.Pit Lane

We’ve been a sponsor of AT&T Williams for a season now, and what a season it’s been.

It has been one of the most technically challenging times for us; after all, our products have been almost everywhere on the globe, as well as in space. However, the demands and rigours of motor racing, where millions of people are watching our every move, means products have to be 100% perfect for the job at all times.

Failure is simply not an option.

Our relationship with the team has given (and will continue to give) us exposure on a global scale. It shows us as an innovator and a supplier of hardware that reduces costs and increases productivity. All of this has been in areas that we have not been able to demonstrate in previously.

On a local level, having access to the team’s conference facilities enables us to show our alliance to our customers and even to have members of AT&T Williams speak about the great work we are achieving together.

For example, we recently used the team’s conference facilities to launch our newest product line, the Lenovo ThinkStation workstations, which the team is now evaluating for integration into their operations.

As Alex Burns, chief operating officer of the AT&T Williams teams, says, “We run our motorsports business like our cars – fast, accurate and innovative, We’ve relied on Lenovo to diagnose, repair and push the limit on racing performance. In an ongoing battle to be next in the victory lane, Lenovo’s new ThinkStation workstations will help change the way our engineers work with faster interaction and design simulation to produce the next winning car.”

Another prime example of this is the SuperComputer, which enables the team to speed up the process of aerodynamic simulation by approximately 75 percent. I’ve been told our SuperComputer is in the top 100 of the most powerful computers in the world!

And speaking of super computers, on a day-to-day basis, the team uses approximately 300 desktop PCs and 140 notebooks, with the race team using around 30 ThinkPad T60p notebooks.

But our relationship extends much further than that.

The team have also been testing the very latest advanced components from Lenovo, including Solid State storage drives which have no moving parts, consume less power and are considered less likely to break down than traditional hard drives.

You may have seen our many posters and print adverts in various magazines and newspapers around the world, where we use AT&T Williams team images. We also had our “Best Engineered” road show tour around the major European airports, where the centre-piece to the whole display was the AT&T Williams car.

At race weekends we host press, customers and business partners, so they can see at first hand how Lenovo are working with the team, as well as get an insiders view of how the team operates in such a fast-paced race environment. This also demonstrates the dependency that the team has on the right reliable hardware, which assists them in making quick, high-pressure decisions.

And naturally, every time one of the team’s cars is shown on TV, it exposes us to a worldwide audience of millions, along with the various advertising hoardings we have strategically placed at certain races.

So, it’s not just about the day to day running of the team, nor just the race weekend, but encompassing all parts of AT&T Williams.

I think Alex Burns sums it up very nicely when he says that “IT is fundamentally important in Formula One; our business is all about the design, development and operation of racing cars and we use IT in every step of the process”.

Whilst preparing a previous article for this blog, I was given a comprehensive list of stats from the team, which I was able to use to help prepare the article.

I have to confess it was extremely difficult to cherry-pick the best stats.  Added to this was the fact that some of these stats are truly astounding – some of which I did not know!

So, I can only apologise in advance for the length of this particular post; but when you read it, you will understand why I just had to post this.

A point I should make (as per a previous article), is that some major landmarks will be achieved by the AT&T Williams team in 2008.

I had the pleasure of attending the enormous PistonHeads and AutoSport International show last weekend at the NEC in Birmingham (UK).  Suffice to say I was helping out my wife, who runs the PistonHeads shop, but it did give me plenty of time to walk around the show (and in the paddock of the live arena).

Of course my immediate thought was to find anything relating to the AT&T Williams team, and sure enough, in the F1 area all the 2007 race cars were on display.

I figured that might be the only Williams team presence at the show, but I did chuckle to myself when I reached the ‘British Radio Car Association’ (BRCA) stand, where they were racing – typically 1:8 and 1:10 scale models.

My son, who is 6 years old, was completely taken with this, and we stood there for about 2 hours as they put on an excellent display.  How they control those things I just don’t know.

Anyway, they were racing different types of cars – touring cars, off-road, rally-cross, etc.  As each type came out my son would say “Dad, I really want one of these”.  That was until they had the Formula 1 display though…

They had 2 cars to race – one of which was an AT&T Williams replica.  At this point my son said “Dad, forget everything I’ve said.  I really want one of THEM”!

Suffice to say the team’s car did win the race.

Although the car was not in the correct livery, I will see if I can get some Lenovo and ThinkPad stickers for the owner.

Chatting to the drivers afterwards (who were an extremely friendly bunch) I discovered that these can cost up to £3,000 ($6,000) each!  My son has a lot of pocket money to save before he can afford one.

Although I might buy one ….. for “my own use” of course

As the AT&T Williams team fast approach a number of landmarks this season, I figured this would be a good time to remember some very recent celebrations.

