Oval Racing Technology
Issue 13 • December 2015 • www.racecar-engineering.com/stockcar
Building the future
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CONTENTS
G
ou ni itte wa, gou ni shitagae; a traditional Japanese saying which roughly translates as: ‘When you enter a village you should obey the village.’ We in European-dominated parts of the world would say: ‘When in Rome, do as the Romans do.’ Toyota, however, disobeyed the village to an extent when it arrived in NASCAR. And when Kyle Busch crossed the line at Homestead he achieved something no man had ever done before, clinch the premier level NASCAR championship at the wheel of a car bearing the badge of a foreign brand. Sure, the Camry is a US-built car for the North American market, but I was taken aback by how little was made of this victory. Yes the driver had a great comeback story after serious injury at Daytona, but what of the real milestone, NASCAR’s acceptance of internationalisation and the cumulation of Toyota’s new approach to stockcar racing? When it arrived in stockcar racing (the village), initially in the truck series then later in Cup, the Japanese marque brought
with it new ways of doing things and new technologies. It did not do as others did. At around the same time NASCAR R&D was going through the process of introducing the Car of Tomorrow, something which also brought a new wave of oval racing technology with it. These two things have changed the face of stockcar racing forever. In the period since 2007, when Toyota first entered the Cup, to today, the sport is almost unrecognisable from a R&D perspective. The new skills have reached such a level that one team is even turning its attentions to Formula 1, while the domestic manufacturers like Ford are now copying Toyota, and turning their attention to the future. What the future holds is slowly becoming clear and there is greater change to come. There will be new brands, new names and new rules, and it will become clear that the future is much sooner than anyone expects. SAM COLLINS Editor
CONTENTS 4 FORD TECHNICAL CENTRE Stockcar Engineering gets a tour of the Blue Oval’s new hi-tech motorsport R&D facility located in the very heart of NASCAR country 10 HAAS F1 TEAM Can a crack NASCAR outfit cut the mustard in Formula 1? We visited the Kannapolis base of the nascent Haas F1 operation to find out 18 NASCAR AERODYNAMICS How an R&D project looking at the problem of dirty air in the Sprint Cup led to a whole new aero package for the 2016 season 26 STOCKCAR PRODUCTS From wiring solutions to bellhousings; feast your eyes on our selection of the very best of motorsport products for stockcar engineers PRODUCED BY SAM COLLINS, MIKE BRESLIN AND DAVE OSWALD
In the period since 2007, when Toyota first entered the Cup, to today, the sport is almost unrecognisable from a research and development perspective STOCKCAR ENGINEERING - 2015 – www.racecar-engineering.com
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SPRINT CUP - FORD TECH CENTRE
The Blue Oval office Stockcar paid a visit to Ford’s new technical centre to see how it’s taking the fight to its NASCAR rivals with F1 spec technology By SAM COLLINS
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STOCKCAR ENGINEERING - 2015 - www.racecar-engineering.com
‘Part of this sport is technology and that will have to come to NASCAR’
F
ord has not had a great 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup season. While its old enemy Chevrolet celebrated its 750th victory and the manufacturers’ championship, the Blue Oval languished in third and last place, with half the wins of either of its rivals. Indeed, Ford’s last manufacturers’ championship win was way back in 2002; its last drivers’ title two years later. In general, the statistics are not great reading for the executives in Dearborn. ‘Overall we’ve struggled across all of our teams this year. We’re going to be making necessary changes to strengthen everybody’s performance,’ Dave Pericak, global director of Ford Performance, told the media late in the
2015 season. Though in reality the changes have long been in process, with the headline of Ford Racing morphing into Ford Performance and absorbing various other operations at the same time. ‘The big shift within our company is not just the name change but functionally how we operate,’ Pericak says. ‘We were supporting our race team’s 100 per cent, nearly, out of the marketing group in the company and now that has shifted to our product development team. Our product development team has much more resources available, whether it is aerodynamics or engine, or no matter what it is. Realigning everything under product development within Ford actually adds to a much larger team than what we had before in order to support the
actual race teams themselves. We don’t just go racing, we race to perform. We are going to go out on the track and perform and test new technologies and innovations and bring that into the rest of the product line in the company.’ At the heart of this new hi-tech engineering lead approaching to racing, especially NASCAR, is a new facility in Concord, NC. While not much to look at externally, the Ford Performance Technical Center has been designed with the present and future of stockcar racing as its primary purpose. The 33,000sq.ft facility is equipped with a range of tools including a K&C rig, which is in almost constant use by Ford teams which do not have their own facility. A torsional test rig is also installed as
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SPRINT CUP - FORD TECH CENTRE
One of the most useful pieces of kit at the new facility is this Ansible Motion simulator. It’s fitted with a NASCAR buck but there are also plans for GT and road car bucks to be developed
well as a centre of gravity rig and Co-ordinate measurement equipment, though there is space for much more equipment to be installed as new technologies emerge. As well as giving Ford’s teams and in-house engineers a place to conduct R&D work in private, one of the other purposes of the new centre is to bring the production car engineers closer to the racing organisation. ‘We have made progress already in terms of not just going racing for the marketing department and giving teams money,’ explains Mark Rushbrook, Ford’s motorsport engineering manager. ‘We are able to bring more to it than our tools and technologies, though they play a key part. We have got new people into this, too. We have a thing called the motorsports technology exchange programme. That means that we identify the areas where we think there may be a good opportunity for exchange, so right now we have got two from the engine department, one from engine calibration, one from vehicle dynamics and one
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from chassis. Those parts of the company will benefit from this as will the individuals. Really we look for people with four to five years of experience in the company in that department and we evaluate them to see if they would benefit from working on motorsport for a period of three years, after which we send them back to production with all those new skills.’
