James Chen (JimmyJazz) may well be Australia’s ultimate F1 fan boy, James’ painted face and car have been featured in magazines and in newspapers all over the world. Sure there are plenty of Tifosi out there, and the increasing legion of Poms hanging on every movement by Lewis Hamilton. There’s even the odd Aussie still holding on in the hope that Mark Webber will one day break through and finally establish himself as a genuine front running F1 Championship contender. But James is different, his passion is one for the sports battlers, the team formally known as Super Aguri and their star Japanese driver Takuma Sato.

In the time I’ve known him, James has become firm friends with many like minded fans the world over, he’s made many contacts within the world of F1 and has gained rare access as a fan to the inner sanctum of the sport. The question of course is WHY? Ladies & Gentleman, Welcome to the world of Uber-Fandom and Jimmy Jazz.

Brett Ramsey: Producer/Editor In Pit Lane.

When a person discovers his or her interest in something, be it an object, sport, or anything, chances are that they will pursue it further and develop a certain taste for that item of interest.  But when they discover there are many more people around them that share the same passion, they will connect and bond, and they become a group.  But when there is a considerable amount of people that are dedicated to the same cause, it becomes a movement and more than likely, it’ll gain momentum and attract more likeminded people to join the movement.  That I hope, describes most of us who enjoy watching F1 racing and especially, those of us who support Takuma Sato and Super Aguri F1 team during its existence.  Many of us became part of the loyal fans of the team due to the connection with Takuma Sato and Anthony Davidson and other members of the team, and that includes Aguri-san, Daniel Audetto, Mark Preston, Emma Bearpark (now Mrs Buxton) plus other ex- BAR Honda and ex-Arrows personnel who ended up at SAF1.  

I’ve been watching F1 full time since 1990, after my family immigrated to Australia from Taiwan.  As a child, I knew of F1 through Honda’s Taiwanese subsidiary who were using some of Lotus, Williams and McLaren’s results powered by Honda in their marketing materials and glossy photos of Lotus, Williams and McLaren Hondas on display in their showrooms.

James meets some fellow travellers

 And being very influenced by Honda’s F1 activities as a child, of course I would pay more attention to Ayrton Senna’s results when I started watching F1.  After his death at San Marino 1994, the attention switched to Damon Hill, from Williams to Arrows then to Jordan.  After Damon retired at the end of 1999, I kept following Jordan (one of only 2 teams I have ever barracked for in F1) and towards the end of 2000, a young Japanese racer called Takuma Sato made his F1 test debut for them.  My focus had started to shift…

More Next Month…

Jimmy Jazz!