MOTORSPORTS
Formula 1: Inside the Panasonic Toyota Racing Factory COLOGNE, GERMANY (Aug. 30, 2007) - Watch a Formula 1 Grand Prix, and the hard work of the driver and race team is obvious. But behind the scenes at Panasonic Toyota Racing's (PTR's) headquarters in Cologne, that dedication continues all year round. But what goes on inside the team's headquarters? PTR President John Howett recently opened up the factory doors to give the media an exclusive glimpse behind the scenes. PTR is one of the few teams in Formula 1 to build an entire car - chassis and engine - under one roof, with about 650 staff specialists working tirelessly to give Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli a competitive car when they hit the track.Step 1: Carbon fiber based
Formula 1: Inside the Panasonic Toyota Racing Factory COLOGNE, GERMANY (Aug. 30, 2007) - Watch a Formula 1 Grand Prix, and the hard work of the driver and race team is obvious. But behind the scenes at Panasonic Toyota Racing's (PTR's) headquarters in Cologne, that dedication continues all year round. But what goes on inside the team's headquarters? PTR President John Howett recently opened up the factory doors to give the media an exclusive glimpse behind the scenes. PTR is one of the few teams in Formula 1 to build an entire car - chassis and engine - under one roof, with about 650 staff specialists working tirelessly to give Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli a competitive car when they hit the track.Step 1: Carbon fiber based
BUILDING FROM SCRATCH
Panasonic Toyota Racing is one of oly a few Formula 1 teams that builds its racecars, beginning with raw sheets of carbon fiber.
Photo - Toyota Motorsport GmbHThe first stop on his guided tour was the carbon composites department. The carbon fiber department in fact is one of the busiest assembly shops in the whole factory. Its primary function is to translate designs into real components. Carbon fiber is cut very precisely from large sheets and transferred to the layout area. From there, the carbon fiber is placed in molds in a specific direction to optimize the strength of the component. Without carbon fiber, a Formula 1 car would be a very different beast, so the carbon composites department plays a crucial role in translating design to reality. "We use so much carbon in Formula 1 because it is light, it's strong, it's extremely stiff and it adds to driver safety," Howett explains. "This is one of the most important departments in any Formula 1 team, where the main body and structural parts are made. It doesn't look exciting from the outside, but inside it is much more."Step 2: Autoclaving "But that's not the end of the story for the carbon fiber parts, which must go through another process before becoming race ready," explains Howett, while opening the door to a normally private area. "It looks a bit like a bank vault, but it is actually an autoclave. After the parts are completed in the layout room, they are placed in a bag. The bag is placed under vacuum and they are then baked under high pressure and temperature in an oven. These ovens work 24 hours a day, seven days a week."Step 3: Engine building Before entering the area, team members get the chance to cast their eye over a piece of Toyota history: the engine that powered Mika Salo to the team's Formula 1 debut in the 2002 Australian Grand Prix.Of course, all the clever carbon fiber designs need something with real grunt to get them moving - and that is found in the engine workshop. Engine building is a specialized job, as Howett revealed on his tour. "We have highly skilled technicians, probably more skilled than Swiss watch assemblers, working on our engines," he says. "We pre-assemble the cylinder heads, then we have teams of two people assembling the final engine itself."Step 5: Engine testing
Panasonic Toyota Racing is one of oly a few Formula 1 teams that builds its racecars, beginning with raw sheets of carbon fiber.
Photo - Toyota Motorsport GmbHThe first stop on his guided tour was the carbon composites department. The carbon fiber department in fact is one of the busiest assembly shops in the whole factory. Its primary function is to translate designs into real components. Carbon fiber is cut very precisely from large sheets and transferred to the layout area. From there, the carbon fiber is placed in molds in a specific direction to optimize the strength of the component. Without carbon fiber, a Formula 1 car would be a very different beast, so the carbon composites department plays a crucial role in translating design to reality. "We use so much carbon in Formula 1 because it is light, it's strong, it's extremely stiff and it adds to driver safety," Howett explains. "This is one of the most important departments in any Formula 1 team, where the main body and structural parts are made. It doesn't look exciting from the outside, but inside it is much more."Step 2: Autoclaving "But that's not the end of the story for the carbon fiber parts, which must go through another process before becoming race ready," explains Howett, while opening the door to a normally private area. "It looks a bit like a bank vault, but it is actually an autoclave. After the parts are completed in the layout room, they are placed in a bag. The bag is placed under vacuum and they are then baked under high pressure and temperature in an oven. These ovens work 24 hours a day, seven days a week."Step 3: Engine building Before entering the area, team members get the chance to cast their eye over a piece of Toyota history: the engine that powered Mika Salo to the team's Formula 1 debut in the 2002 Australian Grand Prix.Of course, all the clever carbon fiber designs need something with real grunt to get them moving - and that is found in the engine workshop. Engine building is a specialized job, as Howett revealed on his tour. "We have highly skilled technicians, probably more skilled than Swiss watch assemblers, working on our engines," he says. "We pre-assemble the cylinder heads, then we have teams of two people assembling the final engine itself."Step 5: Engine testing
7-POST TEST BED
The finished engines and chassis are installed on these multimillion dollar test beds for many different types of tests and evaluations, such as power development and durability testing, by incorporating physical mapping for each specific circuit, driver style, variances in down and side forces and more.