Skills transfer The first group of engineers in the programme have been working in the racing organisation for about two years now, most of them in NASCAR, but one is embedded in the new Ford GT Le Mans project. ‘It’s been great as they come with lots of knowledge and experience of the mainstream and then we put them in to this world and give them pretty key assignments and they see and understand what’s going on,’ Rushbrook says. ‘Often they are aware of tools used at the OEM level that have not been in motorsport before but can be very powerful. On the other hand sometimes they see something
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in racing that can apply directly back to their work in production. That back and forth has been really beneficial already. In mainstream automobiles there is a lot of pressure and pace still, but it’s usually a three to five year programme, everything is quite long term. In motorsport the cycle time is so much quicker.’ At the heart of the centre is a tool that is relatively new to NASCAR and requires people with new skills. Indeed, the skills to create and install such a technology are not even available in the USA, instead they come directly from the world of Formula 1. Ansible Motion, a company based just down the road from the old Lotus Formula 1 R&D centre in Hethel, England, was contracted to design and install a highly accurate and innovative simulator in the new facility in Concord. Now, according to Rushbrook, it is beginning to prove its worth. ‘We installed it about two years ago, at that point we were totally focussed on NASCAR and had not planned ahead enough to take on board what we would be doing with other
One of the purposes of the new centre is to bring the production car engineers closer to the racing organisation
Above left: The reception at the Ford Performance Technical Center celebrates the Blue Oval’s rich motorsport heritage. Modern cars and Roush Yates NASCAR powerplants are also on display Above: There is a variety of test rigs at the centre including a K&C, which is in almost constant use by Ford’s NASCAR race teams. There’s also a Torsional test rig and a centre of gravity rig Left: It took Ford engineers a little time to get the calibration right on the simulator but now it’s working well. It is not the only simulator in NASCAR but it is believed to be the most advanced
things like the sportscar project and road cars or really how valuable a tool it would become,’ he says. ‘Part of the vision of the simulator and the tech centre in general is that we do want to share technologies between racing and road cars so eventually we will use this simulator, or a close sister to it, for road cars too. Using the NASCAR body buck, as it is on the simulator at the moment, some of the road car engineers have already been on it; but we are now building a Ford GT Le Mans buck for it too. On top of that we will have a generic road car buck which we can configure to suit the type of car being worked on. Having those bucks means we need quick disconnects and the original installation did not have that, so the Ansible Motion team have now come in and installed a quick-change system.’ Indeed, as Stockcar Engineering toured the facility English-accented engineers from Norfolk augmented the Ford staff running a simulator session for a top team. ‘Simulation is a new thing out here but the sport is migrating to it
more and more,’ Rushbrook says. ‘It took us time to get the calibration right so we worked with our own engineers and some of the top drivers until we felt confident that it was a reliable tool. The first application for it was a road course, and we did that for the drivers as a lot of them are not so used to turning right as well as left. Some of them are good at it, but it can’t hurt to refresh their skills. We did that and we ran them at Sonoma and Watkins Glen. The teams then started to use it a bit for set-up too, and in general the feedback was good. One thing that has stuck with me was Marcos Ambrose, who has since gone back to Australia, he was one of the best road course drivers we had and he was driving lap after lap, and it gets hot on these things so he felt that he needed to cool himself down so instinctively he put his hand out of the window to channel the air on to himself, as you would do on the real car. He had forgotten he was driving on a simulator, we knew then we had got it about right. That is the trick with this – you are not
in the real environment, but you want the driver to believe that he is.’ Ford was not the first organisation in NASCAR country to install a simulator, indeed there are more and more appearing every month, though to date none are commercially available and Ford’s is thought to be the most technologically advanced. Perhaps the reason for the relatively slow uptake of simulators as a key engineering tool in comparison to European motorsport is not only the lack of local skills, but also the effort involved in getting one to be as accurate as possible.
Back to reality ‘We started by working through the different teams, getting the engineers and drivers in after each race and running them through all the programmes they did at the track, replicating all the set-up changes, and finding out how they felt. In some cases we were spot on but in others we were not, so we used that information to tune it. Now the teams come into the simulator
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SPRINT CUP - FORD TECH CENTRE
‘Marcus Ambrose had forgotten he was driving on a simulator. We knew then that we had got it about right’ before the races to run through a programme and try different things so that they don’t have to waste time at the track. They still come back afterwards and compare again. I’m not saying it’s perfect, it’s not, but it is now an extremely useful tool,’ Rushbrook says. In a room near the simulator there is a another facility which might be familiar to anyone who has ever toured a top Formula 1 team, or worked on a space programme: mission control. McLaren popularised such departments in Formula 1 many years ago and now they are common place in both F1 and the World Endurance Championship. Just like with the Apollo programme data is streamed back to the control areas so engineers can study and interact as required; it’s just
that the modern version has a great deal more computational horsepower, and indeed works much, much faster. Typically, in Formula 1 the engineers will be studying every intimate detail of the car’s operation when running on track during a free practice session. Then, as the car returns to the garage, a driver will be sat in the simulator trying out set-up changes ahead of the next session. In some of the longer 90-minute sessions the simulator drivers will have evaluated two or three different options in the time the real car would take to evaluate just one. It turns practice sessions from time where you find a broad car set-up into time where you fine tune the tiniest details, because the big decisions have already been taken. These
Ford’s focus
facilities are the reason that European haulers are adorned with giant radio masts at circuits, something yet to be seen in NASCAR, but something which is inevitably coming. It is also presents its own challenges; for instance, it will really be difficult at Las Vegas due to the proximity of Nellis Air Force Base! ‘We call it the command centre,’ Rushbook says. ‘It is still a longer term vision. During the WEC and IMSA races we will be getting the data streams up on the screens and the engineers here can work with the guys at the track in real time. In the medium term we expect to start doing the same thing with NASCAR as more and more data becomes available from those cars. We genuinely believe that will happen, part of this sport is technology and that will have to come to NASCAR. I think sooner rather than later, it’s just a matter of what magnitude. We have done it already with the available data, but what’s planned is much more.’
