The wind tunnel is part of the new factory project currently underway at Silverstone, but while the main facility is expected to be occupied by next May, the adjacent tunnel will not be in use until the following year.
The team is currently using the Mercedes tunnel in Brackley and will carry out initial work on the AMR25 before moving on to the new facility when it is complete and fully tested.
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“The goal for the wind tunnel is to be online by mid-2024,” Fallows said.
“We hope that will at least have a contribution to ’25. I think depending on how the commissioning and tunnel things go, this will probably be the first car that has a significant impact with the new tunnel.
“As for the plant itself, it will be put into operation next year with different stages, so we hope that the cars from before will also benefit from the new plant.”
Fallows noted that switching to a new wind tunnel isn’t a one-time job, and the team won’t use it until it’s fully correlated.
“Inevitably when you build a wind tunnel you have to go through a commissioning process,” he said.
“And it’s really just to determine that it’s going to give you the numbers that you expect to see.
Aston Martin Silverstone Factory Tour
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“We are lucky to test in the Mercedes wind tunnel, which is a very high quality facility, so we need to make sure that our new facility gives results that are consistent with those.
“And that takes a while. But there are things we can do to speed up this process. Obviously, the goal is to get in there as soon as possible.
Fallows pointed out that a state-of-the-art internal tunnel would be a huge boost for the team.
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“There is no doubt that this will be a world-class facility, and having access to this facility 24/7, if needed, is obviously very important,” he said. added.
“As we improve and the availability of our wind tunnels due to wind testing restrictions decreases, it is clear that we would not spend as much time in the tunnel.
“But having your own facility means you can do other experiences as well, which is invaluable, and something that we don’t necessarily have the luxury of doing at the moment sharing the tunnel with another team.”
