Research, Project and Testing.
The automobile has now been through more than a century of technical development; the most important achievements in this field, however, were made between the end of the second world war and today. During this drive towards technical perfection many have faltered, while some have used their experience to generate long-lasting success.
This astounding invention has given man the freedom he dreamed of for centuries. The car, from simple carriage has, in just 100 years, been transformed into a highly sophisticated means of transport; there was a time when the workers were able to carry out work on the car with the utmost simplicity and, above all, they know its innermost secrets. Then things became more complicated. Electronics appeared, new production methods were perfected, innovative materials were developed and the machining procedures for individual auto components were transformed, often drastically. Computers provided calculating power that would once have been, quite literally, unthinkable.
Today, the car is for anyone- but not everyone knows what’s hidden inside this complex product. This has led to a process of natural selection within automobile-associated professions; today, unfortunately, a sufficient degree of intuition and good manual ability are no longer enough. What’s needed today is in-depth knowledge, a willingness to stay updated and an innate curiosity for the new products being offered by modern technology.
Today’s set-up technicians are not those of yesteryear and the old adage that said “ex-mechanics make ideal set-up technicians” no longer holds. The cause of all this (and whether you see it as a problem or a blessing depends on your point of view) lies in the sheer complexity of the modern car. The philosophy with which a set-up technician faces the challenge of modification work now needs to be perfectly integrated with that of the manufacturers; while all automobiles are based on the same principles, they have reached a level of complexity that requires a set-up technician to base his professionalism on innovation, a capacity for research and the ability to ensure outstanding assistance and high product quality.
These aspects form the very foundations of our business. Thanks to the enormous potential, cutting-edge instrumentation, inventiveness and know-how that we have built up over decades of experience, our determination has allowed us to assert ourselves on the automobile market with success. The set-up technician is often underrated or, in some cases, misunderstood. A synonym for set-up technician might be “processor” and never, in this instance, has the word been so apt. The set-up technician is he who “processes” a concept; he is the person able to carry out in-depth evaluation of the designer’s work and, consequently, the room left for further improvement. In short, the set-up of an engine (i.e. our speciality) is the process by which the technician discovers its “improveable” aspects: weight reduction, modification of the geometry of certain components, replacement of certain sub-systems, use of more suitable materials and, in some cases, a complete re-design of the system. In this regard there is another crucial aspect; the work of the set-up technician improves that which the design engineer has intentionally left at a mediocre level; he may have had several reasons for doing this. Bear in mind that a mass-produced car consists of mechanical parts, each of which may be built according to widely varying degrees of sophistication.
It is within the scope of this complex logic that the set-up technician has to move. He knows where the design engineer has left something to be desired and, if he thinks it necessary, he makes a modification that will optimise that particular component or sub-system. It is through this philosophy that we have met, responsibly and professionally, the challenge of fast-evolving modern processing methods. The backbone of the company consists of outstanding know-how, developed through multiple modification activities and years of hard work, years in which research has played a fundamental role. Yet even that, on its own, is not enough! We know that knowledge can and must be enhanced only by using the very latest instrumentation. So it’s no coincidence that investment accounts for a significant slice of the company budget.
