Cervélo TestTeam has appointed Damon Rinard as race engineer for the Team.
Already asserting themselves as a top team for 2009, the team will use Rinard to collaborate engineering between Cervélo TestTeam’s race mechanics and its equipment partners to develop and provide the best equipment possible.
“Damon will be working with our head mechanic Alejandro Torralbo and me to establish accurate and efficient test protocols,” said Thomas Campana, managing director, Cervélo TestTeam.
Cervélo chose the route of a dedicated race engineer – something common in motorsports, but unknown in cycling – in order to help maximize it’s potential for innovation and performance. “It is a natural step for the Team,” said Phil White, Cervélo’s co-founder and CEO of Vroomen.White.Design. ” I’ve always had a passion for auto racing, so it makes sense to me to bring elements of that world to pro cycling if there are obvious benefits. We are the first cycling team to make testing such a prominent activity within the team.
The move was received very positively by our equipment partners. Zipp has roots in motorsports, so they immediately understood the benefits. In fact, within a day of Damon’s arrival Zipp started to liaise with him for some new projects. Another equipment partner, 3T, recruited its chief engineer from Ferrari’s F1 team, so they also understand the benefits of this system.”
“We’ve begun work on a variety of projects with our partners and our riders,” explained Damon Rinard. “Considering that we’ve only been at this since December there is already a significant amount of activity underway with Zipp and Vittoria, as to the kinds of wheels and tires the team will use in the classics. We’re also working on the apparel with Castelli and on helmets with Catlike. TestTeam riders Roger Hammond (also an engineer) and Daniel Lloyd are currently working on different projects, but nothing we’re prepared to talk about quite yet.”
Damon Rinard joined Vroomen.White.Design in December 2008, as their Advanced Senior Research and Design Engineer. Prior to that he’s enjoyed a distinguished career with GKN Aerospace Chem-tronics, Inc, Velomax Wheels and mostly recently Trek.