Mecachrome
Mecachrome is a French technology company and supplier of engine parts. The company's headquarters is located since 2004 in Montreal, Canada, the main production facility continues in France in Aubigny- sur- Nere (department Cher). In international motor racing Mecachrome was primarily known for his collaboration with the car manufacturer Renault.
Formula 1
When Renault temporarily withdrew after winning five Formula 1 world championships at the end of the 1997 season of Formula 1, Mecachrome took over the successful Renault engines and prepared them for the following year for two customer teams. In 1998, she was employed by Williams and Benetton. At Williams, the engines retained the name Mecachrome, Benetton, however, it is named after its sponsor Play Life. The engines had experienced only a superficial development for the new season; their performance fell behind the Mercedes and Ferrari engines. Unlike the year before, could neither team that began the French engines, retract a victory. The Mecachrome engines were generally regarded as a major reason for the lack of competitiveness of Williams and Benetton. Williams finished the 1998 season behind McLaren and Ferrari as third in the Constructors' Championship from Benetton was fifth.
For 1999, took over Supertec, a company founded by Flavio Briatore company, the further development and distribution of the former Renault engines. They were used by the 2000 Williams, Benetton, BAR and Arrows. Again, they did not achieve victory.
Other racing series
As of 2005, took over Mecachrome the construction and maintenance of the developed by Renault engines, the GP2 Series. In addition, the base of this engine was also used in Le Mans prototypes. The French team of Noël del Bello and Paul Belmondo launched in 2005 and 2006 in the 24- hour race at Le Mans and in the Le Mans Series with a downsized to 3.4 -liter displacement version of the GP2 counterparts. During the contract for the construction of GP2 engines was extended in 2008, found themselves with the withdrawal of both teams in sports car racing, no other customers.