Sergio Rinland | |
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| Born | (1952-03-17)17 March 1952 (age 73) |
Sergio Rinland (born 17 March 1952)[1] is anArgentine engineer best known for his work inFormula One. He is currently owner and managing director of the automotive engineering andmanagement consulting companyAstauto Ltd.
Born inBuenos Aires,Argentina on March 17, 1952, Rinland studiedmechanical engineering at Argentina'sUniversidad Nacional del Sur, graduating in 1978. His thesis was a vehicle suspension system mathematical model and computer simulation and the design of a F2 car as its application, his mentors were Prof. Jose Santamarina and Prof. Walter Daub. After two years working in Argentina's F2, he moved to England in 1980, where he soon found a job as a designer for PRS, a smallFormula Ford constructor owned by Vic Holman, where he designed their Formula Ford 1600 and Formula Ford 2000 cars for the 1982 and 1983 seasons, with success in the UK, Europe and US. After a short spell working forRon Tauranac atRalt, Rinland was hired by theRAM F1 team in1983 to work on the design team, first with Dave Kelly and in 1985 withGustav Brunner where they produced theRAM 03. For1986, he moved on toWilliams and was part of the design team of the very successfulFW11, led byPatrick Head andFrank Dernie.
In1987, Rinland joinedBrabham where he designed theBrabham BT56 together with David North and John Baldwin. At the end of 1987, Brabham temporarily withdrew from F1 allowing Rinland to move toDallara to design its first F1 car raced byBMS Scuderia Italia in1988. Brabham returned in1989 calling Rinland back as Chief Designer, a position he kept until the end of 1991. There, Rinland designed theBrabham BT58,Brabham BT59 and the[2]Brabham BT60-Yamaha.
Rinland then established his own design company, Astauto Ltd in Tolworth, England. Astauto was then hired to design and build the F1 cars forFondmetal. The car only did few races in 1992 before the team closed down due to financial difficulties. TheFondmetal GR02 was hailed as a very innovative design by reputable publications.[3][4]
Rinland then was hired byDan Gurney'sAll American Racers in the U.S. where he worked in the feasibility study of the Toyota Champ Car for CART.
Returning to Europe in 1995, Rinland worked briefly for the newForti team and soon after was hired to work in theGerman Touring Car Championship with Opel byKeke Rosberg for the remaining of the 1995 season.
From1996 to1999, Rinland worked forBenetton Formula 1 Team. At the end of 1999 Rinland was head-hunted by theSauber F1 team to become their Chief Designer. As a Chief Designer he was responsible for theC20, Sauber's most successful F1 car to that point. This car featured several innovations, the most notable being the "Twin Keel" front suspension.
By September 2001 Rinland was tempted to joinArrows as a Chief Designer but one year later the team ran into financial difficulties and closed down.
After Arrows, Rinland decided to develop his consultancy company Astauto Ltd, doing work for Pankl GmbH, the Austrian F1 supplier, VLR Touring Car Team, Red Bull Cheever Racing inIRL, Coloni and Trident Racing inGP2 and Team Modena in theLe Mans 24 Hours and theLe Mans Series for 2006 and 2007. In 2006 he also gained an MBA degree from Kingston University London.
From December 2007 to January 2011, Rinland was engineering director ofEpsilon Euskadi in Spain as well as developing his consultancy companies in Europe and the US. In his capacity at Epsilon Euskadi, Rinland was responsible for the 2008 Le Mans campaign as well as other racing and non-racing projects of the company.
From February 2011 Rinland is involved in running his consultancy companyAstauto Ltd in Europe, US and South America.
Of late Rinland has been heavily involved in simulation and alternative energy for motorsports with the research and development of a Formula 1 performance electric race car and as a spin-off a development of an FIA Formula E which will be unveiled once the FIA officially announces Formula E.
In the simulation area Rinland has been advising Hertfordshire University on their recently acquired Driver in the Loop Simulator as well as performing the simulations of the revolutionary Delta Wing Le Mans car.
Recently now working at Oxford Brookes University to help teach and develop student skills with AVL VSM Lap Time Simulation Software. He has also been working with Oxford Brookes Racing Formula Student Team to help develop an accurate lap time simulation model.
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