Motorola Technology Innovations Keep Competition Fierce on the Track

Business Wire, March 6, 2001

Business Editors

SCHAUMBURG, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 6, 2001

In a sport where after two hours of grueling competition a tenth of a second can mean the difference between victory and defeat, teams competing in the CART FedEx Championship Series look for every advantage to give them the winning edge. These teams, including the No. 39 Team Motorola and driver Michael Andretti, rely on new technologies developed by Motorola (NYSE: MOT), a leading supplier of automotive electronics.

Motorola is a team, event and series sponsor of the CART FedEx Championship Series, but more importantly, many professional drivers and teams around the world depend on Motorola DigitalDNA(TM) embedded electronic solutions and Motorola communication solutions to help them in their battle for the checkered flag. Motorola designs sophisticated engine management systems and advanced semiconductor-based solutions developed specifically for Honda-powered Champ Cars.

Motorola Digital DNA(TM) solutions such as the Engine Control Unit (ECU) bring a new level of intelligence to auto racing. The ECU's ability to monitor and process millions of instructions per second maximizes the driveability of race cars by improving real-time throttle response, ignition timing, fuel delivery and automatic speed limit control on pit road. In addition, the grueling environment of intense heat and high vibration requires extreme ruggedness in the electronics design, best showcased in the No. 39 Team Motorola Honda-Reynard Champ Car.

"A major contributor to the driveability of a car is how the engine is managed by the ECU," said Andretti, the winningest active driver in CART. "On the race track, it is critical for me to have confidence in the throttle response and acceleration out of the corners so that I can maximize the performance of the car and my own performance. That confidence will help you gain tenths of seconds around the race track and those precious seconds give you the lead over your competition."

Motorola Advanced Racing Communications Technology

In addition to embedded engine electronics, Motorola provides radio communications for all aspects of the CART FedEx Championship Series. Two-way radios provide an important communication link for a race team's pit-to-driver communications, CART's race operations, safety and medical officials and race event operators. A typical race weekend employs the use of 3,000 radios representing thousands of combined channels of communication. This complex web of communication travels a demanding schedule of 21 races in seven countries on four continents over nine-month season.

Motorola uses auto racing as a "field laboratory" to receive feedback from extreme radio users, such as Champ Car teams. This approach allows Motorola to identify challenges, create solutions and develop new and improved technology that often crosses over from consumer and industrial applications to auto racing. For example, firefighters require radios with large knobs so they can operate them while wearing gloves. In response, Motorola developed a rugged, waterproof portable radio with larger knobs and an alpha display that is now finding its way into auto racing, being used by race teams in extreme conditions similar to that of firefighting.

"The increasing level of racing competitiveness, coupled with even further demands for safety, means we have got to provide the best communication equipment out there," said Gary Grube, Motorola's radio business chief technology officer. "The racing industry now uses the same vital communication systems that we provide to our public safety customers."

Motorola Overcomes Communication Challenges

Some of the communication challenges that Motorola works to solve include:

-- Weather: Rain can penetrate radio equipment thereby disabling it, unless it
is waterproof or water-resistant. Motorola has incorporated this into its
radios because teams and officials must be able to communicate during the race
weekend, rain or shine.

-- Radio Range: Radio coverage at larger tracks, such as the 4.048-mile
permanent road course at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisc., is difficult. A
favorite of many drivers and fans because of the size and wooded terrain,
reliable radio-to-radio coverage at Road America cannot exist across the entire
track without the help of a repeater, used to extend the transmission from one
portable unit to another. A track repeater is located in the pit engineering
station or on one of the team transporters, with antennas on a tall mast
ensuring a clear view of the track.

-- Privacy: As the Champ Car field gets increasingly more competitive, teams
prefer not to allow others access to their radio traffic during practice when
they might be discussing adjustments to the car. Sanctioning body officials
also have the need to communicate sensitive information. Digital radios are the
best way to address this by adding a simple encryption, which does not degrade
audio quality. Team Motorola and Andretti will use state-of-the-art digital
radios this season -- the Motorola XTS 3000 portable two-way radio.