It’s much more than a sticker.
Infiniti’s participation in motorsports worldwide is increasing. One of its most important mainstays in Formula One is Infiniti. Infiniti is more than a marketing tool. It serves as a technical partner for Renault Sport. Infiniti says, “It’s more than putting a sticker onto the car. It’s about sharing engineers and sharing [intellectual properties].” These relationships are deep.
We traveled to Austin, Texas to gain a better understanding about the Infiniti-Renault Sport F1 partnership. We were able to see the cars on track and had access to the pits.
Infiniti Engineering Academy
The Infiniti Engineering Academy is one of the most unique features of the Infiniti/Renault partnership. Infiniti’s Global Director of Motorsport Tommaso Volpe created the program, which is five years old. It gives young engineers the opportunity to be embedded in the Renault Sport Formula One team as well as Infiniti engineering. It’s not limited to the U.S.
Infiniti has over 400 contacts with universities worldwide each year and hosts engineering conferences at some. The seven countries that Infiniti is particularly interested in are Mexico, China, Europe, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and the U.S. Infiniti’s initial program had only a few thousand applicants. But in 2017, the number of applicants jumped to 12,000, with students ranging from 19 to 24 years old. Infiniti executives face the difficult task of narrowing down the search to 70 applicants (10 from each region,
Engineering students are given a taste of the life of an automotive engineer right from the beginning. Renault Sport Chassis Technical Director Nick Chester stated that engineering students are immediately thrown into projects with engineers. “It’s great that they can get them on to projects immediately. Experiential engineers love sharing their knowledge.
Students are involved in engineering so much that they have become an integral part of the F1 car’s development. A past season’s female winner designed the rear wing for the RS17 in Barcelona. She is on the shortlist of potential future hires, just like nearly all the students who take part in the six month program.
Evan Sloan, 2017 Infiniti Engineering Academy winner, said, “It’s amazing how quickly you get up-to speed with high level projects.” It’s more than just coffee and donuts.
Sabre Cook, a part-time Formula 3 driver and a student of mechanical engineering, was awarded this honor. From Grand Junction, the 24-year-old Colorado School of MINES graduate was chosen from thousands of applicants. She will be working closely with Infiniti’s engineering team and Renault Sport for the duration of her stay.
Race to the Road
The benefits of Infiniti’s Renault Sport partnership for racing are evident, but road-going cars are not as obvious. Wait. The Project Black S Concept is one of the first products to be born from this tie-in. The Infiniti concept was developed in collaboration with the Renault Sport Formula One team. Evan and other engineering students from Infiniti Engineering Academy helped to create it.
Infiniti President Roland Kruger stated that Black S was a car that he and his colleagues at Renault developed. It uses the same technology that we use in Formula One cars today.
Project Black S was completed in 12 months. It has a similar turbo-electric motor arrangement to the one found in Renault’s F1 car. The turbo is driven by electric motors with very little lag. An electric motor at the rear differential adds additional power. Infiniti’s VR30 twin turbocharged 3.0-liter V6 produces 563 horsepower (475 kilowatts), and 350 pound-feet (475 Newton meters) of torque. This allows the car to accelerate to 62 mph (100 km/h) in just four seconds.
Kruger stated that today’s F1 performance cars are a result of electrification. We expect the same to hold true for future Infiniti performance vehicles, which Kruger promises will arrive within a few years and “have to be quicker…more daring.”
Infiniti will debut its first fully-electric vehicle in 2021. It hopes to electrify more than half its vehicles by 2025. The company’s track experience, as well as the new ideas generated by Engineering Academy students, should assist it in achieving this goal.