The right stuff
Ford will revise its Generation 6 Sprint Cup car ahead of the Daytona 500 next year in the same way that Toyota did ahead of the 2015 season. While not yet officially announced, figures close to the manufacturer have spoken openly about the new shape being introduced in an effort to improve overall car performance. Meanwhile, in the second tier Xfinity series the old shape Mustang (above) will continue (though adorned with new stickers), despite Ford introducing a new shape Mustang at the start of 2015. ‘On the street car we changed shape, but we did not change the shape of the Xfinity car, just
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the stickers, there are some competitive reasons for that,’ Rushbrook says. ‘Because we changed the shape of the street car NASCAR allows us to change the shape of the racecar, but we are very happy with the car shape we have at the moment. At this point Xfinity still uses the Car of Tomorrow but there have been ongoing discussions about the series migrating to the Gen 6 car used in Cup. We decided that until NASCAR commits to using the new car and new greenhouse shape we don’t want to commit to doing a new car with all that it involves. We are sitting and waiting on that at the moment’. The wait continues …
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To get the best and most repeatable data a new breed of driver has started to emerge in European motor racing. The likes of Anthony Davidson (with Mercedes Grand Prix) and Pedro De La Rosa (Ferrari), have found long careers as pure simulator drivers, because of their ability to drive like another driver at will. Technical feedback is also key, with some F1 teams finding drivers with ‘the right stuff’ in very low level racing classes, such as UK Formula Vee. That example, of course, is not an accident. One top team sourced one of its simulator drivers directly from this series for his skills behind the wheel and his engineering qualifications. That driver reputedly gives better technical feedback than either of the race drivers, he is also faster on the simulator. ‘We have not progressed to the level of dedicated simulator test drivers yet though we do have a guy who comes in to set things up and calibrate it,’ Rushbrook says. ‘We tend to just bring in the real drivers, but we do see the test pilot thing beginning to happen. During some race weekends we do plan to have a driver and team here supporting what’s going on at the track. We will certainly be doing that with the GT project, too.’ It seems that while the Ford Technical Center is generally a quiet place right now, it will become a key part of the Blue Oval’s recovery in NASCAR. And by having its new base in North Carolina open and operational already, Ford may have stolen a march on its rivals. SE
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TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER - HAAS F1
From Kannapolis to Monaco Can a race team born in the heart of NASCAR country take on and beat the hi-tech, big budget operations of Formula 1? In 2016 Haas F1 Team intends to find out By SAM COLLINS
Haas has always done things a little differently. He has rarely followed a path just because it is the one well trodden
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STOCKCAR ENGINEERING - 2015 - www.racecar-engineering.com
S
tep into a Formula 1 garage and it’s like visiting another planet. Here is a secretive world of laptops, composites and endless development and optimisation; indeed it’s not going too far to say that these days some of the F1 teams can make the Apollo programme look distinctly low-tech. And it all seems a very, very long way away from a NASCAR Sprint Cup garage. But this has not deterred Gene Haas from putting together an all new team to tackle motor racing’s premier category. And this is no tilting at windmills quest for glory against the odds, either, there’s serious business behind this venture; Haas seeing grand prix racing as a great way to promote sales of the Haas CNC machine tool range around the world, in markets where NASCAR simply has no penetration. To house his new ‘Haas F1 Team’ operation Haas has constructed a large purpose-built facility next door to his existing Stewart-Haas building in Kannapolis, NC. But despite the size of the building many people propping up the bars in Duckworths, Iron Thunder, and Twin Peaks, have loudly wondered who will be working there. ‘How can I get a job there man?’ one engineer asked Racecar Engineering staffers recently. And the fact of the matter is that right now very few people are working inside the new F1 facility. This
is because of the way the new Formula 1 operation is being structured. Haas has teamed up with Italian engineer Gunther Steiner, best known in the USA for his Fibreworks composites company based in Mooresville, NC, but in the past a technical director at Red Bull Racing in Formula 1. ‘When we first started discussing this project four or five years ago I told Gene that you cannot do everything from scratch,’ Steiner reveals. ‘At the time the new teams were racing and all struggling and I told Gene “they will never catch up”. F1 is such a high technological level it was always going to be impossible for them. Just to get where the others are will cost you billions and takes five to 10 years, not one or two. An OEM maybe could do it but if an OEM came in they would buy a team and not start from scratch, perhaps Porsche is the exception with its WEC programme, but even they would struggle as it’s such a big step from LMP1 to F1. I don’t think Audi could do it because it’s not all inhouse, they use a lot of contractors.’ It was clear that if Haas was to avoid repeating the errors made by the last attempt to get North Carolina into Formula 1, USF1, he would have to do things a little differently, but then he has always done things at little differently. Haas has rarely followed a path just because it is the one most trodden. He built up his eponymous machine tool business
exactly this way, looking at his competition and working out what not to do, and as a result created a range of lower cost, easy to use designs. The new team will bring this ethos to grand prix racing, too, and it has already surprised many in Europe, let alone those in the USA. Steiner, Haas and Joe Custer (who was then VP of Stewart-Haas) identified a growing loophole in the Formula 1 regulations which seemed deliberately placed to ease the passage of new teams and to cut the costs for existing small teams. ‘We are not starting from nothing, our mechanical parts will come from Ferrari, our approach is completely different to everyone else,’ Steiner says. This is because F1 teams had had to be full constructors and this meant that they had to use a bespoke chassis, front impact structure, suspension, suspension geometry, radiators, bodywork, steering system, brakes, floor and fuel tank. But a very quiet change to the F1 sporting regulations at the start of the 2014 season changed what it meant to be a Formula 1 constructor. The 2014 definition allowed teams to buy everything but the chassis, front impact structure, suspension, suspension geometry, brake ducts and bodywork. In 2015 the rule changed again to remove the requirement for teams to design their own suspension, suspension geometry and brake ducts.
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TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER - HAAS F1
The Haas factory is in the very heart of NASCAR country in North Carolina, next door to the Stewart-Haas Sprint Cup operation. It is also located very close to the Charlotte Motor Speedway and the Haas-owned Windshear wind tunnel
Haas has succeeded in business by doing things his own way – now he’s hoping that approach will pay dividends in Formula 1
Gene Haas has already tasted much success on the race track with the crack NASCAR operation that he co-owns with Tony Stewart Haas is so far the only team which plans to fully exploit these stealthy rule changes via a partnership with Ferrari, which will see the Italian company supply the newcomers with not only power unit and gearbox, but much more.
