Windows 8 Pro
Customer Solution Case Study
Racing Team Accelerates Trackside Tune Ups
with Windows 8 Pro Tough Tablets
Customer: Escuela Española de Pilotos
Website: www.escueladepilotos.com
Customer Size: 34 employees
Country or Region: Spain
Industry: Auto racing
Customer Profile
Based in Madrid, Spain, Escuela Española
de Pilotos is a racecar driving school that
operates a 15-person racing team that
competes in GT endurance car racing in
European circuits.
Software and Services
 Windows 8 Pro
 Microsoft Office
− Microsoft Office Professional Plus
2013
Hardware
 Panasonic Toughbook CF-C1 tablets
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“Windows 8 Pro on the Panasonic Toughbook is a
great combination in the pit: fast, reliable, ruggedized,
and portable. We are saving precious seconds that
could make the difference in winning a race.”
Fernando Camino, Owner, Escuela Española de Pilotos
Spanish racecar driving school Escuela Española de Pilotos
needs a mobile computing platform that stands up to the rigors
of trackside tuning. The school uses Panasonic Toughbook
tablets running Windows 8 Pro and touch-enabled versions of
complex racing software to accelerate productivity in the pit.
Team members share devices, tapping and swiping to analyze
race videos and data, minimize downtime to tune the car, and
update winning strategies.
Business Needs
Escuela Española de Pilotos trains racing
drivers and operates a GT endurance car
racing competition team. Every successful
racing program requires a dedicated team
of skilled drivers, mechanics, engineers,
and strategy experts. “We are all about
winning, and to win, you need to provide
your team with the best tools and
technology,” says Fernando Camino,
Owner of Escuela Española de Pilotos.
The team at Escuela Española de Pilotos
relies on data acquisition systems, racing
analysis programs, and engine control
systems hosted on a remote server.
Advanced electronics built into the cars
collect data during a race. When the driver
pulls into the pit lane for refueling or
service during a race, engineers connect
the car to a computer and upload the data
to the server for analysis. The team had
been using laptops running the Windows
XP operating system.
“We look at the different applications and
analyze many data points, from engine
temperature to fuel burn rates to the
quality of gear changes,” says Matt Faulks,
IT Director at TDF, a company that
provides electronic support for Escuela
Española de Pilotos. “There could be 15
people accessing data from the server,
right there on the circuit or in our labs in
the United Kingdom, Singapore, and the
United States, where we solve issues and
generate lap-by-lap analysis that’s emailed
back to the track.”
Camino is always looking to improve the
computing platform for Escuela Española de
Pilotos. His requirements for technology are
akin to those for a winning team: fast,
tough, accurate, reliable, intuitive, and
multifaceted. “In the pit, there’s lots of noise
and the crew is working at top speed in a
dirty, dusty environment,” says Camino.
“Everyone needs instant access to their
applications and data. They need tough,
portable machines to pass around and give
to the driver so we can make fast decisions
to improve performance and win races.”
Solution
Escuela Española de Pilotos found the
computing platform that it needed to stay
at the forefront of racing technology: the
Windows 8 Pro operating system running
on ruggedized Panasonic Toughbook CF-C1
tablets in the pit and several workstations in
the office. With Windows 8 Pro and the
rugged Panasonic Toughbook, the team
gets a fast, fluid, mobile, touch computing
experience perfectly suited to the pit
environment, along with reliable
interoperability with the team’s server
infrastructure to keep everyone connected
within an international support network.
“I wanted Windows 8 Pro because I saw the
advantages of an operating system that
could run our complex software and offer
touch computing and mobility with new
devices,” says Camino. “We had no problem
upgrading everything straight from our
existing Windows XP operating system.”
It was easy for Escuela Española de Pilotos
to introduce Windows 8 Pro into its existing
IT infrastructure thanks to management
features such as domain join, which the
school used to join the Windows 8 Pro
devices to its business network. The school
also uses Group Policy to set IT policies for
data access, and the built-in virtual private
network (VPN) client to connect to racing
software from the pit.
“Windows 8 didn’t force us to change how
we worked in IT, and I saw a big
improvement in how we accessed data
from the server,” says Camino. “We protect
confidential information using passwords
and setting up multiple user profiles, so
people can access their own data even on
a shared tablet. I use the solution to sync
about 20 gigabytes of files, so I always
have current information no matter what
device I’m using.”
Benefits

Mobility and reliability. When the
team is on the road, there’s no time for
downtime or replacing faulty devices.
“The gear we take has to work, period,”
says Faulks. “The Panasonic Toughbook
and Windows 8 Pro give us a stable
platform. With less downtime, we lower
costs.”

Ease of use. No one on the team has
the time to learn new computing skills,
but using Windows 8 Pro was intuitive
and easy. “I’m traveling at 270
kilometers per hour, so when I come off
the track I can’t slow down to fiddle with
a mouse and keyboard,” says Ben
Clucus, who drives a Mosler MT900 for
Escuela Española de Pilotos. “Now,
someone hands me a tablet. I swipe. I
check my data. I swipe. I check a video
clip. I talk with the crew. We make a
change, and I’m back out there.”

Rugged tool. At the Paul Riccard
Circuit, Windows 8 Pro on the Panasonic
Toughbook stood up to a challenging
environment. “When I saw one of our
mechanics with his tablet lying in the
tool trolley with the hammers and
wrenches, I thought, ‘This is a tool.’ And
we are only just realizing how much
we’re going to benefit from it,”
concludes Camino.
Although Camino has been using Windows
8 Pro since its launch, Escuela Española de
Pilotos gave Windows 8 Pro its first test
run trackside from May 31 to June 2, 2013,
at the Paul Riccard Circuit in the south of
France. The new computing platform
outperformed expectations.
“Windows 8 Pro on the Panasonic
Toughbook is a great combination in the
pit: fast, reliable, ruggedized, and
portable,” says Camino. “We are saving
precious seconds that could make the
difference in winning a race.”
Escuela Española de Pilotos has already
seen the following benefits from Windows
8 Pro:

Fast performance with targeted data
access. At the Paul Riccard Circuit,
Windows 8 Pro kept pace with the race,
expediting data delivery to team
members through immediate start ups
and improved performance. “The whole
This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS
SUMMARY.
Document published June 2013
system works faster, with data going
through one channel but targeted to
individual team members, and we easily
access everything with the touch of a
finger,” says Camino. “We’re passing the
tablets around, checking our
information, and brainstorming winning
strategies faster than ever.”