JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #95 - Special JEC Europe - March 2015 - 15

on this work. Without revealing any secrets,
I can tell you that we are thinking about the
gearbox. A significant focus that will change
some of the anchor points and the engine
suspension, in particular. And there, we'll
make a stride in innovation. We currently
don't have much room to innovate, but
that is going to change and I think that new
things will emerge, like in 1981 when we
introduced carbon shells.
JCM: Do you think that what happens in
automobile racing has a strong influence on
the mass production market?

A.P. : Are you thinking of composite

materials? If you'd asked me that question
thirty years ago when we started to win
with carbon shells and brakes... Back then I
thought that the transfer to series cars would
have been much faster. As we can see, it is
taking a long time. However, at Renault I
can see a closer connection between the

service design, where the car concepts are
developed, and Renault Sport. There are
more and more joint projects. I think that it
is a much slower process than we imagine.
Today, with a project for a new car, electric
or not, you work on a five-year plan. And
that is the problem with series vehicles, with
relatively long time limits that slow down
the introduction of new technologies. But
apparently builders are starting to work on
shorter projects. On recent models that have
been created by Renault's new design team,
we also see that there are often more links
with the sport department, with new ways
to work and innovative ideas. But there's
a big step between that and having an allcomposite car, for all the reasons we know
- including cost and maintenance. We can
feel that a change is in the wind, but have to
admit that it takes time.
JCM: Do you think achieving a clean, environment-friendly car depends more on the
materials, or more on the engine?

A.P. : Economically and culturally, we are in

Sébastian Buemi & Nicolas Prost from e.dams
Renault, the brand new team developed specifically
for Formula E

countries that depend on the auto industry,
and yet this industry is still much disparaged.
A system of penalties was introduced for
small cars that still polluted, and lawmakers
more or less had to feel their way along on
the subject. Since the time of the strongest
attacks, engines have changed incredibly,
and the impacts have been more positive

Michel Cognet (Chomarat), Frédérique Mutel (JEC)
and Alain Prost at JEC Asia 2014 - Singapore

than not. Under all the pressure, builders got
down to work and developed smaller, turbocharged engines that consumed less and
weighed less. The weight issue has become
very important once again, but there are
very few potential weight savings left for
engines. Weight has to be saved elsewhere,
and we can see that builders are engaged in
projects that involve things like aluminium
structures. Nothing can replace composites
on a large scale, however. I think that there
will be new applications, but the issues are
with the processing technologies.
It's a trend, but it will take time, and there
are also periods that are more or less favourable for a given subject. Builders are also
currently working a lot on engines. n

No95 March 2015 /

More information:
www.fiaformulae.com
www.alain-prost.com

jec composites magazine 15
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JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #95 - Special JEC Europe - March 2015

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