Toyota Motorsport accelerates Formula One car development with Intel Itanium 2 processor-based server cluster

The new IT systems already enabled Toyota to make constant and rapid improvements to its design processes during the 2004 season, meeting the racing team's requirements to redesign up to 15% of the car in only two weeks between grand prix races to continually improve speeds and cars' road-holding ability.

The powerful Intel-based servers have enabled faster more accurate simulations and design calculations to optimise racing car aerodynamics, processing virtual tests significantly times faster than on the legacy RISC-based platform and has delivered marked reduction in car development time. In efforts to create the optimum amount of downforce to enhance grip levels and minimise drag, the cluster of 160 servers based on two-way Intel Itanium 2 processors was able to run complex modelling tests which verified a number of new graphically-designed features to improve airflow around the vehicles.

The Intel Itanium 2 processor-based servers, running Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software, allow Toyota Motorsport to simulate airflow tests and analyse aerodynamic design to optimise performance, allowing the team to optimise the use of finite resources such as the teams' 50% wind tunnel. Complex, design modifications can now be tested overnight, rather in several days with existing systems. Information on cars' performance is gathered trackside during testing and races on Intel® Centrino™ mobile technology-based ruggedised PCs and is wirelessly transmitted for real-time analysis to its Cologne-Germany-based headquarters where development from design to completion takes place under one roof.

"A modern Formula One car has almost as much in common with a jet fighter as it does with a conventional road vehicle - aerodynamic design is crucial to success," said Waldemar Klemm, Group Leader IT, Toyota Motorsport. "In one word our core business is performance, and the Intel-based servers have significantly improved the value we were achieving from IT. Thanks to the Itanium 2-based cluster we were able to make constant and rapid improvements to our Formula One car during the season. Without ultra high performance processing from the Itanium 2 processors, such speeds would be impossible."

To implement the new solution, Toyota Motorsport turned to Intel Solution Services, Intel's professional services organisation, which trailed, evaluated, optimised and deployed the entire cluster by March 2004. Toyota now plans to extend the solution with a further 100 Itanium 2 processor-based servers to achieve even more power to accelerate the development cycle and improve the speed, efficiency and accuracy of design.

"In Formula One, the margin between success and failure can be a fraction of a second, and so achieving maximum performance both on the track and in the pits is critical to a team's success," said Sam Al-Schamma, General Manager, Gulf Countries. "Intel Itanium 2 processors were designed to push high performance to the very limits, delivering outstanding processing horsepower at a reduced cost compared to proprietary RISC-based platforms. We are delighted to be working with Toyota Motorsport and making a real bottom-line difference to their performance on the track, and look forward to continuing to achieve further successes together throughout the 2005 Formula One season, especially with the increasing importance and presence of Formula 1 in the Middle East region."

Toyota Motorsport is also deploying Intel architecture across its corporate infrastructure to power mission-critical enterprise applications previously run on its legacy RISC-based architecture. The old platforms are being replaced with servers and clusters based on Intel® Xeon™ processors running SAP R/3* and Oracle 9i*, enabling Toyota to achieve increased processing performance, and provide an open standards-based platform that delivers the scalability to support Toyota Motorsport's growth.