Inside Toyota’s new WRC dream factory where rally conquerors come to life

When Toyota found itself searching for a new base for its World Rally Championship team, one could argue a central European location would seem most logical. The manufacturer’s stunning Cologne factory, which housed its former Formula 1 team, would surely be an ideal candidate? But the powers that be selected the Finnish city of Jyvaskyla for its new WRC dream factory, and for Toyota it has proven to make perfect sense.

Located approximately 300 miles from the Arctic circle, Jyvaskyla is a rally city and the long-time home of Rally Finland. It has also been the headquarters of Toyota’s WRC programme since the Japanese manufacturer elected to return to the WRC in 2017.

But back then, when the team was led by four-time world rally champion Tommi Makinen, it was spread across two locations. One of them was Makinen’s eponymous Tommi Makinen Racing (TMR) facility based in town of Puuppola, just outside Jyvaskyla, the other a separate location in Estonia.

Last year the team elected to centralise its operation under one roof and moved into a flash new headquarters in Jyvaskyla following Makinen’s departure as team principal. Autosport was among select media invited for a behind-the-scenes look at the new facility, charged with continuing Toyota’s success in the WRC.

But the question remains; why did Toyota elect to stay in Jyvaskyla when the marque’s European racing headquarters are in Cologne, where the team’s engines are built? Technical director Tom Fowler explains that a new site in Jyvaskyla was a no-brainer, and a decision taken with the team’s staff at the forefront of the company’s thinking.

“I think the place where you start any kind of team is important to the team itself,” says Fowler. “The people are the most important thing that we have and many people were rooted around here, even if they weren’t from Finland or Jyvaskyla.

Toyota technical director Fowler is proud of his team's new premises in Jyvaskyla

Photo by: Toyota

“A huge number of our employees had moved here from around the world, Spain, Japan for example, and England in my case. A huge amount of people had made a big life choice to be a part of this team and it only seemed natural to put the people first and make the team stay where it had naturally been for the last few years. I think that is the main reason.

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“Of course [Cologne] would have been part of the options, but it comes back to the people. If you are to make massive changes to any business, let alone a business and a team, those relationships between the people are so important - you can’t just advertise to find new people overnight. To pick up a load of people and move them to another country is very difficult.”

It’s a call that already appears seems an inspired move. Toyota scooped up the last manufacturers’ crown for the WRC's previous-generation cars last year, and is well on course to wrapping up a manufacturers’ and drivers’ double in 2022 with its all-conquering new GR Yaris Rally1 hybrid and new superstar Kalle Rovanpera.

From the outside, you could be fooled into thinking this is just a run-of-the-mill industrial estate. But behind the Toyota Gazoo Racing-branded glass doors, quite a different picture emerges. Toyota has been “lucky”, Fowler says, to secure its impressive new premises which once housed a chemical company. Now, it's the birthplace of the WRC's new benchmark.

On the third floor is the team’s entertainment area, which is furnished with the most Finnish of features - a sauna

After a six-month period of renovation, the facility has been transformed into a site fit for Toyota’s factory WRC operation. It’s home to some 250 workers, representing 10 nationalities, with English the most commonly used language. This army of workers all play a crucial role in designing, constructing and maintaining Toyota’s WRC challengers, and work around the clock. A normal working day can begin at 7am and end as late as 9:30pm, depending on the specific departments.

“We were very lucky with this [facility], because a building that is the right size and somehow roughly the right layout to have a rally team inside is not easy to find, and this one we haven’t modified too much,” Fowler explains. “It was just a bit of restoration, so I would say we were lucky.

“The facility is quite different [to what we had before] and I guess the main point is we had two facilities. We had one here in Jyvaskyla and one in Estonia, so the testing and the rally preparation was separated into two different buildings. In terms of total capacity of the two buildings, it is something quite similar but of course when you have two, you have a little bit of inefficiency in that you need a double of everything. To come under one roof has given us some advantages.

Having previously split its operations between two locations, Toyota is reaping benefits from having everything under one roof

Photo by: Toyota

“In the beginning, we were quite fortunate in that the WRC regulations ended in 2021 and Rally1 started in 2022, so we started the preparations for the Rally1 car in this new building then ran out the life of the WRC car in the other buildings. Then, when the two needed to join together, we didn’t need to move anything that we needed on a daily basis. We were able to jump straight to Rally1 in this building.”

If the outside of the building is a little vague, the foyer leaves little to the imagination as to what lies within as a collection of Toyota’s recent rally challengers line the reception area. The lineup includes an example of Toyota’s first 2017 specification Yaris WRC that guided the team to the 2018 manufacturers’ title, and a drivers’ crown with Ott Tanak in 2019. That is joined by Elfyn Evans’ 2021 car, completely untouched from last year’s season-ending Rally Monza, complete with the obligatory dirt on the bodywork and leaves still sitting in the grill.

