Watch Episode 6 below.<\/p>\n
By: Chris Perkins, writer and editor, GM News<\/p>\n
![\"Cadillac](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Cadillac-Formula-1-car-renderings.jpg\" "\\"Cadillac-Formula-1-car-renderings\\"")
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Everything happens fast in Formula 1\u00ae, even off the track. Take the Cadillac Formula 1\u00ae Team\u2019s dash to build its first car for testing. Even with the team\u2019s debut months away, Cadillac Formula 1\u00ae Team, GM engineers and designers worked early mornings and late nights to get the car completed.<\/p>\n
Episode 6 of the What Makes Fast docuseries gives fans the rare privilege of seeing the car build in progress. The team is building a car for testing on a dynamometer. On the dyno, as it\u2019s called, the team puts the car on a rolling road. This allows the car to be essentially \u201cdriven\u201d in place in a laboratory environment.<\/p>\n
The dyno test is a huge milestone for the Cadillac Formula 1\u00ae Team. In essence, it\u2019s a chance to make sure the car works as it should, so the team can be certain that when they get to the racetrack, drivers Valtteri Bottas and Sergio P\u00e9rez can put in laps.<\/p>\n
There are a couple of challenges at hand. For starters, the dyno is in Italy, so the car and all its parts are being shipped out. Second, the team decided to move the schedule forward a week to allow for more testing time. That\u2019s great, but it means thousands of parts have to arrive at the factory sooner than the original plan, and the team has to assemble everything before it goes on the car.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not like putting together a children\u2019s toy. We see an example of one part that has to get reworked with absolute precision just to fit. Every component, down to the fasteners, has to be serialized so it\u2019s traceable. Some engineers are seeing their parts in metal (or carbon fiber) for the first time after months of working with computer models.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery single racing car never goes together smoothly,\u201d says Cadillac Formula 1\u00ae Team Chief Mechanic Nathan Divey. \u201cThey\u2019re all prototypes, really. The tolerances you\u2019re looking at are so fine, tenths of a millimeter, it can take such a small amount to create an issue.\u201d<\/p>\n
The team is in good humor about the challenge ahead, but it is still an enormous challenge \u2014 installing the engine, transmission, and everything else that makes the wheels turn, then running the dyno test.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s on me, it’s on Graeme [Lowdon, Cadillac Formula 1\u00ae Team principal] to make sure that we\u2019re leading people to a place that we learn how to deal with adversity,\u201d says Dan Towriss, Cadillac Formula 1\u00ae Team Holdings CEO. \u201cIt\u2019s going to get a whole lot harder when we\u2019re on the grid, and we have the microscope of Formula 1\u00ae down.\u201d<\/p>\n