German OEM Audi is expanding the Competence Center Motorsport at its Neuburg facility ahead of the car maker entering Formula 1. A new 3,000m2 building will be added to the site at the southwestern end of the existing building complex and will be complete with test benches to support the development of power units for Audi’s Formula 1 entry in 2026.
Audi plans to develop and build the entire power unit for Formula 1 at the Neuburg site, which will consist of an energy recovery system, electric motor, battery, highly efficient combustion engine and transmission. It is estimated that 50% of the drivetrain’s power will be electric.
The new F7.2 building will be connected to the site’s current F7 building through a closed bridge and will house technical rooms, a mechanical workshop and workplaces for approximately 60 employees. Construction began in early December 2022 and is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2024, with part of the new-build to be used as soon as March 2023.
To date, 220 employees have been recruited by Audi for the Formula 1 project at the Neuburg facility. The OEM plans to have over 300 employees at the facility for the project by mid-2023.
“With the Competence Center Motorsport, we have an ideal base for our Formula 1 project,” said Oliver Hoffmann, board member for technical development. “Audi Neuburg was designed from the outset to be able to tackle the most demanding motorsport projects. This foresight is paying off. With the existing facilities, we were able to immediately begin with the Formula 1 project. The expansion will create the necessary infrastructure for the development of our F1 power unit for the long term. With the building extension and the installation of state-of-the-art test benches, we are giving our development team the best possible conditions to be successful in the top class of motorsport.”
“Developing a power unit for the world’s most demanding racing series in Germany is a great challenge,” said Adam Baker, managing director of Audi Formula Racing, which was founded for the project. “We already have a great team at our facility in Neuburg an der Donau that is growing all of the time.”
The Competence Center Motorsport opened in 2014 and has been used to produce the drivetrains for the Dakar Rally Audi RS Q e-tron, the Audi R18 e-tron quattro hybrid race car, the Audi RS 5 DTM and the OEM’s all-electric Formula E car.
