Honda F1 revs up tech tools with IBM

The Honda Formula One team is moving to a new car design and production management system as it looks to build an even faster car for the next racing season.

The new system will bring the UK-based team in line with its F1 engine facility in Japan as well as its parent company as a whole.

The new system includes a computer-aided design application called Catia and the Enovia process management tool – both of which are made by Dassault Systèmes - as well as IBM WebSphere Application Server and IBM Rational Rose Data Modeler. IBM will also provide support for the team's collaborative development plans with deployment of additional IBM middleware and tools

David France, the Honda team's IT director, told silicon.com: "This is probably one of the biggest projects we've ever done."

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France said moving to the new system will cut down on time needed to translate information flowing from the Japanese engine division to the UK operations.

The team has been keen to avoid disruption to the design and development process of this year's car. The plan is for staff no longer working on the 2007 car to be trained on the new tools so they can start work on the 2008 car.

But following a disappointing start to the 2007 season, many staff will continue with vital work to improve the current car, meaning the training process has had to become more flexible.

France said: "Problems on this year's race car will have to take priority."

He added the move was appropriate in the context of Honda's objectives for the F1 team and the subsequent improvement in collaboration will help the team considerably. "It is absolutely the right thing to do," he said.