Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2016 i Racecar Engineering

The aero has been changed and very few panels have been carried over to the 2016 car Anew set of GTE regulations has opened the door to some radical looking designs, particularly from Ford with its GT, but also from Ferrari and BMW as detailed in last month’s edition of Racecar. Mid-February, Aston Martin unveiled its new V8 Vantage, which looked decidedly understated compared to its rivals – a huge rear diffuser is the only unsubtle difference compared to the 2015 model. But in fact the aero has been radically altered, and different design targets surrounding drag reduction were set, and have been met. There are also two key partner changes, with Aston Martin signing deals with both Dunlop and Total, each of which will supply bespoke products for the…

In December, 2015, the World Motor Sport Council declared it would extend the life of the current Formula 3 chassis. It wanted to counter the rising costs of competing in the Single Seater Commission’s flagship series, the European Formula 3 Championship, which is quite understandable. But this move has raised some interesting questions about the life cycle of carbon composite tubs, and whether they deteriorate with age, and the implications if this is indeed the case. The current Formula 3 technical regulations came into being in 2012 and a large number of the existing chassis are about to enter into their fifth year of competition. Originally a new set of technical regulations was due to come into effect in 2018; however, that has now been pushed back until 2020. With…

To enhance the virtual driving experience of its simulators, or in other word to make the illusion even better, Ansible Motion has developed a number of special systems. One example is its Helmet Loading System (HLS), a multiple degree-of-freedom electromechanical device that can inform a simulator driver about vehicle directional changes. According to Ansible Motion, applied forces and displacements are contained within safe operating envelopes, and can also be tuned for different driver heights, positions, and personal preferences. ‘The HLS provides safe, subtle cues that can be highly informative during certain classes of manoeuvres,’ says Kia Cammaerts, Ansible Motion’s technical director. ‘We classify this as a supplemental cue, one that adds a useful enhancement layer on top of the primary motion cueing.’ The firm has already supplied the technology to…

The entry deadline for the European Formula 3 Championship has been extended because of a drop in entries as some teams find it difficult to find drivers, which many claim is due to the dominance of the big-spending super teams. On the original deadline of 15 Feb, just 24 entries had been received, and with a penalty of €21,000 for late entries it seemed unlikely that more would follow, so the deadline’s been extended until mid-March. To put this in perspective, Euro F3 has been riding high in recent years, with 35 cars in 2015, for example. But perhaps more important than grid numbers is the quality of the teams leaving the series. These include F3 stalwarts such as Double R Racing – whose boss Anthony Hieatt has now confirmed…

UK motorsport companies have reported in excess of £5m in expected additional export sales during 2016 on the back of January’s Autosport International Show. The multi-million pound figure comes from the Motorsport Industry Association, and specifically relates to the International Business Visitors Group it arranged and managed at the show. This saw delegates from eight global markets attending meetings with UK companies over the course of three days. The potential business confirmed over that period adds up to more than £5m. Supported by UK Trade and Investment (UKTI), the event provided a one-to-one meeting environment for UK companies to present to delegates from the motorsport, high-performance engineering, automotive, low carbon and energy-efficient sectors in USA, Germany, Austria, France, Italy, China, Australia and India. Chris Aylett, CEO of the MIA, said:…

AP Racing has been awarded £570,660 in damages, costs and interest following a ruling that Alcon infringed the company’s patent for one of its design concepts. The case centred on the range of Radi-CAL calipers AP says it introduced and patented in 2007. It says this design was a step forward in brake caliper technology within the motorsport industry, and was used by teams in Formula 3, NASCAR and later in Formula 1. However, it also claimed that rival Alcon Components introduced a similar design in 2009. Following an initial trial in 2012, and a subsequent hearing in the Court of Appeal in 2013, a ruling was made in January 2014 confirming that the patent was valid and infringed, allowing the UK-based company to pursue financial compensation and to stop…