Prancing Haas ‘We have the front suspension, rear suspension, hydraulics, steering, electronics all from Ferrari,’ Steiner says. ‘Radiators we have to do as that is classified as bodywork apparently. We are using these things to focus on the overall car design; why make an effort to do our own damper or something when we can just get them from Ferrari? They are second in the championship and have won races, so we know that they are fine. We will have everything the same as Ferrari in 2016.’ All this means that the Haas team will focus its design efforts entirely on the bodywork and chassis, hugely streamlining the process of
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As befits an F1 race team owned by a successful businessman, the Kannapolis premises are plush and the facade is imposing. Haas will also have an in-season European race team base at the old Marussia factory at Banbury in the UK designing and constructing a modern grand prix car, and at least for now reducing the number of staff required in Kannapolis significantly. Steiner continues: ‘We are focussed on the wetted surfaces, cooling system and the chassis, and that is what we are completing the design of now. We were in the wind tunnel in December 2014, so we have done a lot already.’ The design and construction of the chassis would become a joint project between the Haas engineers and the staff of Dallara in Italy. ‘Dallara was a good choice for us because we massively reduced the ramp up time, they were already 80 per cent there,’ Steiner says. ‘They have very good people there like Andrea Vecchi who are not only engineers but very good project managers.’ But to say the 2016 Haas is a Dallara would not be correct, this project is very definitely being run by the Haas engineers. ‘We have
STOCKCAR ENGINEERING - 2015 - www.racecar-engineering.com
blended our people with Dallara’s because you cannot do everything from scratch, it takes time to build things up, to do it from scratch you would have to put in IT infrastructure, HR, hire the right staff, but Dallara already has all of that,’ Steiner says. ‘I have known Dallara for years and I know the strong points of the company as well as the weak points. Dallara’s engineers have not been exposed to proper F1 for some time and they accept that. So we use their infrastructure, engineers and designers as well as putting our own highly experienced people in there like Rob Taylor [who worked with Steiner at Red Bull in 2006]. Rob is the best lead designer you could ask for, he is calm, very intelligent and listens to everyone. He is sitting at Dallara directing the guys there and managing the car design.’ But the plan is clearly to gradually migrate work from Europe back to Kannapolis and this
Haas is so far the only team which plans to fully exploit these stealthy rule changes
Pristine race bays are awaiting the first 2016 Haas Formula 1 chassis, which will have a heavy Italian influence, with Dallara design input and plenty of premium components supplied by the Ferrari F1 operation
Haas made a fortune in CNC so it’s no surprise there’s a well-equipped machine shop. A big 5-axis machine specially designed for the team has been installed
While there is plenty of meeting space at the Kannapolis headquarters Haas F1 has invested heavily in state of the art video conferencing kit so that it is able to keep in touch with its team in the United Kingdom
There are eight people currently working in the Kannapolis machine shop, mostly on parts for the Formula 1 wind tunnel model. Stewart-Haas shop next door is also used
is clear to see walking around the new factory. It has been deliberately designed with redundancy so that as the team expands its US staffing level and manufacturing capacity it already has the space waiting. This includes a space for a full composites facility including mountings for the autoclaves and a clean room.
European expertise However, for at least 2016 and probably 2017 the composites work will be done in Europe. ‘We are prepared to do all the composites in house, but it’s difficult and you have to only take on what you can manage at first,’ Steiner says. ‘We already have the rooms set aside and laid out and we could put the machines in but you still need the people. It’s very difficult to find good composites people in the USA, it took me years to build up my company Fibreworks, and the last thing I want to do when setting up a
new F1 team is set up another composites shop from scratch. Dallara are very good at things like wings and deflection because they have to do it on other projects all of the time. They own a composite manufacturer so they can produce what we need and they are very good at that. So we will have most of the composites done in Europe and focus on the bits we are good at, like machining and fabrication.’ Indeed, for Haas the machining and fabrication is an obvious point of focus, when Racecar visited the facility a large new 5-axis machine was being installed, a prototype specifically designed for the team. In another area a large machine shop kitted out with the latest Haas CNC equipment (including some bespoke tools created by Haas just for F1) is already working on car parts and pit equipment. It is complemented by the equally well-equipped machine shop next door at Stewart-Haas. ‘I
think we have seven or eight people in the machine shop at the moment and three more coming and at the moment they are primarily working on parts for the wind tunnel model,’ Steiner says. ‘I think about 50 per cent of the parts on the model are made here, all the metal components, while all the SLA [3D printing] parts are done at Dallara. Next year we will make 100 per cent of the scale model parts here, but right now Dallara has eight SLA machines and we are waiting to install our first. We are making the pit equipment here and filling a shipping container with it all. We make all that kind of stuff here, USA is the home of fabrication. Making this stuff in the USA is much cheaper than in Europe. It takes about two days to ship the parts from here to Dallara so we know that something that if you were doing in Europe would take four days, we would take five instead as it takes two days rather than
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TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER - HAAS F1
Haas has played the regulations very cleverly and will have the Ferrari engine and many other choice Scuderia components at its disposal next season
one to ship. But we know that and factor that into the production schedules.’ In the plush design offices on the first floor of the new factory much of the space is unoccupied, but will rapidly fill as the team grows. But one key group of engineers is already working long hours on the 2016 car ‘We have about 10 people in the CFD group at the moment, by next year that will be about 20, right now the main engineering work we are doing here in Kannapolis is the CFD. I think we have about four Phds in the CFD group at the moment,’ Steiner says. The group of CFD engineers is disarmingly young, many of them relatively recent graduates, but this is something Steiner sees as an advantage. ‘We do have a lot of young guys in the team, but for CFD especially there are no old guys who know the cutting edge technology. These are scientists really and therefore it’s a good thing to have the CFD here, they don’t need the big F1 experience they just need to be clever people that know how to use computers and understand physics. We have bright people
here from good universities, we think actually it’s better to have them here so we keep them out of the mainstream of CFD in F1, and we are doing some very interesting and different things in that area. I expect we will reach the maximum allowed next season, we are doing some heavy stuff already. At the moment we can do what we like, the usage restrictions do not apply until next year so we are doing a lot of stuff.’
