The driver, wearing his racing suit, sits in the cockpit on top of the bag, compressing the foam so that it takes the exact shape of his body. In other words, the foam fills in the gaps located between the back of the driver and the monocoque chassis. “The driver remains in the cockpit for fifteen minutes so that the foam becomes hard,” Howell continues. “That gives us a fingerprint of the body of the driver. We then give that piece of foam to the guys at our composite department. The pattern makers will first produce a mould out of the piece of foam and that mould be then be used to create the final carbon fibre seat. The carbon seat is cooked in the autoclave for a few hours until it becomes extremely hard. We then trim it so it fits snugly in the cockpit and install the clips. We also put some foam inserts here and there so that it is more comfortable.”
“It takes up to five days to produce a seat – a little less if the composite department works during the nights,” Howell adds. “But drivers are picky. Normally, we need to make two or three seats before a driver is fully happy. Most of the time, he finds the seat to be okay when he’s just sitting in the car but after having been tossed around for the two hours of a Grand Prix, he asks for changes! However, we made one seat for Giancarlo Fisichella at the beginning of the 2003 season and it was fine; Fisico never complained about it.”
The weight of the seat is also a concern. “We try to keep the weight of the seat below 2.5 kilograms,” Howell concludes. “And that is including all the straps, bolts and washers.”