Valencia: fascinating engineering challenge - Brawn

With no prior running at the all-new urban circuit in and around the harbour of the Spanish city of Valencia, how has the Honda Racing Formula One Team approached set-up predictions for the 2008 European GP?

In fact, the team has used data from many different sources to help with its preparations for the race weekend. The first ever race meeting at Valencia took place during the last weekend of July, from which the team’s engineers have obtained the telemetry from a Formula 3 car and compared it to F3 data at the Circuit de Catalunya – home of the Spanish Grand Prix – to provide a reference for the set-up of the RA108.

This data has been used in conjunction with track simulations to ascertain gear ratios and downforce levels, and early indications are that the technical demands on the cars will be similar to Hockenheim.

“Valencia is often thought of as a temporary race venue,” says Team Principal Ross Brawn, “however it is actually a permanent street circuit which is quite fast and flowing; it’s not like the type of street circuit that we have been used to racing around in Monaco. It’s is going to be a medium to low downforce track with a couple of quick corners which will present a very challenging circuit in an exciting environment.”

There will of course be some unanswered technical questions when the cars arrive in Valencia, such as the amount of grip generated by the recently laid asphalt. These will only be answered when the track action begins on Friday morning, laying great emphasis on the drivers’ feedback to fine tune the balance of the cars.

“One of the key aspects is that it is going to be very windy,” continues Ross. “The America’s Cup is held in Valencia for this very reason however such conditions could make achieving a good balance on the cars quite tricky.

“The Valencia weekend is going to be a fascinating engineering challenge for the team and we are all looking forward to it.”