NASCAR crossover Here the links with the NASCAR team start to become apparent, for while the engineers do not work on both, an experienced engineer from Stewart Haas is playing a key role. ‘That CFD group is run by Matt Borland, who was the technical director at the Stewart Haas NASCAR team for a long time,’ Steiner says. ‘He is responsible for managing the knowledge transfer between the two. Technical approaches and methodologies, things like that.’ The CFD cluster used by Haas F1 is not located in the USA and this highlights how misfortune for some can be good fortune for
others. The collapse of the Marussia team in late 2014 came just at the right time for Haas F1, which was not only looking for a cluster but a European base of operations for the racing team, and the near demise of the then Russianbranded operation gave Haas both of those things. He acquired the former Marussia HQ in Banbury and some of the equipment within. ‘The designers and the wind tunnel programme are in Italy and the race team will be in England,’ Steiner explains. ‘We have the CFD engineers here in the USA but the cluster is at Banbury. Marussia had quite a good cluster, quite new as they had to replace it about nine months before the team collapsed. It was very difficult to take out the cluster and re-install it somewhere so we decided to leave it where it was. We have since put in MPLS lines between the sites. While it costs quite a bit it means we have very fast data transfer. We’ve also invested quite a lot in video conferencing between the facilities, it’s much better to see people than just talk on the phone. Especially when it’s new and you need to get to know the people.’
‘We do have a lot of young guys in the team, but for CFD especially there are no old guys who know the cutting edge technology’ 14
STOCKCAR ENGINEERING - 2015 - www.racecar-engineering.com
TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER - HAAS F1
‘We do not want to buy our way to success, we have a fair budget, but we are trying to do things the most efficient way’
Experienced F1 man Gunther Steiner, pictured left in discussion with the team’s owner Gene Haas, is the technical director at the Haas Formula 1 operation
The show car is actually a 2013 Marussia bought at the auction at which Haas also acquired its UK team base. The Formula 1 project will be a shop window for the Haas CNC business; with the aim of taking the Haas name to new markets across the globe
The aerodynamic programme was expected by many to utilise the nearby Windshear full scale wind tunnel which has over the years been used by a number of Formula 1 teams, and in which Haas has a significant interest. But the use of full scale wind tunnels in Formula 1 has been banned for some time now and today only a 60 per cent scale model can be used.
three years.’ One major factor in choosing to use the facility at Ferrari was that Agathangelou had recently overseen its modernisation. A few of the Italian-based Haas staff are based at Ferrari, but the bulk of them are to be found at Dallara.
Tunnel vision Steiner and his newly appointed chief aerodynamicist, Ben Agathangelou, had to find a suitable facility. One early idea was to adapt Windshear in order to accept 60 per cent models, but converting the huge working section designed primarily for stockcar racing to something that would meet the demands of F1 would be difficult, Steiner says. ‘Adapting it, we knew you could do it, you could put a sting in like a normal tunnel, but it would be very big or change the scales under the belt; it was all doable, but would have to still be adaptable to NASCAR as that is the main business there. That switching was one of the concerns, it was possible but at what price, and what risk? We felt it was just easier to do a 60 per cent model and go somewhere designed for model testing. We are developing a racing car, not a wind tunnel, so we decided not to adapt Windshear for the time being. Maybe in a few years we will look at it again.’ So the hunt was on for a suitable tunnel, and that meant looking beyond the USA. ‘We could have rented Dallara’s tunnel but it is only 50 per cent and we wanted to test at 60 per cent. Ferrari had capacity so we decided to use it. We plan to continue like this for the next two or
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Tip of the iceberg It is clear that there is still a lot of growing for Haas F1 to do, and for many it seems that little is happening at the team, but this is perhaps because its operations are still rather spread out. ‘There is a lot more happening here than people realise,’ Steiner says. ‘At first you don’t get any credibility, but now people are realising that this is serious. We have about 50 per cent of the mechanics employed already and we are interviewing more at the moment. If we had to race in two months’ time we could do, though if we did have to do that we would not be as prepared as we should be.’ Yet while the team does not have to comply with the F1 testing ban until 1 January 2016, it has nothing to test on track. It will have to wait until Ferrari finishes the design of its 2016 car before it can finalise its own design. ‘Right now the car is virtual, its design is not complete, but we have seven months [at time of writing, now four] before we have to run. The proof of all of this will be seen on March 1 in Barcelona. Though we may do a shakedown in Italy at Fiorano, or Vairano, first, but it depends on the production schedule,’ Steiner says. Some may believe that the new definition of a F1 constructor being used by Haas is some way down the slope towards full customer cars, but Steiner argues that it is still a major piece of engineering and it is an efficient way of going
STOCKCAR ENGINEERING - 2015 - www.racecar-engineering.com
racing, right in line with the philosophy of Gene Haas: ‘Our approach is different but could be copied and that could be good for F1,’ Steiner says. ‘We don’t want to buy our way to success, we have a fair budget but we are trying to do things the most efficient way, not cheap, not low budget but efficient. Sometimes that means doing things outside of the box. Gene Haas has based his whole business on being efficient. It’s not just throw money at it and if it does not work then we are bankrupt in three years, as some others have done before, it is about spending the money wisely.’ With Ferrari supplying much of the 2016 Haas car it perhaps could be expected that it could be rather more competitive than the cars of other new teams in recent years, but Steiner makes it clear just what the team’s own performance expectations are. ‘I don’t want to make big claims because we will be judged on the race track, not before. In the first year we are not out there to beat Ferrari or Mercedes, that’s not our target. ‘But it’s important to say we do not want to be last,’ Steiner adds. ‘I’m not going racing just to be there, just to be in Formula 1, and nor is Gene. Our aim is not just to participate, for us our aim is to get points, to be competitive. To win is difficult and will take time but to get points, that is what we must do.’ The Haas F1 car is scheduled to make its track debut on 1 March 2016 at the Barcelona circuit in Spain. It is also expected the team will stage a formal launch in Europe ahead of that date. For the rest of the season those in the industry on both sides of the Atlantic are sure to be looking on with interest. SE
TECHNOLOGY - NASCAR AERODYNAMICS
Air conditioned
In 2016 the Sprint Cup will race with a new low downforce aero set-up. In September we talked to NASCAR R&D about how the package came to be By ERIC JACUZZI
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STOCKCAR ENGINEERING - 2015 - www.racecar-engineering.com
Sprint Cup cars are at their limit through the four corners, while an IndyCar can run very near to flat out around Indianapolis
Low drag package at Kentucky
A
erodynamics have pushed the capabilities of modern racecars vastly beyond what might have ever been imagined before the science was understood and harnessed to the very high level it is today. Of course, whether that’s a good thing for the actual racing – for our sport as a spectacle – is another matter entirely. For most major motorsport series the world over, fans do not pay to simply see a single
car lap a track as quickly as possible, for while many enjoy qualifying, the main event has always been multiple cars on track. Yet while the track surface itself is the same for every car, the air those cars move through is constantly influenced by the passage of the high speed objects going through it. A car behind needs to run in the wash of the car in front, and while that can be beneficial on a straight, it is not always easy through a corner, and this can have a detrimental impact on the quality of
the racing. In an era when the show is always a talking point, it is very easy to see why this has become such a hot topic, particularly in the fanfriendly environment of the NASCAR Sprint Cup [the writer works as an aerodynamics/ vehicle performance engineer at NASCAR].
