Altran Interview with Marco Melandri
BMW top driver and fourth in the Superbike world championship total ranking
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BMW Top Rider Marco Melandri (photo: BMW) |
Frankfurt (pts006/26.09.2013/09:00) Altran researches and develops new technologies in the automotive sector including motorcycle racing. For this reason, Altran sponsors the ambitious BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK Team of two top riders Marco Melandri and Chaz Davies.
In the course of the racing event at the Nürburgring we talked with Marco Melandri, BMW Motorrad factory rider, about the meaning of electronics in racing sports.
Altran is supporting you as a race rider, mainly with innovative technology in the field of the engine control unit aimed at achieving good racing results. How does this show?
In racing sports it is crucial to analyse all riding technologies after each race, and to improve them for the next race. If you begin to look into and improve your technical performance after the season, you will never make it across the finishing line first. The Altran engineer is integrated in the R&D team of BMW Munich and support the BMW engineers to deliver for each race an updated package of electronics and software.
Electronics in motorsports perform ever more complex tasks. Where do electronics support you most?
In principle in all aspects of riding equally. Many people still think that electronics in motorsports only refers to traction control, but this is a thing of the past. Traction control ensures that the wheels don't skid when speeding up. The truth is that motorsport management as we know it today is only possible with electronics. Electronics are particularly important in the field of power supply, motor brake and gearshift. Sometimes even chassis problems can be solved electronically. I can hardly imagine riding without these aids - at least not at the current level.
Some say that electronics are making things too easy for drivers. What is your view?
I don't think so. In the first place, electronics help riders become familiar with the properties of a new motorcycle. Because bikes are often optimised electronics makes it easier to adapt to them - on the other hand you have to know all about electronics - and that's rather time-consuming and demanding.
Does progress in electronics also show in the field of safety?
Absolutely - apart from higher speeds, one of the main reasons for introducing electronics was safety! I remember many situations when I thought: Now I will crash! - But the electronics immediately acted on the driving process so that the bike was just kept from crashing or falling on the open track.
Which future technical innovations could you as a driver imagine?
I think that electronics has almost reached its limit - on the other hand the past has shown that sometimes there are sudden development leaps. 10 years ago, I couldn't imagine many of the electronic installations that are meanwhile possible in motorcycles. With this in mind I'm very excited to find out what the next ten years will bring.
About Altran
Altran was founded in 1982 in Paris and is the world leader in leading consultant for innovation and engineering services today. Altran supports its customers in concepts design and development of new products and services and has been advising market leaders from all fields of automobile, energy, finances, healthcare, aerospace, rail and transport as well as telecommunication for over 30 years. Altran's consultancy portfolio covers all phases of project development, from strategic planning up to series production and for this purpose has access to comprehensive technological know-how from four Solutions. At present Altran has more than 20,000 employees in over 20 countries with a Group revenue of 1,45 billion Euro in 2012. Altran's share is listed at the Euronext stock exchange in Paris. In Germany the consultancy has about 3,000 employees. The German headquarter is in Frankfurt-upon-Main.
| Aussender: | Altran GmbH & Co. KG |
| Ansprechpartner: | Dr. Markus Ross |
| Tel.: | +49 (0) 261 91 599 733 |
| E-Mail: | markus.ross@altran.com |
| Website: | www.altran.de |
