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McLaren and Java programming

McLaren International, the British company behind the West McLaren Mercedes Formula One racing team, employs a team of 325 designers, engineers and skilled staff for the sole purpose of producing what are considered the fastest cars on the Grand Prix circuit today. Throughout its 33 years of racing, McLaren has proven to be one of the most successful F1 teams of all time, with over 100 Grand Prix wins.

"F1 is the ultimate technology-driven sport," says Ron Dennis, chairman and CEO of the TAG McLaren Group. "We attempt to perform on the edge of the technically possible, re-defining it every day."

A Technological Proving Ground
The year 2000 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Grand Prix. Over that time, the race has grown to become one of the world's largest annual sporting events. For eight months of the year, each racing team participates in 17 races spanning five continents. Each team is allowed two identical cars which are designed and constructed at their respective headquarters.

The design arena in which West McLaren Mercedes competes offers the ultimate technological proving ground. "The technology in the car is not that different," admits designer Neil Oatley. "How we make and assess the car is what has changed more significantly. For example, in 1991 the only computer-aided analysis work done on the car was to derive conformity to structural tests. Now, the performance of almost every component on the car can be captured and analyzed."

Java Technology Makes the Difference
Just ten years ago, the complex columns of data that the race car delivered to the technicians were difficult to interpret - so much so that the engineers had to hunt for pearls of information that could make or break their race, hidden among the masses of data downloaded from the car as it streaked past.

A program written by Sun consultants to the Java platform swept away that complexity in 1999. Now, if an engineer wants to know how a component is performing, he or she touches the relevant part of the screen, generating an instant performance curve -- a stunning example of how, in Oatley's words, "Sun helps us keep the car's performance right at the edge of the possible."

Presenting mission-critical information in an instantly accessible form enables intensive care for the cars. In one race last season, the display system was told to provide a proactive alert if a particular component rose above a certain temperature. When the display flashed red for David Coulthard's car, the pitwall team told David to reduce his pace. As a result, West McLaren Mercedes ended up with a driver on the podium rather than a retired car.

The robustness of the Java platform has delivered 100 percent performance, eliminating the computer crashes that were previously associated with the harsh environment of an open pitwall. "The pitwall team no longer runs to us for help" notes McLaren's Neil Martin, who is in charge of the system. "Their silence is possibly the highest praise you can receive: It speaks volumes for the display system's value."

The Java platform is also able to work over networks and across platforms, which provides its other great advantage. Now it's not just the pitwall crew whose performance is enhanced, but engineers back at the base who are part of a virtual team riding with the team's drivers and monitoring the performance of particular areas, such as the engine, fuel consumption or hydraulics, from their own workstations thousands of miles away.

Sun Microsystems and McLaren: Official Partners
Sun is one of McLaren's official Technology Partners. McLaren cars are designed, developed, and updated with the help of Sun Ultra workstations, Sun Enterprise servers and the Java platform. Sun technology also travels with the team out on the global F1 circuit, where it has become an essential tool for the garage pitwall crew who monitor and implement the race strategy.

Passing the Finish Line
McLaren's technology partnership with Sun has taken car development from the physical world into the heart of the computer. "Massive simulation. That's where we've seen the most dramatic technological change in the last ten years," says design engineer Scott Bain. "And it's where we are likely to see still more in the next five to ten years."

F1 is all about fast-paced change, which means that the way race cars are designed and built will change in the future.
"What I can see for sure is more and more testing taking place within our network, rather than on-track," says Bain.

"We already have a digital or virtual version of the car in the system, complete down to the smallest nut and washer. In the future, I can see the actual cars delivered to any track in the world all set up and optimized for the exact conditions of that circuit, because we will have captured and reproduced that information within the virtual space."

It's a race for the finish line. McLaren is betting that the Java platform and Sun technologies will help it get there first.

Featured article on Sun's Java Technology page