Clean air A leading car has everything going for it. It’s probably the fastest car on the track. The driver has no traffic to contend with (except
STOCKCAR ENGINEERING - 2015 - www.racecar-engineering.com
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TECHNOLOGY - NASCAR AERODYNAMICS
for lapped cars) and he or she can focus on driving perfect corners. Aerodynamically, the air passing over and under the car has the maximum energy possible to be converted into downforce, as well as sideforce in oval racing. Depending on the vehicle shape and downforce generating mechanisms, air is moved opposite to the direction of force. Generating downforce results in a wake that moves upward, while in NASCAR there is also a movement of air to the right of the tail of the car due to the sideforce generation. Plots of both the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) calculated wake and the wake measured via Kiel probe rake are shown in Figure 1. In addition to the upward movement of air, there is entrainment of air – air that is pulled along with the car due to the movement of the car through the air. For the trailing car this moving column of
air behind the lead car is both a blessing and a curse. On a straight, the entrained air means less energy for the car to push through, resulting in drafting. But the curse occurs when that same reduced energy is needed to produce cornering forces. The result of this depends on how much aero performance is needed to get through the corner. For a corner that is at the limits of adhesion, any loss of aero performance will result in reduced lateral cornering capability and a time loss compared to the leading car. If the corner does not require maximum downforce for the car to navigate it at maximum speed, there will be little to no implications on the car’s performance due to the ‘dirty’ air it is experiencing. An example of this is any car going down a straight, or highly banked ovals such as NASCAR’s Daytona and Talladega tracks, where the car is easily able to navigate the large radii and
high banked corners with no downforce. There is a saying beloved by many motorsport fans and drivers that goes something like this: ‘if there isn’t any downforce to begin with, there won’t be any to lose in traffic’. It’s easy to accept that if we evacuated all of the air at a race track, and somehow could still make the engines work, there would be zero aerodynamics to contend with (and no drafting), and racing would be determined purely by mechanical grip and the driver. Since we can never achieve this, we have to accept the fact that aerodynamics will play a role in the car’s performance no matter what. So, if we move the total downforce up and down, what is the effect? In total magnitude, a reduced level of total downforce will fluctuate less in traffic. However, the percentage change is nearly the same. Sideforce fluctuations buck this trend, and change on a similar magnitude due to the fact that the body shape is responsible for the vast majority of sideforce generation. In NASCAR, lap simulation of vehicles in traffic yields a similar time loss between a low downforce package, and the 2015 intermediate rules package. The major drawback of low downforce is the resultant low drag of the vehicle. With drag being extremely low to begin with, the draft is nearly nonexistent. Thus, there is no real advantage to be gained while behind another vehicle and only losses will be encountered.
Kentucky low drag
Figure 1: This shows CFD-predicted NASCAR Sprint Cup car wake versus aerodynamic rake measurement at the wind tunnel. Note the boundary layer development which is due to cessation of boundary layer suction and blowing towards the rear of the racecar
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STOCKCAR ENGINEERING - 2015 - www.racecar-engineering.com
The characteristics of tracks on the NASCAR calendar vary wildly, from the 0.5-mile paperclip shaped Martinsville Speedway, to highly banked 1.5-mile ovals like Charlotte and Texas, to unique long and low banked tracks like the 2.5-mile Pocono and Indianapolis. While these tracks are very different in their demands, there has historically only been two rules packages: the superspeedway package for Talladega and Daytona, and then one for everywhere else, for reasons of simplicity and costs. This leads to some tracks being more suitable to the car performance parameters, rather than varying the car to specific tracks. At Kentucky Speedway, an extremely rough 1.5-mile oval that has not always generated the best racing, NASCAR made the decision to reduce downforce by approximately 1000lbf (lb-force). At 200mph, a Kentucky car made approximate 1700lbf of downforce with around 850lbf of drag. This was achieved by reducing the splitter overhang by 1.75in from the front of the car, and reducing the radiator pan size to 25in in width. The radiator pan forms the diffuser surface for the splitter, for those not familiar. Rear spoiler size was reduced to 3.5in.
The moving column of air behind the lead car is both a blessing and a curse The tyre compound was not altered to provide more grip, and practice lap times were in the order of 1.2 seconds slower than the lap times from tyre testing earlier in the year. The cars proved difficult to drive on the bumpy surface, leading to a record number of caution flags and a noted increase in overtaking throughout the field. This race was much re-viewed by drivers and fans alike. Yet a wind tunnel impound test of three cars after the race showed that race performance was not directly linked to aerodynamic performance at this event. There was a complicating factor: a major reduction in practice time due to rain may have helped with the excitement, as many teams struggled with set-up early on in the race.
