View suspended

Engineering a Formula One car can be a frustrating business. Long hours are spent producing intricate pieces of industrial art, which are then inserted into a box and hidden from view.

For many F1 fans, a grand prix car is no more than an aerodynamic blur, emblazoned with sponsor’s logos and piloted by a nodding head. So much of the artistry is lost.

Determined to right this wrong, the Honda F1 Racing Team through their Art Consultants Artwise Curators, commissioned Dutch artist Paul Veroude to create ‘View Suspended’. Composed of over 3200 parts, View Suspended is like a 3D technical drawing of a grand prix car. It is as if the car has been ‘exploded’ and suspended dramatically in midair.
The work makes thousands of parts visible, from the large exterior elements to the minutiae of the drivetrain. Every nut and bolt is suspended individually, hung by wire from a specially-constructed frame. None of the parts were damaged in its construction and they could come together to form a fully-functional grand prix car at any time.

View Suspended made its debut at the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai last year, and is now on a world tour. Recently, it was shown at the British International Motor Show in London, where it was encased in a giant glass box. Visitors were able to enter the box to chat to the artist and see an F1 car as never before.

“I held an exhibition in Rotterdam two years ago, in which I reduced a car to its most basic elements by laying the parts out on the gallery floor” says Veroude. “One of the visitors was from Artwise Curators and they decided to introduce me to the Honda Racing F1 Team.”

For the artist, it was a dream opportunity. Veroude was not only a long time F1 fan, he also had a special affinity to Honda. “I can always remember when I swapped my German-built moped for a Honda,” he explains. “It was so much better. The Japanese are fantastic at technical design and I like to work with things that are constructed very well. I still drive a Honda today.”
Veroude was invited to a Formula One test at Silverstone, where the germ of an idea was born. If Honda could supply him with a car, then the artist would deconstruct it to reveal its innermost secrets. He would approach the car as if it were a living organism with a dramatic past, whose parts are marked by, and remember, their experience. The sculpture would serve as a striking monument to the car’s advanced technology and the theatre of F1.

The idea had the support of Honda’s Deputy Technical Director, Gary Savage. “We knew that 3D technical drawings are very popular because they allow people to see how things go together,” says Savage. “View Suspended has allowed us to combine engineering and sculpture - as a picture it would be attractive but as a physical entity it is stunning. It shows our car in an innovative and exciting way.”

Savage provided Veroude with a 2005 B·A·R Honda 007 chassis and the technical expertise he needed to turn a dream into reality. “The project was a bit like my life,” Veroude says. “In my life, things are coming together. I can exert control to bring in some influences and keep out others. View Suspended is a search for the ‘echo’ of life. All the parts are put together in a certain moment and from that second there is the start of the life of the car.”

It took the artist eight weeks to turn a crate of individual parts into a piece of automotive sculpture. While Veroude finalised the layout, the Honda Racing F1 Team manufactured a carbon fibre cradle, from which the individual parts are hung.

Veroude admits that he was impressed by the purity of the design. “The fine tuning of the parts is exceptional. The car is built up in a very pure and clear way. Each component plays a part but alone they do not make memories or history. It is only when they are united that they become significant, creating a powerful machine that can achieve great speed thanks to the skills and expertise of the team.”

He admits that he finds the mechanical elements relatively easy to understand, but Veroude is still wowed by the aerodynamics. “When I watch F1, the first thing I look at is the aerodynamics. A modern car is so beautiful, it’s poetry.”

Having spent the best part of two years devising and then executing his installation of the car, Veroude needed to find a way of dismantling it. Taking apart a collage of over 3200 parts is not the work of a moment but with the help of Honda technicians, Veroude devised a way of labelling every detail.

“We wrap up the parts and then dismantle it panel by panel. Everything is placed in a special framework.” Every time View Suspended is displayed, it takes four days to construct it and two days to take it down. “We work day and night,” says Veroude.

It’s hard work, but the end result is worth it. Together, Honda and Veroude have provided a fascinating snapshot in time. This extraordinary installation opens up a Formula One machine like never before. For the first time, a grand prix car has laid bare its soul.