Suzuki Continues To Prepare Its 2008 WRC Bid
The Suzuki WRC Challenge continues to move ahead, and Nino Frison has entered a new chapter of his racing career at Suzuki as he now holds the title of Chief Designer in charge of chassis.
He has tremendous engineering experience stretching more than two decades in Formula One, World Rally Championship, German Touring Car Championship (DTM), and also International Touring Car Championship (ITC). His knowledge and expertise will surely give the engineering department a go.
What is your impression of Suzuki?
“Suzuki has their own long and strong history in motorcycles. And to be honest with you, I have known this part of Suzuki motorsport activities more than the rally activity. Nevertheless, my first impression is very positive. We have a lot of facilities ranging from wind tunnel to test track plus the ability of designing, engineering and manufacturing our own engines here in house completely. Additionally, we have the fabrication department and other important facilities within the team, which sounds good for me.”
What impression did you have when you first saw the SX4 WRC?
“Basically, the car looks quite good. It is compact, which should be an advantage for a rally car. In terms of weight properties, it is quite well distributed around in the shape. Also, there are some technical items that are quite positive. It is a bit high and a bit square. Though that does not help very much in aerodynamics, for the rally car aero performance is not everything.”
What is your major role in the team? What is the Chief Designer’s job?
“The Chief Designer should mainly coordinate all the design works carried out around the car. For me, the major field of working is chassis. I am not in charge of the overall design operations. And I will tell you what is the coordination, which is a kind of job to design all the components and parts according to the basic idea and bring them down to the details to realize the idea we have in mind. Today it is very important to work on details in order to ensure good performance of any small component.”
Can you tell us more about the advantages the SX4?
“Talking about the advantages of our car does not necessarily mean anything. Other cars have their own pluses, don’t they? Nevertheless, I would like to draw your attention to the compactness of the Suzuki. As I said before, compactness is beautiful. Also, the SX4 is a well-constructed car, I mean the basic structure is engineered superbly. The suspension is also good, which offers technical leeway within the framework of the WRC technical regulations. I don’t think, however, there would be much performance gain against the competitors because all the teams develop the cars in accordance with identical rules. Another important technical criteria that we have to think seriously is an engine. We will modify the base engine drastically but a successful development of the WRC power unit requires a good foundation especially in terms of basic design and construction.”
What advantages will the SX4 offer?
“As I said before, the first thing I am happy to tell you is its compactness. I believe that the compact car should be a good and honest basis for the WRC development project. Then, it depends on the work we will do day by day as to how to evolve the car into a successful contender. Based upon what we do, we’ll be able to move into different steps of evolutions on the car. Our basic plan is to have two evolutionary versions from now on to January 2008.”
Can you tell us about the disadvantages found so far, if any?
“I do not think there are any particular issues with the SX4. It is quite natural for a car to have its good points and bad points. So the name of the game is just to know how to deal with them.”
How will you gain competitiveness?
“There are many things that we should improve, but as I said, they are all very small items. In the rally program, the manufacturer first determines which car should be the base car. We have to make the car win, which is not always very easy. But I always do my best. Judging from my experience, there is no easy way to achieve the goal. You have to do your best day by day in order to get improved. But I am convinced that you can do it because the SX4 provides us with a good basis.”
How do you evaluate the current situation in the WRC?
“All the professionals working in the most professional way to achieve the best possible result. There is no secret but one: to have a creative mind in whatever you do. Don’t try to copy the others because every time you do so, you just get to do the same at best.”
What do you have to say about working for a Japanese company?
“There are a few points of concern in terms of mental difference, or natural difference in way of thinking. Also, there is a difference in point of view and the experiences are different. In some areas Europeans like me are leading and in other areas Japanese are leading. So it is always possible to find the best solutions.”
Do you have any messages for the rally enthusiasts, especially for Suzuki supporters?
“I would like to say to the fans that they need to be a bit patient because 2007 is just a testing year for Suzuki Sport. The true challenge will begin in 2008. So, they need to be at least one year patient. For sure we are working very hard to make them enjoy watching us. But in any case, it will take a little bit of time, I should say.”
This article was taken from: Yahoo Sport
