A Midlands manufacturer has joined forces with the ING Renault Formula One team to provide flooring for their $50 million “wind tunnel in a computer”.
Amtico International, a Solihull-based designer and manufacturer of some of the most innovative and resilient flooring products, are providing flooring for the new Computational Aerodynamics Research Centre for the Renault racing team at their UK headquarters in Enstone, Oxfordshire.
Renault’s team boss Flavio Briatore, has already hailed the team’s investment in a computational fluid dynamics tool as a move that sends out a “strong signal” about their commitment to a competitive future in Formula One motor racing.
John Mardle, operations director for Renault F1 Team, said: “We chose each floor covering to reflect the use and function of each space by working in collaboration with Amtico’s design team.
“The Rib Zinc tiles were chosen because of their ‘technical’ look and because the colour is also a good fit with the colour of the computer cabinets, which house one of the top 50 most powerful computers in the world!
“The Linear Chalk tile was chosen for the hall/exhibition area, which is the first area that you access when entering of the building.
“We wanted to create a sense of calm to contrast with the other spaces in the building, which house intense activity.
“The space has a significant amount of natural light coming through and the Linear Chalk tile gives a natural, ecological feel to a room that is also underground.”
Work for the new centre began in October 2007, with the removal of 24,000m³ of quarried material and subsequently the new centre being submerged to a depth of 1.5 metres. Commonly referred to as a ‘wind tunnel in a computer’, computational fluid dynamics is a tool that is revolutionising the design process of Formula 1 cars.
Using enormous supercomputers and complex software, it allows engineers to model and simulate the interaction between an object and the surrounding fluid.
Amtico International has 40 years’ experience in designing, engineering and manufacturing some of the most innovative and resilient flooring products in the world.
