Creating a Formula One Race Car

Before being fitted into the car, every freshly built engine will be run on one of the team's seven dynamometers in order to eliminate any potential problems before getting to the race track. One of these dynos has been in use since Toyota's Rally and Le Mans days, but when the F1 program got underway, additional dynos were added to cope with the additional pressure of producing more powerful V10 engines. Highly-qualified engineers use computers to monitor the engine's every beat from isolated control rooms.

The unveiled car takes center stage. The racing team is ready to take over from the engineers. Pictured here are the French pilot Olivier Panis and his Brazilian test drivers Ricardo Zonta and Cristiano da Matta.

Separated by a window, engineers in the control room hardly sense what goes on in the test room. But through computers and microphones, the team can follow every sound and response of the engine. The test system simulates the French racetrack from Paul Ricard.

This is where all of the laminated components used in the construction of the chassis are produced. For this purpose, materials such as carbon and kevlar fiber are used extensively. When a new car is developed, about 25 to 30 parts will be produced per day. The final model is made out of 17 different moulds and takes four people 16 days to put it together.

The heart and soul of the TF104 is the engine. It is a composition of light weigh aluminum alloys, titanium and high-strength steel. With very little automation involved, the Toyota V10 engines are all hand-built by a dedicated group of skilled mechanics, 50 % of whom have worked at Toyota Motorsport in Cologne for over 10 years. Nothing is left to chance in search of the most powerful, most reliable F1 engine. On average, the mechanics in the workshop build and rebuild over 300 engines per year.

The paint used to coat the bodywork is normal waterproof spray paint. However, as it is important not to add any additional weight to the car, the paint has to be distributed thinly and evenly.

In Cologne, every piece of the F1 car is carefully put together by hand. The exhaust pipe, seen here, is made out of chrome nickel. The metal can withstand up to 800 degrees Celsius, but is only good for one race.

On January 17, 2004, the hard work has paid off. Toyota has a new Formula One car ready to take to the track. The entire process from design to finish takes about nine months.

The workshop is where all the different parts are put together for the final car. The gleaming clean floor hardly resembles and ordinary mechanic shop.

One of the most sophisticated pieces of equipment in the research and development department is the seven-post rig. It permits the Toyota team to recreate the vertical behavior of the F1 car's suspension on the track without a single wheel being turned. Computer software is used to subject the car to all the vertical forces it would experience on the racetrack.

Toyota's TF104 starts its life in Cologne-Marsdorf on the drawing board of the racing team's engineers. Since 1999, the Japanese car maker has designed and built its Formula One autos in the German plant.

The wind tunnel with its ventilator is the largest testing area at the Cologne Toyota facilities. The turbine can create wind speeds of up to 300 km/h. Such gusts are necessary for testing the aerodynamics of the F1 car.

Here's where the F1 cars from Panasonic Toyota are assembled and prepared for the final testing before hitting the real track.

Since 2002 Toyota has had a wind tunnel for conducting all its aerodynamic tests. The advantage of having such a closed turbine is the secrecy -- no one from outside can see in -- and control of speed.

In the high-speed world of Formula One, times are measured in thousandths of tenths of a second. Accuracy and safety depend of effective quality control. In Cologne, the Toyota team measures the accuracy of each component used in the F1 car. Each piece is produced within very tight manufacturing tolerances, of just a few microns.