From Renault F1 Team
With four flyaway races on the trot, it has been well over five weeks since the cars last passed through the factories. Life on the road may sound glamorous, but without the home comforts of the factory it’s a challenge to keep the cars in tip-top shape.
The Renault F1 Team explains the measures to ensure the cars remain fit for action. The reliance on air freight to ferry various car components around the globe is very important for the teams. While it’s true that the actual chassis haven’t been back to Enstone, a fair amount of the R30’s components have been making regular trips back to Enstone. In fact, over a tonne of air freight was shipped back to Enstone from Sepang last week, packed full of bodywork and suspension components in need of servicing.
Technical Director James Allison explains: "All the key parts on the car have a design life and a service life. When a component reaches its service life, it has to come off the car and return to the factory for assessment, and if that means shipping it to the other side of the world, then that’s what has to be done. That’s the case, for example, with our carbon suspension components, which need proof testing after each Grand Prix so that we can locate any potential weaknesses."
Having to send so much freight back to Europe is a major logistical challenge and often requires members of the teams to carry parts back as hand luggage on commercial flights. That was the only way to meet the deadlines imposed by the back-to-back races in Australia and Malaysia with less than a week to get parts back to Europe, serviced and out to Sepang.
For Renault F1, proof testing of components doesn’t just happen at Enstone, though. At each race there’s a travelling non-destructive testing expert on hand to keep an eye on critical components.
Chief Engineer Alan Permane explains: "We can check a lot of the composite materials using ultrasound to locate any weaknesses. If we are running a new front wing then we’ll use this technique to scan certain points on the wing for stress fractures. We will inspect the wing after the installation lap and then after each run to make sure everything is performing as it should."
Reacting to unexpected curve balls is also very important. In Melbourne the roll hoop on Vitaly Petrov’s car was damaged while the car was returned to the pits on the back of a truck. The design team in Enstone produced a bespoke repair kit that was sent out to Sepang ready to be fitted to the car. Without such reactivity it would have been a struggle for the race team to fix the car on-site.
While most of the cars’ components have been serviced or replaced, there’s little that can be done to preserve the cosmetic appearance of the cars during flyaway races. Repainting is a luxury that has to be put on the back-burner. The single-seaters often carry a few battle scars resulting from the battles delivered during the first Grand Prix. Some odd chip to the paintwork here and there. The cars will get a fresh coat of paint when they arrive back at the factory next week so that they’re in pristine condition for the start of the European season in Barcelona.
With four flyaway races on the trot, it has been well over five weeks since the cars last passed through the factories. Life on the road may sound glamorous, but without the home comforts of the factory it’s a challenge to keep the cars in tip-top shape.
The Renault F1 Team explains the measures to ensure the cars remain fit for action. The reliance on air freight to ferry various car components around the globe is very important for the teams. While it’s true that the actual chassis haven’t been back to Enstone, a fair amount of the R30’s components have been making regular trips back to Enstone. In fact, over a tonne of air freight was shipped back to Enstone from Sepang last week, packed full of bodywork and suspension components in need of servicing.
Technical Director James Allison explains: "All the key parts on the car have a design life and a service life. When a component reaches its service life, it has to come off the car and return to the factory for assessment, and if that means shipping it to the other side of the world, then that’s what has to be done. That’s the case, for example, with our carbon suspension components, which need proof testing after each Grand Prix so that we can locate any potential weaknesses."
Having to send so much freight back to Europe is a major logistical challenge and often requires members of the teams to carry parts back as hand luggage on commercial flights. That was the only way to meet the deadlines imposed by the back-to-back races in Australia and Malaysia with less than a week to get parts back to Europe, serviced and out to Sepang.
For Renault F1, proof testing of components doesn’t just happen at Enstone, though. At each race there’s a travelling non-destructive testing expert on hand to keep an eye on critical components.
Chief Engineer Alan Permane explains: "We can check a lot of the composite materials using ultrasound to locate any weaknesses. If we are running a new front wing then we’ll use this technique to scan certain points on the wing for stress fractures. We will inspect the wing after the installation lap and then after each run to make sure everything is performing as it should."
Reacting to unexpected curve balls is also very important. In Melbourne the roll hoop on Vitaly Petrov’s car was damaged while the car was returned to the pits on the back of a truck. The design team in Enstone produced a bespoke repair kit that was sent out to Sepang ready to be fitted to the car. Without such reactivity it would have been a struggle for the race team to fix the car on-site.
While most of the cars’ components have been serviced or replaced, there’s little that can be done to preserve the cosmetic appearance of the cars during flyaway races. Repainting is a luxury that has to be put on the back-burner. The single-seaters often carry a few battle scars resulting from the battles delivered during the first Grand Prix. Some odd chip to the paintwork here and there. The cars will get a fresh coat of paint when they arrive back at the factory next week so that they’re in pristine condition for the start of the European season in Barcelona.