person I have ever met.

That's what gave me the passion for the team, right until the point that a group of people, led by Craig Pollock and financed by British American Tobacco, bought Ken Tyrrell out for an estimated $30 million. In 1997, British American Racing was born.

I had to make a choice of supporting another team, or sticking with what was to become BAR. Given that a lot of Tyrrell people moved over to the team, I decided to stay. Fortunately, these last few years has been great to me, as I've also been a long term supporter of both Jenson Button and Takuma Sato. I first met Jenson way back in 1998, in Formula Ford, after being impressed with his karting record. I'll be honest, I didn't expect to see him in F1 just two years later.

As for Takuma, I first got interested in him at the end of 1997. He'd just won a fully paid drive in the 1998 All-Japan Formula 3 Championship, but turned that down to go racing in Formula Vauxhall in the UK - without doubt the ballsiest move I've ever seen. I was there for Takuma's first race in Europe, sitting on the bank inside the Russell corners at Snetterton.

It looks like both drivers will be off to new teams next year, but I'll still be sticking by BAR, regardless of the owners, drivers or engines. It's the people that make the team.

That's passion. Don't ever underestimate how strongly I support what I see as 'my' team.

I've been supportive through the zero points of 1999, through Pollock's departure, through the Jacques Villeneuve saga, through Richards' departure, through Buttongate #1, through Honda's share purchase, through the recent race bans, through the Indy fiasco and through Buttongate #2.

I've spent my own money on licensing images. I've spent significant sums on flying to Barcelona, booking hotels and renting cars for the launches.

I'm not a professional writer, so sometimes I may word an article on BAR-Talk.com slightly awkwardly, or I might infer a different perspective than is actually the case, but through it all I'm a supporter.

It frustrates me, therefore, when I receive comments like this:

"For an unofficial 'team' website, the content is not very supportive....which is a shame."

You'd be very surprised if I told you where that came from, but they're reading this now.

Enjoy the site.

Phil Huff
BAR-Talk.com

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