Mark Cavendish, the fastest sprinter in road cycling today, has a Formula 1 connection. Since March, Cavendish has been unleashing his devastating bursts of speed on a bicycle crafted in the factories of the McLaren F1 team. A racingcar team and bicycles?
It was a natural extension for McLaren. The body of F1 cars is made of carbon fibre and working with the material for decades gave McLaren a certain understanding of how to craft it to make it glide through air. It tied up with Specialized, a
Transportation of F1 technologies to road cars is common. Luca Colajanni, director-communications of Ferrari refers to his F1 team as "our living R&D department". Increasingly, transportation of F1 technologies is going beyond cars. "There have been many technological and material spillovers from motor racing into more mainstream uses over the years," says Professor Rick Delbridge of
F1 Grand Prix:
Take materials. Carbon fibre, for example, is used in wheel chairs and hitech fishing lines. Or, take processes. Delbridge points to the influence of F1 pit-stop crews on the efficient transfer of patients to the intensive care unit. Last month, McLaren signed an agreement with pharma company GlaxoSmithKline to share its capabilities in engineering, technology, analytics and strategy modelling.
This flow of technology is about more than just the top F1 teams flaunting their technological prowess. Today, a search for new revenue streams is a business reality for F1 teams as they have lost two big sponsor constituencies: tobacco and auto. Advertising restrictions started blowing cigarette money away in the late-nineties, while the ongoing 'green' shift and tough business conditions have driven away auto manufacturers.
BUSINESS COMPULSIONS
"All businesses have to grow," says Martin Whitmarsh, CEO of McLaren Racing. Two years back, the AT&T Williams F1 team developed a flywheel energy-storage technology -- an alternative to a chemical battery in hybrid cars -- and used it to power the Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid.
Alex Burns, CEO of AT&T Williams, says the flywheel saves fuel, and can be applied to vehicles that stop and start frequently like buses and trams. The team is developing this technology for a metro train. Its Williams Technology Centre, located in
Williams has identified three areas where it feels it can capitalise on the reach of F1 and the technology it generates: energy efficiency, road safety and education. "We are developing businesses relevant to each of these themes," says Burns.
In energy efficiency, Williams is working with Jaguar to bring the latter's CX75 concept car to market. "This hybrid super-car will use technology adapted from our F1 cars to offer performance on par with the fastest cars on the market along with incredibly low CO2 emissions," says Burns.
Similarly, in road safety, Williams is adapting its simulator technology to let fleet operators use it to train drivers.