Here’s how the story goes: Red Bull’s 2010 championship winning racecars driven by young superstar and reigning F1 world champion Sebastian Vettel and veteran Mark Webber are powered by custom 650-plus horsepower 2.4-liter Renault Sport F1 RS27 engines. In the road car world, Renault and Nissan are like peanut butter and jelly. Since 1999, they’ve often shared platforms, engines, and future tech as part of the Renault-Nissan Alliance.
So when Nissan recently needed a globally renowned outlet from which it could spread the word about Infiniti – especially in Europe where it is just now getting a foothold — it quickly devised a plan to badge the reigning championship cars and driver’s suits with giant Infiniti logos.
It is this cleaver multi-year marketing tie-up that recently brought me to a quiet industrial park near Milton Keynes, England. The town serves as the home base to RBR and is the sole spot where the team’s innovative technology is cultivated, not to mention guarded with the utmost seriousness and secrecy. Considering the competitive lot that includes juggernauts Scuderia Ferrari and Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, this should be no surprise. The three are some of the wealthiest and cutthroat teams in all of motorsport.
Merely walking into RBR’s front reception area, I got an immediate feeling of secrecy, cleanliness, and technological richness. (A recent Independent report emanating from Europe estimated Red Bull spends close to $300 million per year on its two Formula 1 teams, RBR and Scuderia Toro Rosso.) I liken the headquarters to those of NASA; our small group was required to have a legitimate reason to enter the compound and was asked not to not snap photos unless instructed to at designated areas. Top secret is the norm.
Just past the reception area’s elaborately lit race and championship trophy section is the building’s main floor, where 180 young designers sit in large low-walled cubicles. Each Dell flat screen displayed a 3D CAD part image. Minus the French heart, every component on the RB7 racecars — from titanium bolts to carbon fiber gearbox — is developed and created at the U.K. facility and the team’s sister company (which is right across Bradbourne Drive), Red Bull Technology.
The company hires most of its designers and engineers straight from the world’s top university programs. Not only do they call different countries home, some also arrive from the yachting, aerospace, and automotive industries, so specialties are highly diverse but remain closely related. There are also craftsmen, fabricators, carbon fiber/advanced material specialists, race engineers, strategists, and a group of administrative, marketing, and public relations executives that makeup the 560-strong team located at Milton Keynes.
Continuing past the outer-ring offices of chief technical officer, Adrian Newey, and team principal, Christian Horner, we arrive at RBR’s secured race center. The approximate 20-foot by 20-foot room has space for at least 16 engineers seated at individual desks. The desks are tiered in a stadium-seating sort of way, with the first row being the lowest. Again, thoughts of NASA’s Houston launch control come to mind, or better yet, a complex war room where all-out battles are directed.
On the wall ahead of the desks hang four giant flat screen TVs. According to RBR, they are a key element in the three lines of defense applied during a race. The first line is the pit lane engineering team, usually seated at a small enclosed box directly in front of the garage. Next are the back-of-garage engineers that monitor the car’s vital signs. Last is the aforementioned race center group in England connected live to engineers at the race via telephone and the four TV screens.
From these monitors engineers closely watch their cars and those of the competition. They analyze the live video feeds to determine competitors’ racing setups. From spring rates and suspension calibrations, to gearing and fuel load, RBR can make an educated guess as to what their top challengers are doing.
Strategists then plot the best time to schedule their 3-second pit stops and relay all information down to the pitlane. It is an amazing orchestration of analytics, guesswork, and technology that up until my visit, I had never truly appreciated or understood.
Downstairs from race control are massive aerospace-grade wind tunnels, autoclaves, and five-axis milling stations. The mills create part molds for wind tunnel testing by precisely etching materials by laser. RBR’s engineers share many fabrication techniques and technology with the military and space industries. One production process, for instance, creates lightweight metals and plastics from high-tech powders. Yes, powders. On my way towards the break room exit I caught a sight of the carbon fiber clean room/laboratory where parts are hand-built by associates donning long white coats.
Apart from the sophistication and sheer wealth of the Red Bull Racing operation, I walked away taken aback by every employee’s apparent love for motorsport and the ultimate prize — winning. Each is dedicated to providing Seb and Mark (that’s what I call them now) with the fastest open-wheel machines on the planet, no matter how unrelated or closely aligned their workday tasks may be.
I asked a few of the many engineers, designers, and administrators about the successful run they’ve had this season. Each told me they could not wait for their drivers to bring home the 2011 driver’s and constructor’s championships. In their minds, it isn’t if they’ll clinch the championships, it’s when. And after getting an intimate feel of what it takes to go from spiffy energy drink cans to Formula 1 kings, I have to agree.
Special thanks to Nissan North America, Infiniti, and Red Bull Racing for arranging my visit.
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