BMW-Sauber unveil new supercomputer

Motorsport director Mario Theissen unveiled 'Albert 2' at the team's Hinwil factory today as he revealed the team were going their own route in opting away from traditional wind tunnel use.

"We are not going to follow the route of other teams and build a second wind tunnel," said Theissen. "We see the future is in testing simulation.

"Having two wind tunnels makes no sense to us. We want to be at the top of CFD and in order to be there we need a strong tool. With Albert 2 we have what we need to become the top in aerodynamics."

The Intel-powered computer is five times more powerful that its predecessor Albert, and is three times faster.

This will help with simulation of better and more sophisticated CFD models to help with aerodynamic development of BMW-Sauber cars.

Chief aerodynamicist Willem Toet is convinced that Albert 2 will be key to moving BMW-Sauber forward.

"It makes us more efficient and is a better way for the future than having another wind tunnel," he said.

"If we didn't already have a wind tunnel then it would be a different story, but thanks to Peter Sauber we already have one of the best.

"With a single tyre supplier in F1 next year and engine development frozen, there are not many areas where you can make a big difference.

"There is mechanical grip and aerodynamic grip, and aero is dominant. So Albert 2 will be a vital tool for us."

Albert 2 can make 12,288,000,000,000 calculations per second. This is the equivalent of more than one million people multiplying two numbers every three seconds for an entire year.

Read more about computational fluid dynamics - what is, how it's different to wind tunnel work, and why one day it could replace wind tunnels altogether - in this week's journal