But those are outshone by a car many won’t have seen - a GR Yaris WRC car that was built to the 2017 regulations which was originally set to compete in 2021. However, this secretive and radical-looking prototype never made to a competitive stage as it was killed off by the COVID-19 pandemic.

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The reception leads to an open canteen courtyard area, overlooked by a three-story structure which houses the team’s marketing and design/engineering team. The latter comprises 20 design engineers, including Fowler, that are tasked to pen the WRC car creations and updates. On the third floor is the team’s entertainment area, which is furnished with the most Finnish of features - a sauna.

“There is the mythical third floor which not many people have been to,” says Fowler. “It is quite common in Finland for large offices to have an entertainment area with a sauna, and this kind of thing. I think the original plan for it was for it to be an entertainment area, but of course we have had the coronavirus situation for the last few years so we haven’t had so many visitors.”

The heart of the facility lies behind a door that requires a special code to enter. A small corridor leads to vast area lined by crisp white walls and spotless floors. At the centre of it all are 13 car bays, where Toyota’s mechanics have ample room to work on the team’s prized Yaris WRC cars and build up new chassis. Each car has its own bay and corresponding trolley, where parts are housed that correspond to the upcoming rally.

This facility is surrounded by 17 sub-assembly rooms, each with their own designated purpose. For example, one is devoted purely to maintaining gearboxes, while another is solely for dampers. A warehouse full of spare parts from floor to ceiling is located adjacent to the car bays in a convenient location for staff.

A journey further into the bowels of the facility reveals a machine shop tasked with developing new components, followed by a room devoted to building chassis from the ground up. A maximum of four chassis can be constructed at any one time. Connected to this room is an area designated for fabrication, where small items are modified. A special projects room lies adjacent, and is exactly as described.

Toyota can fabricate items in-house, but also uses 200 individual suppliers - many within the local area

Photo by: Toyota

It is at this point a Toyota spokesman confirms that the team has 200 individual suppliers, of which 50 are local, to create the components required to produce and run a GR Yaris. Interestingly, the team’s engines continue to be built and dyno-tested in Cologne. They are then transported to Jyvaskyla by road, where they are fitted to the cars.

“We do quite a lot of metal works, fabrication and machining locally,” says Fowler. “Around here [Jyvaskyla] we have some fabrication suppliers making some of our metal components and then also we have some 3D printing locally, which is able to do plastic and metal 3D printing.

“Down towards Helsinki we have some other suppliers that do some of our big machined parts like sump guards and rear differential protections and this kind of thing. We try to use locally what is available as that is much more efficient.”

Fowler admits the operation still has areas where it can improve. Asked what the facility misses, he smiles: "A chef"

The tour concludes in the facility’s yard, where more than 20 trucks and transport vehicles are stored alongside containers to provide homes to hybrid units. While the team has no plans to expand its new site, the operation is still working to renovate parts of the building.

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“In terms of technical things, there is actually some work still going on,” says Fowler. “There are still some empty spaces still around and a piece of the building still under renovation. There is some test equipment like rigs which haven’t yet been delivered or been installed.”

The vastness of the site and the effort put into its renovation provides a strong indication as to the extent of marque’s commitment to both rally and its Jyvaskyla base. Strengthening the belief that Toyota is in the rallying business for the long haul, the team also has its sights set on new projects. One of these is a Rally2 customer programme, a long-term aim for the team, building an R5 version of its Yaris to fall into line with WRC rivals Hyundai and M-Sport Ford (both of which produce Rally2 machines). Details surrounding the project have yet to be disclosed.

“You can never be completely sure about what is the future, in any kind of motorsport project, but I definitely think it is a good sign [of Toyota’s commitment],” says Fowler. “Rally2 and customer motorsport is something which we are currently working on in the background.

Four chassis can be built up at any one time on in-house jigs

Photo by: Toyota

“Ever since we started this project in 2015, people were asking almost immediately when the 2017 WRC car was on the podium, ‘Can I buy the R5 version?’ Off of the back of the success we have had so far in WRC, it is only natural that people are asking - be it the WRC car or the Rally2 car.

“It is something we are working on to put in place, so people can be more involved on a customer level. I think everyone knows we are working on something, but it is not for me to say when it might be available."

It is quite clear to understand why Toyota is enjoying the the success its currently enjoying in the WRC when you peel away at the layers of its Jyvaskyla base. However, Fowler admits the operation still has areas where it can improve. Asked what the facility misses, he smiles: “A chef. We are in the canteen, but there is no food. We are seriously missing a chef.”

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In all seriousness, Toyota’s factory is perfect arena to produce championship-winning machinery, and there is a simple answer as to the secret to the team’s success according to Fowler.

“The relationship between the people and how the team works together is the most important,” he adds. “When we go to a rally, we go there as a football team or an ice hockey team. It is not like a group of individuals there to do their own thing.”

Aside from needing a chef, according to Fowler, Toyota's new HQ has all the ingredients needed to equip a top WRC outfit

Photo by: Toyota