Photo: Toyota Motorsport GmbHThe factory in Cologne is not just about building a Formula 1 car - that is only part of the job. With such small margins dictating results in Formula 1, this area is normally very much off-limits, because testing and optimizing parts of the car are also keys to a successful operation. To get the best out of a Formula 1 engine, technicians must gain as much data as possible to fine-tune every element of the power plant. This is where equipment such as engine dynomometers, 7-post test bed machines and other equipment come into play. "The finished engines are installed on to test beds and we can undertake many different types of test and evaluation, either power development, mapping for each specific circuit or durability testing," reveals Howett. "Basically, we can simulate everything in these facilities."Step 5: Aerodynamic Testing
The finished engines and chassis are installed on these multimillion dollar test beds for many different types of tests and evaluations, such as power development and durability testing, by incorporating physical mapping for each specific circuit, driver style, variances in down and side forces and more.
Photo: Toyota Motorsport GmbHThe factory in Cologne is not just about building a Formula 1 car - that is only part of the job. With such small margins dictating results in Formula 1, this area is normally very much off-limits, because testing and optimizing parts of the car are also keys to a successful operation. To get the best out of a Formula 1 engine, technicians must gain as much data as possible to fine-tune every element of the power plant. This is where equipment such as engine dynomometers, 7-post test bed machines and other equipment come into play. "The finished engines are installed on to test beds and we can undertake many different types of test and evaluation, either power development, mapping for each specific circuit or durability testing," reveals Howett. "Basically, we can simulate everything in these facilities."Step 5: Aerodynamic Testing
WIND TUNNEL
One of the most secret and restricted access areas of any Formula 1 operation, the wind tunnels are used to test half-scale models, identical in every way but size to the TF107 race car. In addition, modifications intended to improve performance can be tested early in the production cycle.
Photo: Toyota Motorsport GmbH More so than engine performance, aerodynamic characteristics play a determining factor in whether a car can compete with the best. To keep PTR at the cutting edge, the team's Cologne factory has two wind tunnels. "The aerodynamic performance of a Formula 1 car is one of the largest contributors to its overall performance," Howett notes. Inside a wind tunnel, a 50 percent scale model of the team's latest car, identical in every way but smaller, is subjected to a strong wind - between 55 and 110 yards per second - which gives engineers the opportunity to see how it behaves when moving at speed. "The wind tunnel area is one of the most secret and restricted-access areas of any Formula 1 factory. Here, new parts are fitted to a model and tested rigorously and remorselessly to gain additional performance."Step 6: Trackside reassembly When all the individual components are built and fine-tuned, the Formula 1 workshop crew has completed the task. When the car is finished, it is usually taken swiftly to the next track on the calendar, where many of the same factory mechanics join up with the race team mechanics, who work in the pits during race weekends and on-track test sessions, to rebuild the car and get it ready for the team drivers to hit the track." All the parts from all the manufacturing areas in the factory come together here and a race car is built," Howett concludes. Trackside mechanics painstakingly reassemble the cars in dedicated assembly bays, taking time to be certain everything is in perfect working order before they are shipped to the next race. Obviously, with limited space available, the full factory team cannot travel to races. But behind the pit box, there is space for gearbox and engine assembly areas, as well as working areas for tire mechanics, who keep dozens of sets warm and ready to use at a moment's notice.Step 7: Monitoring for improvement Further behind the scenes, data engineers monitor banks of data screens, scrutinizing the smallest amounts of information to keep the car in the best possible working order. Further assistance comes from elsewhere, where other engineers work from fully equipped offices - either in the top of one of the specially-built race trucks or in permanent circuit offices - continuing the vital work they started back in Cologne.
One of the most secret and restricted access areas of any Formula 1 operation, the wind tunnels are used to test half-scale models, identical in every way but size to the TF107 race car. In addition, modifications intended to improve performance can be tested early in the production cycle.
Photo: Toyota Motorsport GmbH More so than engine performance, aerodynamic characteristics play a determining factor in whether a car can compete with the best. To keep PTR at the cutting edge, the team's Cologne factory has two wind tunnels. "The aerodynamic performance of a Formula 1 car is one of the largest contributors to its overall performance," Howett notes. Inside a wind tunnel, a 50 percent scale model of the team's latest car, identical in every way but smaller, is subjected to a strong wind - between 55 and 110 yards per second - which gives engineers the opportunity to see how it behaves when moving at speed. "The wind tunnel area is one of the most secret and restricted-access areas of any Formula 1 factory. Here, new parts are fitted to a model and tested rigorously and remorselessly to gain additional performance."Step 6: Trackside reassembly When all the individual components are built and fine-tuned, the Formula 1 workshop crew has completed the task. When the car is finished, it is usually taken swiftly to the next track on the calendar, where many of the same factory mechanics join up with the race team mechanics, who work in the pits during race weekends and on-track test sessions, to rebuild the car and get it ready for the team drivers to hit the track." All the parts from all the manufacturing areas in the factory come together here and a race car is built," Howett concludes. Trackside mechanics painstakingly reassemble the cars in dedicated assembly bays, taking time to be certain everything is in perfect working order before they are shipped to the next race. Obviously, with limited space available, the full factory team cannot travel to races. But behind the pit box, there is space for gearbox and engine assembly areas, as well as working areas for tire mechanics, who keep dozens of sets warm and ready to use at a moment's notice.Step 7: Monitoring for improvement Further behind the scenes, data engineers monitor banks of data screens, scrutinizing the smallest amounts of information to keep the car in the best possible working order. Further assistance comes from elsewhere, where other engineers work from fully equipped offices - either in the top of one of the specially-built race trucks or in permanent circuit offices - continuing the vital work they started back in Cologne.
(Source: Toyota Motorsport GmbH)