Based in Middlesbrough in the northeast of England, Gibson Motorsport is a V de V prototype manufacturer with what might be described as a quiet history of success and achievement. But with the launch of its GH-20 earlier this year, the team may now be in a position to make a big splash in Group CN, and in the V de V series in particular. Not to be confused with its LMP2 namesake, Gibson Motorsport was founded in the late-1970s by racing driver and designer Paul Gibson. After a time racing a Mallock, the Englishman began penning other innovative Clubmans and then Supersports cars. His early efforts were developed with independent suspension all-round, and some Formula 1-like aerodynamic thinking. Naming his creations Nemesis, after the goddess of revenge and retribution,…

Until relatively recently most of the commercially available simulators have come directly or indirectly from the aviation industry When the new crop of grand prix cars took to the track for the first time during the pre-season tests at Barcelona many of the drivers already knew what to expect from the new designs. Most, if not all, of them had already driven their machines for countless laps in the virtual environment. Of course, simulators are nothing new, they have been used in racing for years, and in aviation for almost a century, but the way they are being used by engineers in motorsport today is changing. They have now become a key tool in the car design and development process in Formula 1 and LMP1, and they are having a…

Over the last couple of months a number of readers and colleagues have been asking me questions about damping. In particular, questions to do with the mechanics of calculating wheel rates and damping ratios. This shows that people have been thinking about this, and that’s great. However, what it has also shown me is that people have been missing some intermediate steps on how to calculate and use damping ratios and wheel rates, and this is what we’ll be addressing here. To kick off this discussion we first need to get our heads around what the difference is between a spring rate and a wheel rate. To illustrate, let’s consider a spring/damper unit with a bell crank – Figure 1. The reason I have illustrated with a bell crank is…

NASCAR has introduced a franchise-style ‘Charter’ system in its flagship Sprint Cup Series, with the aim of instilling long term stability while also giving teams a bigger say in how the series is run. Teams have been pushing for some kind of franchise arrangement since the 1990s and the governing body has now granted 36 teams Charters which will last for nine years. A Chartered team – which refers to a single entry rather than the organisation that runs it – is guaranteed a slot on the grid in Sprint Cup races. The maximum grid size has also been reduced this year, to 40 cars from 43 last season. It’s not just about guaranteeing entries, though, and the teams will also have a much bigger say in the way the…

Gill Sensors has released a new generation of software for liquid level configuration. Developed to support the launch of its latest lightweight liquid level sensors, the GS level 4223, the software has been overhauled to provide what Gill claims to be a modern, simple to use and intuitive way of customising output settings, minimum and maximum levels, alarm switch level and hysteresis conditions. Using feedback from its customers and user-experience, Gill aimed to develop the new software to streamline functionality and provide a user-friendly system, allowing its customers to gain quick analysis of the sensor’s data. One of the main benefits of the software is the ability for users to achieve a volumetric output via a new tank profiling feature, Gill tells us. Users can programme the software using a…

Melling has released an innovative new range of oil pumps, which it claims has major benefits over traditional internal gear pumps. The company says its new Shark Tooth range is significantly smoother due to the use of new helical asymmetrical gears. This new gear design provides the engine with an improved flow of oil without the usual pulsing found in traditional gear pumps. The reduction in the pressure ripple from the pump will also provide benefits to the distributor and camshaft drive, Melling says. www.melling.com…

With many teams now starting work on the 2017 designs, the story of 2016 may be one of continuity, with the area of greatest technical change expected to be the power unit Formula 1 has now entered the third year of a rules cycle which began back in 2014 with the introduction of the then new 1.6-litre V6 turbocharged hybrid power units. That was probably the biggest year of change in the sport’s modern era. In stark contrast to that is the 2016 F1 season, which is most remarkable for how few changes there actually are in the Formula 1 technical regulations. This has resulted in some of the new cars being almost indistinguishable from their 2015 counterparts, something which became rapidly apparent during the first day of preseason testing…

