FIGHTING FIRES

Lightweight bladder technologies developed by ATL have dominated F1 since 1988, but it’s an altogether different crowd that the company wants to convert

BY JAMES NEWBOLD

HOW F1-INSPIRED SAFETY TECH IS FILTERING DOWN TO THE GRASSROOTS With pre-season testing done and dusted, the Formula 1 circus has turned its attention to setting up shop for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne. At the Aero Tec Laboratories (ATL) warehouse in Bletchley, the collective sigh of relief is almost palpable. Founded in 1970 by American hobby racer Peter Regna, ATL supplies every team on the grid with safety fuel cells, which makes the run from October to April its busiest period of the year. With each hand-made bladder taking up to 150 man hours to assemble, and some F1 teams going through dozens of iterations before settling on a final design – which could well change again during the season – it’s a long and arduous process. And that’s…

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Autosport (Digital) - 1 Issue, 14/03/19

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