15 December 2006
Microsoft and McLaren seal ecu deal
Microsoft and McLaren Electronic Systems (MES) have formalised what the inside track knew back in the summer – that they are the official suppliers of standard engine control units (ecus) for the Formula One World Championships for 2008 to 2010.
It’s part of the FIA’s push to cut costs, increase competition and support green initiatives in F1. The winning bid was selected on 5 July 2006, but it has since then to finalise contracts.
“With the best interests of motorsport at heart, we have introduced new regulations that will help cut costs while also retaining each team’s ability to compete hard and sustain safety levels,” says FIA president Max Mosley.
“The tender process gave us an opportunity to view proposals from different suppliers,” he adds. “We selected what we consider is the most efficient and cost effective solution for providing ecus to the Formula One community. We will follow this project closely and look forward to seeing the results in 2008.”
MES is now working with Microsoft to develop the ecus and will then manufacture them for all F1 teams.
The ecus will monitor all aspects of the cars’ powertrains and gather data from some 100 sensors located on each – handling up to 500kbit/s and around 1Gbyte of information per grand prix race – all broadcast in real time back to the teams’ trackside systems.
The goal for MES and Microsoft now is to enable F1 racing teams and their engineering counterparts to access, share and analyse data in real time, to make quicker and better informed decisions. They say they’ll do that using a range of Microsoft applications.
“We have been involved in F1 for 15 years and already work with all the teams,” says Peter van Manen, MES’ managing director. “Our work with Microsoft allows us to combine MES’ knowledge and experience of providing systems at the highest levels of motorsport with Microsoft’s innovative technologies to deliver the best electronic system possible.”
“In all industries, Microsoft’s aim is to provide people with the right technology and the right tools to enable them to succeed in their business, while also keeping costs to a minimum,” says Manuel Simas, director of worldwide automotive industry at Microsoft (pictured above). “This is exactly what we are offering to all F1 teams. We are very excited to be involved in the development of what we believe will be a robust, scalable and easy to use system.”
Author
Brian Tinham
Supporting Information
Websites
http://www.mclaren.com
http://www.microsoft.com
Companies
McLaren Electronic Systems Ltd
Microsoft Ltd
This material is protected by Findlay Media copyright
See Terms
and Conditions.
One-off usage is permitted but bulk copying is not.
For multiple copies contact the
sales team.