The design and construction of the frame was not unlike that of a fighter aeroplane fuselage of the day During the second half of the 1930s Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union showcased Germany’s engineering capabilities by dominating grand prix racing. This was very much a matter of national pride at the time and the German government provided the majority of the funding, while other governments did the same in the hope that their teams could take the fight to the Silver Arrows. For the Italian manufacturers, it proved too much, and they decided to focus on Voiturette racing, for smaller engined single seaters, towards the end of the 1930s. But the French government had not quite given up yet, and it offered a million franc prize for the French manufacturer that…

From 2012, when HPP started work on the current powertrain, efficiency has risen from 29 per cent to nearly 50 per cent In 2012 the FIA announced new powertrain regulations with two radical features: firstly it determined that power output was to be a function of thermal efficiency and energy recovery, and secondly it constrained the configuration of the system – IC engine, and energy recovery and storage – to align the technologies with those of the road car industry. For the first time in 64 years of Formula1, the technical objectives of the engineers in both disciplines were very nearly the same. Since the first powertrains ran in early 2014, half the F1 paddock has been decrying these devices on the basis of: ‘not noisy enough’; ‘too complicated’; ‘too…

Human Factors DIL simulators play an important role for automotive manufacturers The simulators used in motorsport, which have evolved over the last few decades, range in size, complexity, capability and cost, and they can be broadly classified into three basic categories. Entertainment Simulators These systems are powered by powerful gaming PCs. Additionally, there are larger, commercial systems used for amusement parks, trade shows, and other events that feature mock-up vehicle cockpits, motion systems, and audio systems. Entertainment DIL simulators feature graphics centric software displaying a driving environment that responds to input received from driver devices (steering wheels, gearshifts, and pedals). The graphics can be state-of-the-art in terms of quality and photorealism, and the applications enable players to simulate changing vehicles, environments (typically race tracks), simplified vehicle tuning parameters, and can…

‘We now need an urgent rule change for the unlimited class vehicles’ Recently a debate has erupted in the world of Land Speed Record attempts over how this unique form of motorsport is governed. Led by North American Eagle team members, a new body called the World Land Speed Racing Association (WLSRA) has called for changes to improve the safety for all teams contesting outright records, and also for improvements in the timing system. It is worth noting that some of the current rules for world and international Land Speed Records date back to 1935, when Malcolm Campbell convinced the regulatory body to increase turnaround time from half an hour to one hour. The first two-way record was set by LG Hornsted in 1914. The first 15 records set were…

General Motors has opened the doors to its all-new GM Powertrain Performance and Racing Center – a state-of-the-art facility specifically designed for the company’s race engine programmes. The new, 111,420sq.ft facility is now connected to General Motors’ Global Powertrain Engineering Center and is part of a $200m investment at the Pontiac, Michigan, factory. The Center has been relocated from Wixom, Michigan, bringing together under one roof an additional team of nearly 100 engine builders, engineers and other support staff. GM’s Performance and Racing team is responsible for developing engines for NASCAR, NHRA, IndyCar, IMSA and other racing series. ‘We race to win and learn,’said Dan Nicholson, vice president, General Motors Global Powertrain. ‘This new facility offers unprecedented opportunities to connect our racing engineers and powertrain engineers, integrating their knowledge to…

This brand new universal pedal box from PE Racing features an adjustable lightweight design utilising high strength alloy construction, an anodised finish, universal fitting using adjustable mounting feet, and adjustable pedals with maximised mechanical advantage, we’re told. The box also has built-in brake balance technology, and adjustable throttle linkage geometry. The kit comes complete with a throttle linkage system, remote brake bias adjuster cable, top quality motorsport master cylinders, top quality reservoirs, fittings and braided feed hoses. All this in one pedal assembly which weighs 2.02kg without master cylinders and 3.45kg with them. Mounting is achieved via the adjustable feet at both ends, this feature aimed at spreading the loads over a much greater area of the foot-well, resulting in lower floor stresses, PE Racing claims. peracing.com.au…