Ironically, both AT&T Williams and Lenovo each celebrated a recent anniversary.  For Lenovo it was the 15^th anniversary of the ThinkPad; and for the AT&T Williams team it was the 30^th anniversary of the team itself.

For Lenovo, the ThinkPad has brought with it a number of firsts:

•  First notebook PC with integrated CD-ROM/DVD ROM
•  First ThinkLight, a “night-time” light to illuminate the keyboard
•  First notebook PC with integrated Wi-Fi certified wireless LAN
•  First sub-three pound notebook PC with full-sized keyboard
•  First notebook PC with an embedded security chip
•  First notebook PC with hard drive “‘air-bag” protection
•  First notebook PC with protective roll cage
•  First notebook PC to feature an integrated biometric slide fingerprint reader combined with hard drive encryption
•  First notebook PC with an extended battery life of up to 11 hours

The ThinkPad was first brought to life by a group of ten leading designers and engineers from around the world, each inspired by the challenge of creating a truly usable notebook PC, and influenced by the unlikely pairing of the Shokado bento — a traditional black-lacquered Japanese lunch box — and an IBM-issued employee pocket notebook with the corporate motto ‘Think’ imprinted on the cover.

Quite strange to look at the list above and see things which we take for granted these days!

For the AT&T Williams team, the end of 2007 was the time for them to celebrate 30 years of Formula One racing.  Here’s some stats to contend with:

* 495: Grand Prix contested as WGPE

* 295: Podiums

* 125: Pole positions

* 113: Victories - 22.8% of races the team has entered

* 68: Races won from pole position

* 33: One - Two victories

* 24: The number of consecutive pole positions (a record)

* 9: Constructors’ Championships won

* 7: Drivers Championships won

I really could continue – there are so many stats available from the team; plus so many wonderful highlights and memories with Hill, Rosberg, Mansell, etc.

And the 2008 season will bring us some more memorable team highlights:

• The Spanish GP should bring the 50,000^th race lap
• Monaco will be the 600^th race that Frank Williams has entered
• The Turkish GP will be the 500^th race as WGPE.

As these key milestones approach, I think it will be good to look back and remember what’s been achieved with both Lenovo and AT&T Williams to put us both where we are today.

You may be aware that we’ve recently launched a brand new notebook – the Lenovo ThinkPad Reserve Edition.

This limited edition notebook is rather different than your regular Lenovo ThinkPad.

The most obvious and striking change to a regular ThinkPad is that the outer casing is not your standard matt black casing. Instead, it has been encased in a wonderful premium leather, “with curves and flanges which are uniquely angled to provide protection” against all sorts!

I was chatting to a good friend of mine very recently, and we were discussing this rather unique and distinctive leather layer, and it got me thinking what the AT&T Williams team do with their race cars.

No, I wasn’t wondering if they wrapped the body panels in leather, but I was curious if the team applied some form of professional wax or polish like DoDo Juice, or perhaps a simple squirt of something like Mr. Sheen or Liquid Gold? Does it help with aerodynamics? Perhaps keep the car dry when it’s wet, or to dirt off, whilst racing?

As an AT&T Williams club member I read through the various blogs and articles but found no reference to how the various panels are finished. And for once, Google was not my friend. Perhaps the team just leave the panels as they are? To be honest, I don’t know, but I shall of course endeavour to find out!

See the pun there

The web team that I work very closely with, here in sunny Basingstoke (in the UK), create new PC desktop backgrounds, based around excellent AT&T Williams team images.

There is a varied selection of regularly updated images to choose from, including some which are calendar-based (which I use myself).

To help you get your fix, and tide you over until the 2008 season starts, then why not check out the latest Lenovo wallpapers that you can download.

I’ve been spending quite a bit of time at the AT&T Williams factory recently, for a multitude of reasons – video shoots, factory and museum tours, various meetings, along with being there to watch the Chinese GP live!

Of course you’ll read more about some of these exploits over the coming weeks.

During one of my visits I was extremely privileged to get a comprehensive tour of the factory. Part of this involved meeting some of the engineering team, where I was introduced to Bernie (an extremely lovely chap) who manufactures various parts for the cars.

He was explaining, with a pride and passion, and in intricate detail, some of the work he does, which was astonishing to say the least.

In my personal opinion, to label Bernie with “the best of British engineering” would be, quite frankly, an understatement. The finesse of his work was astounding, working within tolerances of 100ths of a millimetre! I was shown different engine and gearbox components, made of varying metals. This is where I came across a fascinating metal called Densimet, which is the 2^nd heaviest metal known to man. It was really strange to pick up these smallest of parts and expecting them to be weightless – when in fact they were the other extreme!

