16
Renault 3.5
After two complete seasons of the Dallara
T12, which has altered the technical and
sporting landscape of the World Series
Renault, what measures and improvements
have you got planned for the forthcoming
seasons?
«The car that debuted in 2012 has already
come a long way: with two seasons under its
belt it you could say it has reached
“maturity”. A number of its components are
a good deal older too, in fact many parts that
are still mounted on the car today are carry-
overs, and have been in use since back in
2002, when Jaime Alguersuari first contacted
Dallara with the proposal for the Super
Nissan series. So, what needs to change? Very
little: we’ll be concentrating our efforts on
certain areas in order improve reliability, thus
reducing the impact on running costs».
The T12 represents an important
improvement for World Series by Renault in
terms of quality. Drivers such as Magnussen
and Da Costa, who have driven McLaren and
Red Bull in F.1 rookie tests at Silverstone,
have both stated that the T12 is the vehicle
that comes closest to the driving style
required to compete in the world
championship. How did you manage to get
to this point?
«Motorsport is a metaphor for life: one of the
most important aspects is balance. If a car is
not balanced correctly then it will certainly
be a non-starter, and in the same way, when
organising and managing a competitive
series, without the correct balance between
the cost and the product on offer, the
enterprise is bound to be a short-lived one.
Imagine a young driver with a million
(virtual) Euros to spend on his career: what
will he be looking for? I think he’ll be looking
for a formative category that allows him to
gain some experience, because the only way
he's going to learn and progress is by getting
kilometres under his belt, and a series where
the organisers make every effort to ensure
that everyone is treated and judged according
to the same criteria; he’ll also be hoping to be
able to compete in a car where safety is the
most important factor, and which has been
designed and built by a company that is a
byword for reliability and performance. And
how did he arrive at his final decision? It’s a
question of choices: one small step after
another. It’s the Renault philosophy that has
led to this result: Dallara is one of the
partners that the French manufacturer has
selected for this venture, but let’s not forget
that there nerve centre of the organisation is
located in Les Ulis, at the headquarters of
Renault Sport Technologies. For example,
they were the ones who were behind the drive
to produce a DRS for the T12 car. Renault
had already realised that the time was ripe
for this type of technology. But what was
required was a simple, effective system, at a
reasonable cost: the idea for the small,
mobile “gurney” was born in Dallara, during
a short meeting attended by four people who
decided what they wanted to develop, the
objectives and the timescale, all in just half
an hour: and three days later they already
had the results of various different CFD case
studies, which demonstrated the potential of
this solution. Within a month the whole thing
had been designed and built».
What other developments are you planning
in this context?
«It’s difficult to predict the future... but easy
to build it! Renault’s mission is to "Drive the
change": innovation has always been
extremely important and the Renault Sport
technicians and managers take it very
seriously. And Dallara plays a supporting role
in generating and realising ideas. For
example, at Dallara, we are currently working
Sergej Sirotkin
