VISTAGY Congratulates Renault F1 Team on Back-to-back Formula One World Championship Titles

VISTAGY, Inc. congratulates Fernando Alonso and Renault F1 Team on their historic 2006 FIA Formula One Drivers’ and Constructors’ World Championship victories following the 2006 Brazilian Grand Prix this past weekend. Renault F1 Team has won back-to-back world championships, winning in 2005 for the first time, and now in 2006, as a result of incredible teamwork and precision driving. VISTAGY is an Official Supplier to Renault F1 Team of FiberSIM® CAD-integrated engineering software, which helped the team design and manufacture complex composite parts on the winning racecars.

After a season of intense competition from some of the greatest drivers and teams Formula One racing has ever known, Renault F1 Team secured the titles in dominant fashion in Brazil after a hard-fought race. The victories mark Fernando Alonso’s second straight Drivers’ Championship title after becoming the youngest winner in Formula One history last year. This year’s win assures Renault F1 Team a place in the annals of Formula One history and is the result of an extraordinarily coordinated effort between Renault F1 Team engineers, mechanics, drivers, partners and official suppliers such as VISTAGY. VISTAGY has been an Official Supplier to Renault F1 Team since 2002.

“These victories are a sweet reward, and are the deserved result of all the hard work and dedication of everyone associated with Renault F1 Team. We could not have achieved these titles without the unwavering commitment from partners and suppliers like VISTAGY to help us realize our goal of renewing our status as Formula One World Champions,” said Flavio Briatore, managing director of Renault F1 Team.

Speed is of utmost importance in F1 both on the track and in the factory. In order to optimize performance without compromising production quality to meet strict FIA regulations, the team must use every possible opportunity to shorten the product development cycle of the racecars. The use of FiberSIM software was instrumental to this effort last season, delivering a 62 percent reduction in composite part lay-up time together with the use of laser projection technology. For this year’s car, the team relied on FiberSIM again to make strategic, incremental design changes that enhanced the car’s performance and speed. As a result, Renault F1 Team engineers improved the durability of the racecar by increasing ply count by 21 percent without changing total production time, ensuring that the cars were delivered on time. In addition, the team reduced time spent on the laminate templating process by 30 percent and reduced lay-up time by another 13 percent over last year.

“We applaud Renault F1 Team for its impressive championship victories, and we extend our congratulations to Fernando Alonso and everyone associated with the team. VISTAGY has been an Official Supplier to Renault F1 Team for the past four race seasons and we are proud that our specialized composites engineering software contributed to the team’s accomplishments,” said Steve Luby, president and CEO at VISTAGY, Inc. “We are honored that Renault F1 Team engineers continue to realize the value of FiberSIM software in helping them more quickly and accurately design and manufacture critical parts of their dominant racecars.”