Last night, the Bicester race shop witnessing the birth of Virgin Racing’s first Formula One car reverberated to the sound of eight cylinders as the team became the first of the sport’s four new entrants to fire-up the all-new Cosworth CA2010 engine. The Wirth Research designed VR-01, Formula One’s first all-digital race car, is ready for roll-out on Wednesday.

The first engine fire-up was sweet, sweet music for Virgin Racing as the team counts down to the launch of its new challenger. It indicates that the VR-01’s drivetrain and associated systems are functioning well and the car is now ready for the on-track consummation of the marriage between chassis, engine and gearbox at Silverstone next week.

The reveal of the all-digital VR-01 will also be all-digital, with the car scheduled to make its public debut at virginracing.com from 10.00am on 3 February. Its next pit stop is Silverstone, where the team will conduct the systematic testing and confidence-building of all car parts and on-car systems during a private shakedown from 4-5 February.

“I’m really happy to have done the fire-up checks and to have reached this new milestone in our schedule as planned. I must say the VR-01 is looking quite a neat package. We all look forward to seeing the car on-track for the first time next Thursday,” Virgin Racing’s Technical Director, Nick Wirth, commented.