The use of Product Lifecycle Management Solutions from IBM played a critical role in Richard Burns' victory in the recent FIA World Rally Championship. CATIA V5, one of the world's leading 3D design applications within IBM's Product Lifecycle Management portfolio, was instrumental in the development of the victorious Subaru Impreza WRC 2001 rally car, notably for engine design and testing, as well as roll and body cage.

The Network Q Rally is the UK's largest annual rally event based in Cardiff, Wales, attracting hundreds of thousands of people. In fog and driving rain, the Subaru rally car was able to keep up the pressure on the other drivers, balancing skill and speed on the final four stages, through perilous forest roads. "We have managed to achieve an incredible win," said Julian Cooper, chief designer at Subaru World Rally Team. "CATIA has enabled us to design most of the parts on the car, the modelling and checking of installations in record time and with unflinching quality. CATIA has been essential for most of the key elements, but most importantly for the roll and body-cage."

These safety features are necessary to minimise the risk of high-speed rallying for Richard Burns, the Subaru driver, who became the first Englishman ever to win the FIA World Championship, since the series was established in 1979. Subaru has been the driving force behind five FIA world titles. Cooper continued, "The CATIA package is a vital part of the Subaru team. We use it in modelling, packaging components and checking installations. Many parts of the body shell on this year's car were designed on the system - the complex roll cage fitted to the Impreza WRC2001 is a prime example. CATIA enabled us to design a lightweight, but extremely strong cage, the sections of which can be precisely bent and cut by computer controlled machinery.

"One other benefit of us using CATIA is that we can share information easily with the Subaru designers in Japan who also use the system to design road-cars. Being able to transfer ideas back and forwards in this way is a great bonus in the development of high performance Subaru road and rally cars."

CNC Design Consultants

igal@cdza.co.za