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Drawing Office
 
See also:
The car for 2002
The design process
The regulation changes
Making it happen
The monocoque
Vehicle dynamics
The transmission
Front suspension
The uprights
Rear suspension
EJ12 - the timescales

Pinpointing a specific date when design on EJ12 began is impossible, as some of the work carried out in the wind tunnel to improve EJ11 during 2001, has been carried over to the new car.

"We try to work out when we want the car to be launched and work back from  the production schedule to see when each component must be designed, in order for it to be made in time," explains Tim Holloway. "It’s like a handicap race, in that all the parts can start at a different date, but they all have to be ready at the same time."

Holloway was loathe to give out specific lead times for parts, but judicious use of thumb screws and strapping him to the seven post test rig in the factory produced a few numbers:

  • The whole chassis design programme lasts about 26 weeks, from initial design to having the first chassis in the workshop.
  • The longest lead times are the chassis assembly - and the gearbox - 6 weeks from initial concept to fitting on the car.
  • Suspension - an upright takes 10 weeks.
  • Rear pushrod about a month.
  • Dampers 6 weeks
  • Front brake ducts one month

"You could sign off parts much earlier, but the idea is to hold back as long as possible to maximise performance," says Holloway. "Of course, you can always change the design of components during the season, but that is far more expensive than simply delaying their initial production to take in the latest results of research in the wind tunnel.

"Bear in mind this list is to produce one component and of course by the time we are setting off for Melbourne, we might need six of them. Of course that doesn’t take six times as long, as you can use more moulds. In reality the second edition of any part can take half or a third of the time."

As far as the main design office is concerned (not counting the aero side) then July is when work on the new car starts in earnest.