Cosworth is an interesting and rewarding place to work and employees met with a diverse range of challenges which create a constantly evolving environment. Below is an extract of a "typical day" in the life of a Cosworth employee:
Peter Hennessy - Engine Technician (Track Support)
Typical event day
"Day begins as it does for most of us, alarm bells shaking me out of the bed, only I'm not at home, I'm in another foreign country. Timing is critical as with all things F1, a trade off between getting enough sleep and setting the alarm just late enough to allow for a shower and a hurried breakfast. Can't be late for leave time, there's an unwritten rule; last one in the bus is late - even if you are 5 mins early. Last night we finished late after arriving at the run site from the UK and straight in to set up. It took us 10 hours to get to this stage. It takes 5 of us 4 hrs to set the garage up, so no time yesterday to prep the car.
Good news at the event, the run site is 500yds from the hotel, so no bus, but we still all leave together and on time. The Team works like clockwork. Everyone has a job to do and without instruction they get on with it. I have several roles at an event, primarily engines, installation, programming, fire ups, and spares, logistics, but I also work on the car as rear end man, responsible for anything that bolts to it from the engine rearwards. Once fired up and everything in the data is checked and is deemed good we relax, but not too much because there is always something that needs doing, preparing the spare engine, wrapping tyres, polishing the bodywork, banners and truck , walking the run looking for potential issues and attending the driver brief with the Team Manager. I set the pre-run schedule, 30 mins before run, oil in, fire up, bodywork on, 15 mins, dry ice in.
The car is ready, it's out of our hands now, Coulthard is in control. We watch as he performs a pre scripted set of starts and dough nuts and hopefully remembers to cool the car. On his return to the garage I slip in to another role, fireman and promptly put the car out! This scenario is repeated six times, all for live TV!
After the run the car data is examined, any issues will be rectified before the garage is pulled down; in this instance I implement a routine check on the rear of the engine. Painful but it has to be done. No one complains but just gets on with pulling the gearbox off!
We finish late in to the evening but are happy in the knowledge that the car is ready to run for the next event and that this event was a success.
Next stop hotel, airport and home!"