Magneti Marelli gives you access to telemetry in F1

Roberto Dalla, the director of motorsports at Magneti Marelli, comments on this initiative: « I think social media allows millions of people around the world to get their hands on something they are passionate about. Therefore, we sought a solution that would enable us to reach all these people. To do this, it was necessary for the approach to be fun but at the same time allow us to have new ideas. Every day, we need to ask ourselves how we can work differently. »

The objective was therefore to engage people who are not necessarily involved in motorsports but who want to be able to give their opinion on a subject that interests them. This fits well with the logic of the younger generations who wish to share, without necessarily respecting the traditional hierarchies of companies.

What is interesting in this approach is that the company’s leaders do not yet know what commercial impact this kind of initiative will have on their business, but they want to participate in the foundation of this grassroots movement, where everyone tries to find their own solution: « I started working in this sector in 1989. And I still remember the enthusiasm I had working as a computer engineer on software that was implemented in these single-seaters and seeing directly what worked and what didn’t. So why not give this opportunity to thousands of young people all around the world? »

Magneti Marelli has decided to take the step to embrace open source, operating on the principle that the best defense is a good offense. This means they are willing to allow other companies to benefit from their platform to draw ideas, but they believe that by being at the center of this global brainstorming and leveraging their engineering might, they will be in a position to reap the most benefits from their initiative: « From the moment someone submits their idea on our site, everyone can take it up, comment on it, and improve it. It is therefore up to us to know how to sort through all these ideas and make the most of them by asking ourselves how we can apply this idea? »

To facilitate reflection among its audience, the company even allows internet users to download its WinTAX telemetry application so that they can understand how this software works and how they can visualize the different data collected from the cars.

One of the challenges implemented in the Lap Time Club is to make this telemetry application available on smartphones and tablets. The reason for such an endeavor is that by allowing engineers to access this data on any device, Magneti Marelli can reduce the constraints they face: « If we manage to transfer this data to such devices that are available everywhere and at all times, it allows us to strengthen our knowledge in connectivity. »

But if this program is obviously intended to be outward-looking, it must also promote internal exchanges within the company. Indeed, the bridges between series vehicles and competition are a very important concept for Magneti Marelli. Roberto Dalla explains to us the kind of exchanges that can occur on an instrument like the injector. When F1 decided to impose injectors with 500 bars of pressure, the engineers did not start from scratch. They began with the 200-bar injectors that had been developed internally for series vehicles. Now that the 500-bar technology is mastered by competition, the series has taken over by developing 600-bar injectors.

You too can join in the fun of this participatory innovation lab by visiting https://www.laptimeclub.com/

From our special correspondent in Monza