Indy aero There are two main ‘crown jewel’ races in NASCAR: the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis. Yet while NASCAR has now been racing at Indianapolis for 21 years, it has struggled at times with the realities of the track, especially in comparison to IndyCar and its iconic Indianapolis 500. Why is this? Let’s take a look at what makes a lap at Indianapolis. The track is 2.5 miles in total length, with four identical turns, banked at 9 degrees, 12 minutes, with two long straights at 5/8 of a mile, and two short chutes of 1/8 mile between Turns 1-2 and 3-4. In 2014, this meant a 200mph-plus entry at the end of the straights, followed by heavy braking, and cornering at around 175mph. The track is approximately 50ft wide, so there is only a single racing line for Sprint Cup cars through the corners. The only way to successfully execute a pass is on the long straights, with the passing car getting back into position to take the optimum line through the corners. Sprint Cup cars are at their limit through the four corners, as evidenced by the blue throttle trace in Figure 2. While an IndyCar can run close to flat out around Indianapolis, every ounce of mechanical and aerodynamic grip is required to run as fast as possible for a NASCAR Sprint Cup car. Even if the leader is only the slightest fraction of a per cent better, over the course of 400 miles this translates into a considerable gap. The only recourse is to offer some sort of advantage to the trailing car. Without gimmicks like increasing engine power or reducing aero drag, drafting is the only way to achieve this goal. But how strong does the draft need to be to counteract cornering losses?
High drag package After the decision was made to attempt to improve the racing at Indianapolis – and at
Michigan – CFD studies were initiated to determine how much drag could be added to the car and how effective it could be expected to perform. Figure 3 shows the drag difference between a trail and lead car. Currently, at three car lengths back, there is a 50-60 drag horsepower advantage for the trail car. However, as the car approaches the leader, this advantage is gradually reduced and by one car length it actually inverts and the trailing car has more drag than the leader. Since the goal was to add as much drag as possible to the cars and make the largest wake for drafting, a 9in spoiler with a 1in wicker were used. The wicker is mounted perpendicular to the spoiler, and is an incredibly inefficient device, adding on the order of a pound of drag for a pound of downforce. The wicker also provided an opportunity to reinforce
the polycarbonate spoiler extension with a composite band. The total drag ended up in the order of 720 drag horsepower, substantially reducing the top speed of the car. Controlling the downforce was the next challenge. Lowering the tail of the car with NASCAR’s existing superspeedway tail extension not only helped make a larger wake, but also cut the downforce potential of the large spoiler by over 1000lbf. This resulted in around 2500lbf of total downforce at 200mph. The package is shown in the picture (next page) on Brad Keselowski’s No.2 Penske Ford Fusion at Aerodyn Wind Tunnel, where we tested the Indy package on the three racecars impounded from Kentucky, to verify performance estimates. An interesting characteristic of this package is that by extending the tail to counteract the large spoiler, downforce was
Figure 2: A lap of Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup aerodynamic configuration – the blue trace shows that the racecar is on the limit in each of the four turns
Figure 3: This shows the drag deltas for both a leading and a trailing NASCAR Sprint Cup car using the current 2015 aerodynamic package and the Indianapolis high drag package STOCKCAR ENGINEERING - 2015 - www.racecar-engineering.com
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TECHNOLOGY - NASCAR AERODYNAMICS
Penske No.2 Sprint Cup Ford sporting the high drag package in the Aerodyn wind tunnel – three cars impounded by NASCAR R&D after the Kentucky race were tested here
Figure 4: An underbody pressure comparison of the low downforce Kentucky car compared with a car fitted with the Indianapolis high drag aerodynamic package
redistributed from under the car to the outer body. This was predicted in CFD and verified with undercar pressure taps to compare the low downforce Kentucky package to the same car fitted with the Indianapolis high drag package, as plotted in Figure 4. This raised an interesting in-race learning experience on whether more downforce on the body is better than relying on the underbody. The general industry consensus is undercar aerodynamics are better in traffic, but this has been contradicted by CFD and wake measurements which indicate a NASCAR Sprint Cup car leaves a large wake on the ground behind the car. Coupled with the fact that the sedan body generates positive lift, any time it is in the wake of the car in front the greenhouse actually gains downforce. This is reflected in the CFD results that show the high drag package actually has less total downforce variation on the trailing car than the current rules package. Wake variation between the two packages is shown in Figure 5. Moving to lap simulation, the predicted effect of the draft from the high drag package is shown in Figure 6. The green trace represents track test data from a 2014 specification car. The red trace represents a single car with the high drag package, lapping approximately 1.4 seconds slower and reaching a top speed of 192mph vs a 2014 peak speed of 208mph. The black trace represents a car in the draft three car lengths back, with the ChassisSim model activating the drag delta using the DRS option on the long straights only. The drafting car would come to the end of the straight going 5.6mph faster than the isolated car, covering five to six car lengths at 200mph. The total time advantage is 0.6 seconds per lap. The hope was that the increased draft advantage would outweigh cornering losses.
