Lola helping Spyker

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Lola helping Spyker

Adrian Sutil (GER) Etihad Aldar Spyker Formula One Team F8-V11, France F1, Magny Cours, 29th June-1st July, 2007

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Chassis builder and former F1 entrant Lola have revealed they have loaned their wind tunnel to the Spyker team.

With Spyker currently updating their own wind tunnel, the Dutch team have called upon the assistance of Lola's base in Huntingdon to refine the B-specification of their F1 car that will debut at next month's Turkish Grand Prix.

"We are in the process of upgrading our own wind tunnel and found ourselves with downtime for the first six months of the year, whilst we continued our cooperation with Aerolab in Italy," Spyker technical director Mike Gascoyne said. "We decided to tunnel test in the Lola facilities in order to evaluate their services.

"As a result of our initial work in the Lola tunnel and their own improvements to their standard of accuracy and repeatability, we have made significant progress this year. A lot of that aerodynamic progress in conjunction with Lola will be reflected in the 'B' Spec Spyker, which will be seen in the Turkish Grand Prix."

Whether or not the partnership will be extended remains unclear, but it marks Lola's first involvement with Formula One since 1997, when their ill-fated works effort lasted only one race.

However, Lola technical manager Dr John Davies claims the quality of their wind tunnel - used to hone their various single-seaters and sportscars - is enough to attract F1 teams now.

"The Lola tunnel has recently enjoyed a significant enhancement and this has been reflected in leading F1 figures such as Mike Gascoyne taking an interest in the facility," he said. "We have also enjoyed upgrades in CFD software and hardware capabilities through partnerships with AMD and FLUENT.

"These developments combined with the fully equipped model shop, that forms part of the dedicated technical complex, allows users of the wind tunnel a confidential ready to go facility.

"The Lola Wind Tunnel offers a flexible expansion to the growing needs of the Formula One Aerodynamic Development Programmes."