Renault announces investment in new CFD facility

The ING Renault F1 Team is pleased to announce a major $50 million technology investment programme at its Enstone base with the full support of the Renault Group. This long-term programme will include investment in a brand-new Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) facility, which will provide the team with ten times its current capacity in this area and create an industry benchmark that will stand among the top 100 global computing facilities.

Improved simulation in CFD is of direct benefit to the automotive industry, and Formula 1 has already made a significant contribution to the development of the technology. This new facility will enable the development of cutting-edge techniques that can benefit the design of more efficient road vehicles and power-trains in the future. Indeed, the applications of CFD stretch far beyond the wider automotive industry. CFD is a society-relevant technology, applied in areas as diverse as the design of heart valves or more fuel-efficient aircraft. Formula 1 has a proven capacity to adopt and drive the development of new technologies, and the advances enabled by the work in the CFD centre will cascade far beyond the world of motor racing.

All new construction work will meet stringent targets for environmental responsibility, in line with the entire Enstone site. For example, the new CFD Centre will be sited below ground level to minimise its impact on the SSSI (Sites of Special Scientific Interest) that form part of the Enstone site and will be powered by renewable energy. Environmental priorities are an on-going development path for the ING Renault F1 Team, reflected in the fact that the Enstone facility achieved in 2005, the Kyoto target of a 12.5% reduction in emissions by 2012.

ING Renault F1 Team Managing Director, Flavio Briatore: "This programme of technology investment in the team sends a strong signal about our commitment to a competitive future in Formula 1. Each investment will be carefully and efficiently managed in line with the sport's future regulations, to derive maximum benefit for the team, our partners and the wider group."

Technical Director, Bob Bell: "We are delighted to announce the construction of the new Enstone CFD Centre. While other teams have invested in costly second wind tunnels, we believe that CFD is a technology of the future that will be integral to the design and development of more efficient vehicles. This new centre will allow us to push the existing technological boundaries, and to develop new techniques and skills that will have applications far beyond the race tracks of the future."