NOVEMBER 22, 2002

Paul Ricard gets watering system

The Paul Ricard facility continues to build up its reputation as a test track and the latest addition is a fully automatic watering system to allow teams involved in testing to simulate different levels of rainfall to help them develop tyres and cars for wet conditions. Ferrari has been using just such a system at its Fiorano testing facility for the last year and it has clearly helped give the red cars an advantage over the teams which can only test in the wet when they are at a track where it is raining. Admittedly in northern Europe at this time of year it isn't hard to find rain but the ability to simulate rain when the weather is warm gives teams the opportunity to test for conditions which can be encountered in Australia, Malaysia and Brazil.