Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Former racer turned tuner Rob Tuluie has been named head of R&D for the Renault Formula One car racing team.

Tuluie, 39, will be based at the team headquarters in Enstone, England, about 20 miles north of Oxford.

His duties will include lab testing, crash testing and stiffness testing, and he will also be involved in pure research, investigating new technology.

Tuluie will report for duty February 2.

Prior to accepting the job with the F1 team, Tuluie worked as a Systems Engineer in the Advanced Systems Division and as a Test Consulting Engineer in Motorsports, both positions with MTS Systems Corporation of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Tuluie is best known in motorcycling circles for his home-built Tul-Aris road racer and for his Yamaha YZ450F SuperMoto racebike ridden by Doug Henry.