Newsgroup: it.sport.formula1.moderato
Titolo: [ENG] Williams builds for the future

Source: Motorsport.com F1 News
http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=154340&amp;FS=F1
BMW WilliamsF1 Team Builds For The Future
New assets & new management structure at WilliamsF1 for
revisedcompetitiveness
- Patrick Head new Director of Engineering
- Sam Michael promoted to Technical Director
- Second Wind Tunnel on stream
- Joint programme management implemented
Oxford, May 25, 2004. WilliamsF1 today announced two major
initiativesintended to significantly augment the company's competitive
contributionto the BMW WilliamsF1 Team and to set the foundation for
theorganisation into the future. A revised management structure
seesPatrick Head take up a new post of Director of Engineering, with
SamMichael assuming responsibilities as Technical Director. To
supplementthe management re-organisation, the company today also
confirmed thatits multi-million pound investment in the most advanced
aerodynamicfacility of its kind has completed its commissioning and is
now onstream, contributing to short and medium term race car development.
The management changes come after a detailed consideration and reviewof
the company's technical strategy. Patrick Head, a company directorand
shareholder, will shift his emphasis away from daily technicaloperational
duties, and will focus his considerable expertise andexperience on long
view technology strategy, accommodating suchconcerns as addressing
anticipated wholesale changes to technicalregulations and bringing
forward advanced technologies. He will takeoverall responsibility for the
engineering capability of the company infacilities, personnel skills and
organisation.
Patrick Head said, "For clarity, I am retaining my day to day
executiveinvolvement and equity holding in WilliamsF1. This is not a
prelude toretirement. When Adrian Newey joined us in 1990, I moved from
ChiefDesigner to Technical Director, and now I think the time and
opportunityis right to make a further change. I will be supporting Sam
fully in hisnew role and I expect to be no less busy with the new
challenges I haveset myself."
Head continued, "Formula One is a very complex organisational
activityincorporating research, development and operations, and this
newstructure will help optimise our activities in all these key areas.
Thiswill be an immense challenge for Sam, but Frank and I intend to
providehim with the authority to achieve his tasks while providing the
supportI can from my own experience, and my position as a director of
thecompany."
Sam Michael, 33, is an Engineering graduate of the University of
NSW,Australia, and joined WilliamsF1 in 2001 after a variety of
motorracing assignments including data engineering at Lotus and Head
ofR&D as well as race engineering duties at Jordan. His promotion
fromChief Operations Engineer to Technical Director carries full
technicalresponsibility for the design, development and deployment of
race cars.
"Naturally, I am extremely pleased to have been given such a positivevote
of confidence with the appointment to the position of TechnicalDirector.
I share Patrick's view that this division of responsibilitieswill free
Patrick to take on an important strategic role, and the timingallows me
to take charge of the progression of the FW27 from the outset.I think it
is obvious given the growth in complexity of the technicalprocesses, our
organisation and the level of competition in Formula Onethat we organise
ourselves in a smarter fashion.
Parallel with the changes to the company's technical managementstructure,
WilliamsF1's second wind tunnel is now operational, providingthe company
with an unsurpassed aerodynamic facility. The new facilitysupplements the
team's existing first tunnel, enabling a greatlyimproved 'concept to
track' time for all- important aerodynamicdevelopments.
Infrastructure work on the tunnel commenced in November 2002,
andaerodynamic commissioning commenced in record time some 12 months
laterin 2003. In the construction over 2,600m2 of earth was excavated
and560 tonnes of steel and 5,250 tonnes of concrete (the equivalent of
350cement trucks) was used in construction. The tunnel fan itself
draws2.5 MW of power to accelerate 9 tonnes of static air to speeds of
over280kph in 30 seconds.
The tunnel technology incorporates a full size continuous steel belttest
facility running at 80m/s, with full synchronous multi-axis
modelmanagement providing yaw, pitch, heave, roll, steer and cross
windsimulation. Its specification makes it a best in class
automotivefacility, and augmented by WilliamsF1's existing wind tunnel,
provides aworld class resource unmatched in Formula One.
Dr John Davis, who is responsible for the management of
WilliamsF1'saerodynamic facilities, explained the benefits of the new
tunnel, "Asthe tunnel is at the horizon of new technology, this facility
is adoor to a universe of new aerodynamic possibilities. Many of
thesepossibilities have not yet even been considered, let alone
investigatedand as such, presents another whole dimension of
opportunity."
Dr Antonia Terzi, WilliamsF1's Chief Aerodynamicist, outlined how
thetunnel would contribute to on-track performance, "Self-evidently,now
we have two tunnels, our lead times for aero developments willimprove
significantly. But more importantly, with small incrementsof aero
improvements to be found, it is increasingly important thattunnel results
are highly accurate. As we are able to replicate themutli-dimensional
factors a race car experiences on the track, we arealready seeing
accuracy improvements of 30%, and this degree of accuracywill make it
easier to precisely confirm and quickly incorporate aerodevelopments into
the race car's continuous evolution."
The new tunnel will provide a major advantage to the BMW WilliamsF1Team
in the context of increased reliance on aerodynamic performanceunder
existing and proposed technical regulations for Formula One."Aerodynamics
will always be a fundamental element of Formula One, butagainst the
backcloth of new rule changes, this facility will providethe very best
resource of its kind in the sport, and the benefits shouldbe measurable.
Allied to a strong team including Dr John Davis who ismanaging and
developing the infrastructure, and Dr Antonia Terzi as
HeadAerodynamicist, I believe we have one of the best teams to augment
Samin his new role," confirmed Patrick Head.
This marshalling of WilliamsF1's resources for competitive advantagewill
assist the implementation of joint programme management with teampartners
at BMW. Mario Theissen, BMW Motorsport Director said, "Whenwe decided to
extend our partnership last year, we agreed that oneobjective would be to
bind both parties into a single entity. Thisdoesn't happen overnight, of
course, it's a process that requires sometime. The new personnel
re-organisation at WilliamsF1 is a significantstep towards this target,
because to be a winning team in Formula One,you must have depth and
stability in technical management."
Commenting on the two initiatives, Frank Williams, BMW WilliamsF1Team
Principal commented, "The two developments announced today gohand-in-hand
as a major step in improving our competitive yield. Notonly am I
delighted that our multi-million pound investment in ouraerodynamics
facility is now contributing to the race programme, but thechanges to our
management structure will be a major step in reinstatingWilliams'
reputation as the leading engineering and technology team onthe grid.
Patrick's depth of experience combined with the highly motivated
talentthat Sam Michael embodies will provide our technical activities
withpeerless leadership. These two initiatives, together with the
redoubledtechnical integration with our partners at BMW, give me great
confidencefor the future of both WilliamsF1 and the BMW WilliamsF1 Team,"
Williamsconcluded.
-williams-
Copyright 1994-2004 Motorsport.com, Inc.
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 now onstream, contributing to short and medium term race car development.
Ecco ... piuttosto che disquisire sui ruoli di persone esistenti 
meglio concentrarsi nel far funzionare bene questa e, poi, sull'avere 
in organico qualcuno che le fornisca qualcosa di buono da verificare 
....