Gentlemen, start your engines! There can scarcely be a sport in which rapid and reliable communication is quite as important as Formula One racing: all the cars are equipped with onboard computers relaying a constant stream of information on the status of the motor and chassis to the pit crews, who then analyze it and are able to pass urgent messages, if need be, to the drivers. All this isn’t simply a question of accumulating points: the safety of the drivers is also at stake.

For this reason, the British Formula One stable Jordan invested this year in a lavish communications system from RTS Telex. The system, which was supplied by the German RTS Telex distributor Amptown and installed by Andreas Stell and his team, included the following components:

• An ADAM-CS matrix which moves with the crew from circuit to circuit
• Wireless voice over IP connections from five keypanels at the pit wall
• 2 x RVON I/O

An assortment of keypanels in the pits and a sophisticated radio connection between the pit crew and the drivers

Swift data transfer with two RTS Telex matrices

In addition to the above-mentioned systems, which are used during the training and qualifying stages as well as on race day, the decision was taken to streamline communications with the Jordan headquarters at Silverstone through the installation there of a Zeus II matrix and the new RTS Telex ISDN 2005 system. This setup ensures close communication between the two matrices, so nothing now stands in the way of the swift and reliable exchange of information between the headquarters of the legendary Formula One stable and the racing team — wherever in the world it might be.

This elaborate communications network was already paying dividends for drivers Tiago Monteiro, Narain Karthikeyan and their crew during the final races of the season, and the results were so impressive that a further extension involving additional keypanels and a TM-2000 trunk master is already under consideration.