As Formula 1, The Exhibition opened it’s doors to the public on Friday 23rd August at the ExCel in London. Dave Shaw from Darkus had the opportunity to speak with Lead Curator Timothy Harvey all about the exhibition.
Hi Tim, Following success across the world, the F1 Exhibition finally comes to London, there's been a change in the world of F1 with Liberty Media coming in and they've asked you to come on board to bring this exhibition to life, could you tell us more about the exhibition and how you became involved?
Tim: It was a fascinating project right from the start, but in late 2016, early 2017, there was a changing of the guard, if you like. Bernie Eccleston sold the sport to Liberty. It was a pretty pivotal time.
Bernie had really managed the sport in its entirety since 1981. I think in hindsight, I think even he would accept that it hadn't evolved and developed for the modern era.
It needed a wholesale modernization. Liberty has, to their great credit, they have done a brilliant job with that. They've launched Drive to Survive and this exhibition, F1 Drive, the simulator experience that now is popping up in cities all over the world.
It's led to a renaissance in interest in Grand Prix racing worldwide. I got a phone call midway through that year. They asked me to come in and advise them on how they could create a storytelling experience that really connected this new audience to this magical history that really goes back to the terms of motorsport, goes back to the late 19th century and demonstrates how Formula 1, why Formula 1 means so much today.
We've hopefully created a show that provides that string theory, linking the sport's past to how it operates today. Explore themes that transcend sport. It's a great, fascinating reflection of who we are and why we think the way we do and what has driven us to success.
In many ways, Formula 1 is a microcosm of how we operate. It's been a brilliant project. We've been blessed with the support that we've had from almost all of the Formula 1 teams, many of the drivers.
Damon is here today. I first met Damon probably four years ago. A lot of the great personalities, obviously his family, it's quite a dynastic sport.
It's a very small group of people that run it. There's only 10 teams, only 20 drivers. It's the world's second biggest sport. It's the only tournament or league or championship that operates worldwide each season. It's obviously a mix of not only sporting prowess and human performance, endurance, but also of technology and a team that stretches to thousands of people. It is a fascinating subject matter to explore.
We've gone about it, I think, in an authentic way. It's not a brand experience. It's not a marketing exercise.
It's an independently curated show that doesn't leave any truth untold. We don't shy away from the subterfuge and skullduggery, death, life-changing injury that exists in the sport. So many of the safety innovations that the sport has had to embrace, we now see in our cars today.
Seatbelts and crash structures. It's a really fascinating part of the story, seeing how Formula One has been a crucible for innovation that appears in the cars that we drive every day. The show is designed as a series of very immersive galleries, each of them a different scenographic world that we take you into.
It explores the world of the drivers, the world of the team, the world of the sport's history, and then different moments in the sport. Obviously, the Roman Grosjean's crash in 2020, where he drove straight into a metal barrier at 180 kilometers an hour and walked away from an inferno of burning fuel, is one of the great redemption stories in the sport. Without all of that innovation that had come about, he wouldn't.
Many of the people that have been involved in the Halo and the Hans device, the development of carbon fiber as a technology, the chassis technology, and a lot of the material science have contributed to the show and have been heavily involved in its design and narrative. That's been a really rewarding part of my job, of being able to have access to a lot of these great pioneers and innovators and bring to life the story in a way that hopefully will really connect with people over the next few months
The Exhibition brings a display of historic pivotal and harrowing creations to the public and comes home to London reaching a new audience for the sport. Explain how it feels to have an impact on this sport for new audiences?
Tim: Today, a lot of the team are based in London. We're a British company. It's a hugely proud moment to bring this size and scale of show to not only the place that we've developed the whole concept and spent so much time, but also what is unquestionably Formula 1's home.
Where it's managed from, where most of the teams operate from, where a lot of the drivers have some sort of base. It's a great privilege to be opening the show this week.
One more question. What's your favourite area of the show?
Tim: It's difficult. To some extent, it's like being asked to choose your favourite child. There's some wonderful pieces.
I think my favourite parts are some of the moments along my journey. Certainly opening up the stillage or pallet, wooden pallet that had just been shipped back from Bahrain and peering into this dirty, filthy box and seeing Roman's chassis just lying there.I'll never forget that moment.There's been a lot of similar moments along the way.
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