TOY STORY

Where best to store some of Toyota’s most prized and valuable racing superstars? Under the wind tunnel at its Cologne HO, of course...

- STEPHEN DOBIE

WELCOME TO A MUSEUM LIKE NO OTHER. Instead of a theatrical entrance hall or a tantalising gift shop shimmering by the ticket booth, we've drawn up at a security gate. Outside a grey box of a factory. Once cleared, we're chaperoned through corridor after corridor, albeit ones lined with a diverse array of trophies from every corner of the globe. Things are looking up.

As the signal bars on our phones ebb away, we arrive at a pair of doors so large and thick it's easy to assume they occupy a sole what3words address apiece. They heave open to reveal threedozen rally, endurance and Formula 1 race cars, all gathered carefully in their respective tribes under enough snaking ventilation pipes to make Kevin McCloud woozy with their industrial chic. It's the underbelly of the Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe (TGR-E) wind tunnel facility, the unlikely location for a droolworthy selection of the marque's motorsport heroes. And our adventure has only just begun.

Storing them here is both an ingenious use of space and an ergonomical challenge. While some areas of the hall boast enough headroom to dangle an old F1 car artfully above visitors - like mechanical mistletoe - others call on you to duck and weave like it's a Crystal Maze challenge, the sands of the timer dwindling as Richard O'Brien wisecracks at the door. Careful not to trip over any delicate winglets or vulnerable splitters...

There are undoubtedly more spacious places to host such invaluable, irreplaceable objects, but these cars were made with a purity of purpose - designed for gruelling competition and hardwon results - making the brutal aesthetic of their retirement home feel like a fitting backdrop.