More Features
Heikki Kovalainen Sits in Lotus Seat For 1st Time
8/01/10
With just over two months to go until the first race in Bahrain, things are gearing up at the Lotus F1 factory in the Georgian town of Hingham, Norfolk. Despite 12 inches of snow, Finnish driver, Heikki Kovalinen, managed to make it to the former Audi/Bentley Le Mans factory, to be fitted out for his race seat. The same couldn’t be said of his race suit, which was held hostage at a local courier depot because of the poor driving conditions.
Then again, Heikki is used to driving in the snow. “It’s positively tropical compared to the -38 degrees it was over Christmas in Suomussalmi, northern Finland (close to the Northern Lights) where I’m from.” Said the extremely affable Heikki.
After giving various press interviews, Heikki climbed into a life-sized model of his new Lotus formula one car, in full view of the media gathered around, which is in stark contrast to his former team McLaren, who are renowned for obsessively controlling media access.
Making himself comfortable, he discussed his requirements with his new team before getting out to allow a female technician to prepare the seat mold.
First she covered the seat area in plastic, then poured liquid expanding foam, similar to that used in loft insulation, onto the sheet of plastic. Meanwhile, Heikki got changed into a borrowed race suit and helmet before sitting down onto plastic and the liquid foam.
His requirements being, “that the seat needs to fit properly around my body. The back is probably the most important part, to get the spine and the shoulders in a good place, so that I don’t move around after my belts are done up. I need to be really stuck in place. I put Alcantara leather, which is a high grip material, onto the seat back, so that I don’t start sliding around when I hit the brakes.
I also have a ridge of foam added to where my spine sits because the carbon seat is hard, which gives me added protection.”
After getting comfortable, measurements were then taken to ensure that he didn't exceed the maximum height set by the FIA, known as the invisible line. Heikki had to sit in place to allow the foam to harden, approximately 20 minutes. Once set, the seat was drawn around and sections were cut out in accordance with Heikki’s wishes.
It is now over to the team to titivate the mold, so that it can be turned into a full carbon version ready for their first shake down in mid February
According to Chief Operating Officer, Keith Saunt, they are currently a week ahead of schedule; not bad going considering they only got their F1 entry formally accepted on the 12th September 2009!
Words: The Ed
