During the Formula 1 SingTel Singapore Grand Prix over the weekend, I popped down to Caterham’s garage to get up close with how Dell provides the complex IT systems needed to power Caterham’s data processing needs.
Dell and Intel are global sponsors and technology partners of the Caterham F1 Team.
To provide the computing resource needed at the circuit, Caterham uses Dell’s “Active System” – a converged “Half-rack” housing all servers, storage and connectivity.
Impressions:
A race weekend generates some 60GB of data, all of which goes through the “half-rack”.
The half-rack weighs about 800kg which is a drastic reduction from the 2 tonnes that a traditional trackside computing set-up accounts for.
With the impending roll-out of Dell VRTX, the set-up will be even more compact and weigh only about 100kg.
This is important given the limited space available in the garage and costs of shipping equipment ($250 USD/kg) between circuit venues.
All the computers are non-ruggedised, commercially available off the shelf systems – keeping cost, bulk and weight down, while making replaceability easier.
These include 30 virtual machines on Dell PowerEdge R620 & R720, 10 Dell Force10 PowerConnect switches, 25TB of trackside storage using EqualLogic and server platforms utilising SSDs.
In addition, there are some 100 Dell Latitude laptops, including Dell XPS and Latitude 10 tablets; as well as 20 high-powered Dell Precision mobile workstations.
What if the half-rack fails?
Dell has also implemented a disaster recovery system (DRS) to continue running the F1 cars in such a contingency.
The DRS comprises a Dell PowerEdge R720xd server for “snap-shotting” virtual machines, a Dell PowerEdge R210, a SonicWall firewall, and an Artist node to run the intercom system.
With this set-up, Dell has made Caterham one of the leading F1 teams in terms of consolidated and virtualised trackside computing.
Caterham in F1
The Caterham F1 Team is owned by Malaysian Tony Fernandes and based in the United Kingdom in Leafield, Oxfordshire.
This is only the second year that the team is competing as Caterham after team principal Fernandes acquired British sportscar manufacturer Caterham Cars.
The team had competed as Team Lotus in the 2011 F1 season, before changing its name to Caterham for the 2012 season – finishing both seasons at 10th place in the Constructors Championship.
The 2012 season also saw the best driver finish improve from 13th place to 11th.
For the 2013 season, Caterham’s F1 cars are again powered by Renault engines but are driven by new Caterham drivers Charles Pic and Giedo van der Garde.
In the Singapore leg last night, Giedo van der Garde came in 16th while Charles Pic came in 19th.
Tags: Caterham, DELL, F1, Formula 1, Formula One, Intel, Singapore