Anyway, I digress. The point I wanted to make was that it certainly seemed to me as though the AT&T Williams cars are ‘best engineered.’

Which leads me very nicely onto Lenovo, where I was thinking about our own engineers. We say that best-engineered refers to a combination of factors demonstrating tradition of excellence in engineering and product design, including our record of being first to market with key features that have since become industry standards.

Sound familiar?

I guess that Bernie and his team at AT&T Williams, and our own engineers at Lenovo are not too dissimilar at all! It seems that Lenovo and AT&T Williams are a perfect fit!

Our own goal here at Lenovo is quite simple: to put more innovation in the hands of more people, so they can do more amazing things. To learn how we do this with Lenovo Best Engineered, and see some awesome product videos as well, visit our Best Engineered microsite.

Oh, and a personal word of warning …… please don’t try the ‘water tank’ test at home (or any other test for that matter)!

I’ve been wondering how Lenovo helps the AT&T Williams team during an actual race. It’s clear a lot of other people also think the same as I’ve been asked this question many times recently. So, I’ve done some digging, and hopefully the following will provide some insight into this.

Our ThinkPad T60p notebooks are used on the pit-wall to help the engineering team analyse their race strategy and helps make the decisions the team makes when the car is on track: whether they do one stop in the race or two stops, when they change tyres, how they are gaining and losing over a race length of some one and a half hours and what the competition are up to at any given time.

We discussed this with Robin Gearing, Head of Vehicle Dynamics at AT&T Williams, to gain an insight into how Lenovo helps the team. “Digital technology has essentially allowed us to pick up timing data from the Grand Prix organisers and process it” says Robin. “We build up our own timing database and then have live analysis on the pit wall of how the race is panning out. All of the engineers on the pit wall have their ThinkPads with them and can basically see the rate at which we are gaining or losing on our competitors and try and predict when they will pit stop”.

“If we time how long their fuel rig was connected to the car we then also enter that into the program and predict how long their next stint of the race will be and when they will pit stop next. We can look at where we would expect to come out after our pit stops, whether we are likely to fall into traffic and if so we can pull our pit stop forward to get a clear piece of track” says Robin.

“At its most elegant we can also try and predict what our final result would be after pit stops. For example, coming up to our first pit stop, the software could show us where we may fall out with a given fuel load in traffic and whether adding slightly less fuel would allow us to get in front of somebody”.

If you may recall (see entries below), our ‘Best Engineered’ display has been on a mini-tour of Europe, where it has already visited Paris, London and Frankfurt.

Well, it has now arrived safe and sound in Amsterdam, where you can find it airside at Schiphol Terminal One departures - en route to pier D.

As well as the show car (FW28) being on display, you will also find our very latest products available for you to play with. All of this is surrounded with plasma screens showing exclusive footage of the team in action.

And of course, we do have a trivia quiz to test you on your F1 knowledge. There is an added benefit if you are a local Dutch resident, whereby you have a chance of winning a Lenovo notebook, when you enter the trivia quiz!

We will be there until the 30^th of September, so if you are passing, then please do take a few minutes to stop by and say hello.

I must confess I quite fancy the trivia quiz ……. I wonder if my boss will approve a trip to local Dutch office!

IT is an essential element of any Formula One team and AT&T Williams is no exception.

It permeates all areas of the business, from the high visibility global arena of the 17 races a year to the day to day manufacture of parts and the administrative running of the company.

As Alex Burns, Chief Operating Officer of Williams F1 explained: “IT is fundamentally important in Formula One; our business is all about the design, development and operation of racing cars and we use IT in every step of the process”.

I’ve been asked many times over the past few weeks exactly what Lenovo machines are being used by the AT&T Williams team. Here’s some useful snippets of info I hope will help answer these questions (and much more besides).

As an indication, the team currently uses approximately 300 desktop PCs and 140 laptops. The race team uses around 30 ThinkPad T60p notebook PCs, across all areas of race team performance. They are used by the team’s data engineers, and form an essential part of the ignition process.

They are also used in vehicle dynamics, systems engineering, control of fuel rigs and strategy communications from the pit wall to the garage. Electrical, engine and hydraulics technicians use them; the engineers will use them; marketing will use them; they are to keep the team in touch with the outside world and the business back at team headquarters in Grove.

And without them, the 5/20GB of telemetry data generated at an event could not be processed or read.

And for the long-haul trips, take Australia for example, 25 tons of air freight and 7 tons of sea freight are required to get the team up and racing. Of this, IT equipment forms an impressive 3 tons, where 2 dedicated IT people travel to set this all up in just 24 hours!

That’s not a challenge I would relish I have to confess! And I thought I was busy on my trusty ThinkPad!