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Formula One
F1: FIA Using ‘Spy In The Garage’ Cameras
Big brother is watching...
Adam Cooper  | http://www.speedtv.com  |  Posted March 13, 2010   Sakhir (BHR)
The garages at the Bahrain International Circuit will not be unwatched Saturday night. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
This weekend sees the debut of a new F1 parc ferme system implemented by the FIA, one which sees the governing body ‘spying’ on any illicit activity in each of the team garages with a network of 24 cameras.

In past years on Saturday evening all the cars were kept together in a single FIA garage. However with 26 cars originally expected for this year – and up to three teams requiring garages of their own – the FIA decided to look for a new system.

The cars are now kept in the garages of the individual teams, and to ensure that there is no tampering they are zipped up in a car cover – a bit like a giant sleeping bag – which is then sealed by the FIA when parc ferme conditions begin at 6.30pm on Saturday.

In the past the teams could collect the cars on Sunday at 8.30 a.m. (or 930 a.m. with Bahrain’s late start) from the parc ferme garage, but now they can just unzip the covers.

The FIA has mounted a camera on the pit gantry above every car to monitor any movement around the cars overnight. A Bahrain track official will be watching an FIA lap top – with 24 camera views on it. If the official falls asleep anything untoward will be recorded.

Adam Cooper notched up his 25th season as a racing journalist in 2009. Born in London, England, he saw his first F1 race at age 10 in 1976. He began freelancing for Autosport magazine in 1985 and was on the fulltime staff from 1987-92. He then went freelance again, initially spending two years in Japan before following the 1994 Champcar series from a base in Indianapolis. He has not missed a Grand Prix since Suzuka ‘94, a run that has extended to Abu Dhabi ’09. Adam has written books about Eddie Irvine, Piers Courage and Michael Schumacher and hosts a race preview show on Sirius XM. He has written about F1 for SPEEDtv.com since 2005. Check out Adam's Blog or follow him on Twitter

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