Greetings to one and all from the headquarters of Super Aguri F1.

My name is Gavin Noble and I hope to be bringing you regular reports and insights from inside the Super Aguri F1 Team garage throughout the 2007 season.  The aim is give you an inside view of the workings of a Formula 1 team as we travel around the world - it's not all glamour and grid-girls, I can assure you.  But as the red lights go out at 1pm on a Sunday afternoon, the spectacle that is a Formula 1 race makes all the hard work worthwhile!

First of all, I should give you a proper introduction of who I am, where I came from and what my role is within the team.  My job is to provide communications support to the team, which involves managing the radio system, race intercom, data links and anything else that may involve 'voice' communications. 

I joined the team in February 2006 after serving in the Royal Navy for 23 years.  It was a very steep learning curve as, having never worked in motorsport before, within four days of joining the team I was in Barcelona trying to get a radio installed in a Formula 1 car!  I have to hold my hands up and say that my efforts were only partially successful but, fortunately, as the season progressed the teams communications have improved greatly and we now have a reliable system in place.  However, as this sport is all about technology and innovation, the quest for even better comms continues.  We are currently developing a new race intercom system which (if all goes to plan), will be one of the most advanced and capable in the pit lane. It is still in the development stage, and once unveiled I will give you a more in-depth report on what is does and how it is used during a race.

As SAF1 is the smallest team in the pit lane, everyone has more to do than their primary role.  In addition to the communications I help with the garage set-up and pack-up, I'm the teams First Aider, I am part of the pit-stop crew, I occasionaly drive a race truck and I also try to co-ordinate with the various departments and publish a 'daily programme' when we are at a race circuit. So, with the introduction over, I open up the floor to questions.  If I don't know the answer myself, I will try to find out.  There may be times when confidentially prevents me from giving you a full answer, so please do not be offended if I cannot give you all of the information!  Likewise, there may be some delays in providing answers, but I will do my best to keep you up to date. I will be with the team in Valencia next week for further testing of our interim car, and I hope to bring you the first 'insider' report on completion.  Until then, I wish you all well and on behalf of the team thank you for your continued support.  Here's to a successful and exciting 2007 season! 

(From Mark Talbot:  Go now to the Inside The Team forum and lodge your question ... a very rare opportunity to ask questions of a team member.)