The First Few Weeks

The Lotus F1 Racing facility at Hingham in Norfolk is fully equipped to face the challenges of an aggressively planned "Car Build" programme.

An open plan Design Office with the capability of housing up to 70 designers exists on the first floor with conference facilities adjacent. This floor also houses the offices for management and the support functions of Information Technology and Health and Safety as well as other administration. On the ground floor further offices for Operational departments lie next to the Machine Shop which comprises Computer Numerical Control (CNC) Mills and lathes as well as manual machining centres and support equipment. A Composites function boasts two modern autoclaves one big enough for the largest of F1 carbon components and both a large pattern shop (including 5-axis router) and an impressive clean room for laminating key car parts. A fully equipped Quality and Inspection department is also on site which opens onto the race shop where the cars will be built, re-built and prepared for racing. The other race team support functions of Sub-Assembly, Gearbox, Hydraulics and Electronics are all nearby.

Since obtaining a successful entry into the FIA Formula 1 Championship for 2010 an international recruitment campaign has seen successful candidates from the world of F1 and beyond. With the team being a Malaysian racing team we have been able to draw upon the expertise available and build the best possible staff from all the required disciplines all with the right degree of experience and ability. The positive side of the mammoth task of building a team from scratch is that we can choose exactly the people that we want.

A full program of servicing and calibration has been undertaken on all plant and machinery to ensure the highest of standards for the forthcoming challenges and a number of relationships have been built with specialist sub-contracting companies across the globe.

As we build up our capability in Hingham to full strength we will be using the expertise of other companies in this our first car build. It is planned for next year that we will be able to take on most of our development manufacturing where possible and continue to use support companies as we develop and enhance the race car.

The chassis is being manufactured this week and we have already had the nose, side-impact structures, gearbox parts (generic and bespoke), front and rear suspension and other large areas of the car specified and detailed. Many major components are in manufacture and our recruitment campaign both in Malaysia and in the UK goes from strength to strength. We have already built good technical and commercial relationships with some of the major sub-contracting companies in F1 and continue to build up our databases and networks accordingly.

To date every Formula 1 specialist that we have involved in our plans has been keen to be associated with us as Lotus F1 Racing and have been completely supportive. This bodes well for the difficult challenges ahead which should never be underestimated.