Innehållsförteckning för July 2020 från Racecar Engineering

The first race series in the world to use advanced additive manufacturing technology to produce a safety-critical system on its cars IndyCar’s new Aeroscreen will be under close scrutiny this year as it makes its race debut, but the extraordinary device has already been extensively tested and both organisers and manufacturers are confident it will pass muster on track. The device is made up of a 3D printed titanium framework designed by Red Bull Advanced Technologies (RBAT) and built by Austrian company Pankl. The screen is developed by PPG and is designed to protect the driver against small part intrusion into the cockpit. However, the tube structure on which the polycarbonate is mounted is a work of art. Weighing just 12.25kg (27lb), the titanium top bar is made from five…

In RE V29N12 we looked at the basics of Balance of Performance (BoP), and what things make it easy and difficult to implement. Under the heading ‘Difficult for BoP’ there is one topic that is the hardest of all to manage, and that is sandbagging. In that first feature, I alluded to this warranting a separate article unto itself, so here it is. Simply put, sandbagging means masking one’s performance capabilities to hide your true potential. Who might you be hiding from? Typically, competitors and sanctioning bodies, but the reasons for hiding performance from each are quite different. Personally, I prefer to use the term ‘performance management’ as opposed to ‘sandbagging’. The latter has a terribly negative connotation in my mind, as it implies deliberately choosing to do something nefarious.…

The first, and most important, question to answer is how much time do you have to make a change? The handling of a racecar is one of the primary areas of research and development in the pursuit of peak performance of the car in a diverse set of conditions and environments. The handling is the communication of the car’s motion to the driver so, if the handling has limitations, the performance will be compromised. The academic research of handling is referred to as vehicle dynamics, and its aim is to predict the resulting motion of the car due to the forces acting upon it. Whilst propulsion and aerodynamic improvements may be applied to the car, the potential gains are only realised if the chassis is configured correctly to transmit those…

With the implementation of the FIA’s new rally class structure, comprising Rally1 through 5 groups (where Rally1 is the new naming for WRCs, Rally2 replacing R5 etc.), M-Sport was first out of the blocks with a Rally4 version of its Fiesta in early 2020. M-Sport is unique within the WRC. Though it has a degree of manufacturer backing from Ford, it is not a ‘works’ outfit in the way Toyota and Hyundai are. Instead, under the direction of founder Malcolm Wilson, M-Sport earns its living building rally cars (alongside an increasing number of projects for other OEMs, such as Bentley GT3). With rising costs in Rally1 / WRC, it sells very few of the top-flight cars, instead relying on sales of its R5 and R2 machinery. In essence, Rally4 is…

‘You can now go and win Le Mans with probably ten times less budget than 2014’David Floury, ORECA technical director Earlier this year, the ACO and IMSA announced they had completed their assessment into the global platform prototype and early in May unveiled the first details of the programme. Labelled at Daytona in January as ‘LMDh’ for Le Mans Daytona… (the h has yet to be defined), the minimum weight has been fixed at 1,030kg and maximum power output defined at 500kW. These two parameters ran hand in hand earlier in the process, so it was natural to keep them in step. The hybrid system for the LMDh category appears to be relatively tame, housed on the rear axle only, although the effect on overall lap time is anything but…

Simulating reality is not just a challenge for motorsport engineers, but for today’s game developers, too. With computer capacity relentlessly increasing, racing games are now modelling more parameters than ever before. So, why has Esports become so popular? How effective are these virtual racing games at representing the real racing environment? And, what are the differences between these gaming platforms and high-level engineering simulators? The popularity of racing games has soared recently. Yes, partly due to locked-down countries courtesy of the Covid-19 pandemic, but also because major championships have jumped aboard the gaming bandwagon and established their very own Esports series. Before the pandemic, the likes of F1 had already completed two championships of its Pro Series where each F1 team competed with its own professional Esports drivers. With live…

Frenchman Jean Todt (74) reaches the end of the final of three terms as FIA President in December 2021, not least because the former world champion rally co-driver and record-setting team boss of Peugeot (rally, Sportscar and Raid) and Ferrari (Formula 1) will have served the maximum number of permitted mandates allowed by the body, and be beyond the under-75 age limit prescribed by FIA statutes. Generally considered the pre-eminent motorsport manager of his generation, arguably of all time, his CV boasts eight constructor F1 World Championships, a WSC title, two Le Mans victories, two WRC crowns and four and two Dakar and Pikes Peak wins respectively. Consider that this 25-year roll call is sandwiched by a successful WRC career and three FIA presidential mandates, and the extent of Todt’s…