Virgin Racing signs technical partnership with McLaren
Filed under: Motorsports
Getting ahead as an F1 team is a costly affair. There’s an endless stream of expenses, but even all the cash in the world doesn’t buy experience and expertise.
Virgin initially tried keeping costs down to a minimum with its new F1 team last year. The team skipped wind-tunnel testing in favor of designing its car entirely using computers. It also retained a consulting firm rather than hire the staff usually required of an F1 team. But that approach hasn’t done very well for the team, so it’s starting over again.
The ambitious outfit has dismissed its technical director, retained the services of Pat Symonds (the disgraced former technical director from Renault) and acquired lock, stock and barrel the Wirth Racing Technologies company that handled its cars until now. However the latest development could bode best for the team’s forward momentum.
As anticipated, Virgin has signed a technical partnership with McLaren that will grant the former access to the latter’s considerable facilities and expertise. It’s a similar deal to that signed between McLaren and Force India a couple of years ago, which helped propel Force India from the back of the field into solid midfield contenders. The main difference here is that, while Force India’s deal included using Mercedes-Benz drivetrains, Virgin will, for the time being at least, continue using Cosworth engines. Details in the press release after the jump.
Continue reading Virgin Racing signs technical partnership with McLaren
Virgin Racing signs technical partnership with McLaren originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 07 Jul 2011 08:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
