BMW 2001 Annual Report Download - page 175

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49
The Grand Prix: Todays Formula 1 draws
huge crowds, filling huge stadia and capti-
vating an audience of countless millions in
front of TV screens on17 race weekends.
Only the Football World Cup can match
this kind of coverage. But thats only once
every four years. The fans of the BMW
WilliamsF1 team are naturally committed
to their idols, BMW merchandising 140 F1
products in 2001 with total sales of euro
17.3 million.
Development: The first F1 engine in the year 2000 season was
a leap from 0 to 90 per cent. Then, in 2001, there was a move up
to 98 per cent with the all-new P80 power unit. But 100 per cent
of what is possible in technical terms will never be achieved, be-
cause every successful innovation moves the benchmark up-
wards. In 2001 the P80 was unbeatable on some tracks, but also
suffered some setbacks. Reliability was therefore one of the tar-
gets in developing the new engine, the P82, which is also lighter,
more compact and even more powerful.
Synergies: A fundamental objective right from the start was
to bring together Formula 1 and series development  and
this is precisely what has happened. Electronics specialists
working on the engine control units of the
BMW
M3 and M5
also develop the engine management in F1. These synergy
effects go in both directions, the new
BMW
7 Series featur-
ing high-performance processors developed and tested in
the Formula 1 project. The casting shop for the F1 engines
in Landshut is right next door to the foundry for series parts.
And we also see this link of series and motorsport tech-
nology in model-building and production.
Employees: Formula1 is a magic word through-
out the entire
BMW
Group. People in virtually
every department place their bets, keep their fin-
gers crossed, and celebrate the success. Know-
ing that winning a race in Formula1 is an out-
standing success for the entire Company, even
production has been stopped on the occasion of
the first win and a subsequent visit to the plant
by Ralf Schumacher. So
BMW
is winning on race
tracks the world over and at the same time gain-
ing technical know-how and motivation at home.