RED BULL RB7 ENSURING PERFECTION
‘We have no time for mistakes,’ says Chris
Charnley, quality manager at Red Bull Technology (the design and manufacturing arm of Red Bull Racing), ‘basically in our business we are continuously developing prototypes.’ Red Bull engineers employ a
range of Leica Geosystems’ laser trackers in the Milton Keynes factory to ensure all prototypes are as accurate as possible. The designers frequently contact quality engineer, Mike Hughes, when they wish to check the dimensional integrity of a new component. ‘They come to us and ask not just if we can measure the part, they ask us for a ‘Leica check’.
The measurements from laser trackers are reliable and authoritative, and word has got around.’ Red Bull Technology
measures the assembled racecars, as well as the individual components, as ensuring the car is legal is a key role for the systems. As Sauber found to its cost at the opening race of 2011, mistakes here can have a major impact on points scored (both of the Swiss cars were disqualified when it turned out the rear wings had been incorrectly measured), and here the technical partnership with Hexagon Metrology really pays off. A few seasons ago, the team urgently required an
accurate measuring machine. One ’phone call to Hexagon in Barcelona and a laser tracker was quickly sourced. The machinery park at Red Bull Technology now includes several product generations of Leica Geosystems’ laser trackers, and similar systems are in use at the Red Bull Racing wind tunnel. ‘The Leica Absolute Tracker
is a brilliant all-purpose tool and without doubt one of our best investments,’ says Charnley. ‘The speed of measurements justifies the investment by the time saved on component measurement. We are always discovering more uses for it. Accuracy, portability and reliability inspire the team.’
it is a fairly hostile environment, and heat management has been a little bit of a problem. But most of the other problems have been, I think more than anything, simply our lack of experience in that area.’
This is one of the key areas in the design of the RB7. Placing the lithium chemistry cells at the rear means the car has some significant differences to its rivals. Notably, the RB7 uses a small volume fuel cell as the batteries are not located there, which is a major difference to the RB5, which was designed to take KERS. ‘On that car it was in the fuel tank, so the RB7 is kind of in between RB5 and RB6. When we freed up the volume for fuel between RB5 and RB6, we also changed the shape of the monocoque alongside the fuel cell at the same time. Inevitably, there’s always a fight between radiator packaging and fuel volume as they are fighting for the same volume.’
Metrology tools are an integral part of the design and manufacturing process at Red Bull, both to ensure the dimensional integrity of prototype components and also to ensure the finished car meets the strict regulations
NEW TYRES PLEASE The re-introduction of KERS joined DRS as headline changes for the 2011 season, but one of the critical issues for the teams was the arrival of Pirelli as the sole tyre supplier to Formula 1. With the RB7 proving to be the fastest car in qualifying and winning the most races, it could be said that Red Bull got the best out of them, but Newey is not so sure. ‘Ferrari seem to be pretty kind on their tyres, arguably kinder than us,’ he says. ‘It’s not as simple as having a good tyre model, then you understand the tyre. That might allow you to understand it, but it won’t necessarily mean you can get good performance. In truth, I think our pace is more the overall car. I like to think that if we were on Bridgestones, our performance relative to the others would be probably fairly similar to where we are on Pirellis. In other words, I don’t think that the change from Bridgestone to Pirelli has particularly caused a change in the competitive order.’ If it isn’t the overall car
The RB7 has its KERS hardware mounted alongside the gearbox housing at the rear of the car, something that plays a significant factor in the car’s weight distribution. Such layouts are banned under the new-for-2014 rules
14
www.racecar-engineering.com • September 2011
concept that makes the RB7 so strong, what is it? Newey is well known for having an aerodynamic-led approach to
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