Since the inception of Toyota’s Formula 1 team, Panasonic Toyota Racing, in 2001, Panasonic has been much more than just the title sponsor. By working together closely with the team Panasonic has also been able to contribute technically to the teams success in one of the most competitive sports in the world. To begin with, Formula 1 cars do not just have a turn key ignition like normal road cars – instead a laptop is needed, and it’s a Panasonic unique magnesium-encased Toughbookseries of laptops which perform this task for Panasonic Toyota Racing. A Toughbook is attached to the car, the engine is initially turned over without a spark such that it generates all the pressures in the variousystems, and the Toughbook is used to analyse that all is functioning correctly.

The Panasonic Toyota Racing garage and motorhomes are the most technologically advanced in the Paddock and contain numerous LCD and Plasma TVs. Panasonic Viera LCDs, due to their bright backlights, are used in the pit  garage to display the telemetry information collected from the car during races – vital information which needs to be shared with all engineers. Unusual for an LCD, Viera LCDs boast ultra-wide 178 degree viewing angles, meaning that there is no problem for the all the pit crew to crowd around and see it. Furthermore, the motorhome is fi lled with luxury large-screen Viera Plasma TVs – ideal for watching the races unfold in beautiful, high definition quality – and equally good for showing fi lms to help the mechanics wind-down after a hard day’s work!