Indianapolis race
Figure 5: The wake delta between a current 2015 Sprint Cup intermediate rules car and the Indianapolis high drag package – the latter has less total downforce variation on the trailing car. Black regions indicate lower energy areas and a more favourable draft
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STOCKCAR ENGINEERING - 2015 - www.racecar-engineering.com
While there was an observable gain in drafting performance by the Sprint Cup cars at Indianapolis, overall the effect was not as pronounced as hoped. Post-race analysis showed there were two major factors at play: cornering losses resulting in reduced corner exit momentum, and difficulty in obtaining the optimum lateral positioning to capture maximum draft advantage. The momentum problem was created by Turn 2 and Turn 4 at Indianapolis. Since the cars could not take the corner flat out due to mechanical grip and downforce limitations, the second place car was at a cornering disadvantage. This resulted in a cornering speed loss and thus, distance loss on the lead
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TECHNOLOGY - NASCAR AERODYNAMICS
The high drag package actually has less total downforce variation on the trailing car than the current rules package car, which played into a reduced draft due to separation distance. Drivers described a ‘loose’ handling condition, also known as oversteer. While an increase in spoiler size contributes to dramatic increases in downforce, the spoiler itself contributes something in the order of 150lbf to the total downforce of the car. The majority of the downforce increase is due to increasing separation on the lift-generating greenhouse, which by nature is centred on the car. Overall downforce levels were lower than the 2015 intermediate track rules package due to a lower tail height, which does not allow the underbody to work as effectively. Downforce does not appear to be contributing to the handling evils. The large spoiler does not escape blame, though. The spoiler itself contributes nearly all of the drag increase, and thus exerts an
approximate 500lbf contribution to the drag of the vehicle. Since the tail of the car is offset 4in to the right to generate sideforce, the spoiler is also 4in to the right of vehicle centre-line. The centre of pressure of the spoiler is thus offset to the right of vehicle center-line, causing a dramatic rise in rear sideforce. In comparison to the Kentucky low downforce package, the yaw moment of the vehicle increased by over 200 per cent. This is perfect for driver stability, a car with great rear cushion. However, in traffic, when the spoiler met the wake of a car in front, it reduced the yaw moment of a car that was already set in the corner and utilising maximum downforce and rear sideforce. The effect of the wake was thus a dramatic snap oversteer condition, causing a lack of driver confidence and inability to carry sufficient momentum through the
Figure 6: This shows a ChassisSim Indianapolis lap simulation for a NASCAR Sprint Cup racecar – the green trace is the 2014 car while the red trace is a car sporting the high drag package
Figure 7: This diagram shows drafting position sensitivity – the scale is in drag horsepower. A narrow wake limited the ability to produce drafting between stockcars out on a race track
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STOCKCAR ENGINEERING - 2015 - www.racecar-engineering.com
turns before the long straight. The second major contributor was the narrowness of the wake. Even with the very large spoiler, the wake of a Sprint Cup car is mostly confined to the vehicle width. This is in contrast to the relatively wide wake of an open wheel car, caused by the exposed tyres. The effect means that even a 2ft lateral offset from centre-line meant a 50-85 per cent less effective draft, visible in Figure 7. This was particularly pronounced in race conditions with a lead car moving with the intent to shake the draft and the trail car having to react and attempt to maintain the best position.
The next steps At the time of writing, both low downforce and high drag packages were still to have another opportunity on track at Darlington and Michigan respectively. One variation was that the Southern 500 at Darlington was to have a Goodyear tyre specifically designed for the track and downforce level, with hopes high that varying tyre falloff will lead to more variation and passing throughout the field. The tyre features an increase in grip when compared to the tyre last raced at the circuit. The ultimate goal is not to find one perfect rules package for all of the tracks, but use track characteristics to craft the best solutions for the many challenging tracks on which NASCAR races. Furthermore, work continues to make the cars race as competitively as possible at every venue. On some tracks, this may mean low downforce, while on other tracks drag will play more of a factor. This not only gives the drivers more unique challenges on the demanding NASCAR calendar, but gives fans the opportunity to see the best stock car racers deal with varied tracks and vehicle characteristics week in and week out. Meanwhile, work continues with an experimental low downforce, low sideforce racecar to make its testing debut at Kansas Speedway in mid-September. It is hoped this experimental vehicle will further our understanding of the relationship between aerodynamic forces and their ability to influence racing quality. The real point is that, unless we can convince the racing industry to collectively forget all it has learned about harnessing the air to make speed, we must accept that aerodynamics will be both our friend and our enemy for a long, long time into the future. Management of this all-powerful force will continue to be of paramount importance for all parties in the motorsport community. SE
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STOCKCAR - PRODUCTS
Fuel cells
To the very last drop Holley’s new patent-pending HydraMat is designed to deliver the last droplet of fuel in a tank or fuel cell thanks to the introduction of two clever principles: fluid wicking and surface tension. ‘Surface tension’ refers to sealing the tiny pores of the HydraMat media with fuel in the same way water clings to the fine mesh of a screen door. This has the effect of accumulating and sequestering fuel in the reservoir, delaying any vapour intrusion until the fuel supply is exhausted. ‘Wicking’ is capillary action, which promotes liquid flow in narrow spaces and in small diameter tubes.
Capillary action is an impressive process because the flow is unassisted; it even defies gravity. As a result it invests the HydraMat with the ability to draw fuel from any area that is in contact with it. Designed to operate in stock fuel tanks or racing cells, HydraMat’s shapes and sizes vary from a single section to cross sections and from square- to rectangular-shaped mats. Holley also tells us that HydraMat is highly effective under hard cornering, acceleration and braking. www.holley.com
Brakes
Tough brakes Caparo has launched a range of five calipers for NASCAR, able to cover short track, intermediate and speedway set-ups. Four of the five calipers have a monobloc design. Some of them feature ceramic coated caps to improve thermal performance. www.caparovehicletechnologies.com
Components
Cool to be a race fan Electronics
Throttle control for lead foots This new electronic throttle control (ETC) module allows an electronic throttle body to be used with FAST EFI systems. The FAST Electronic Throttle Control Module enables the use of any FAST EFI
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system with late model GM LS crate and transplant engines that are equipped with electronic throttle bodies. The ETC Module takes readings from a GM LS-type pedal assembly and opens or closes the electronic throttle body in response. This creates a drive-by-wire system and eliminates the need for problematic throttle cables and linkages. The module also features optional, userselectable throttle response curves for more or less throttle-blade opening based on a given position. This affects how aggressively the engine responds to movement of the driver’s foot. The FAST Electronic Throttle Control Module is plug-and-play with all FAST EFI systems, select OEM GM pedals and throttle bodies, and the FAST 102mm Electronic Throttle Body. www.fuelairspark.com
STOCKCAR ENGINEERING - 2015 - www.racecar-engineering.com
C&R Racing/PWR has added the 16in fan ring it uses in NASCAR, as well as the SPAL high performance fan, to its new line of commercially available radiators. The fan ring is water jetted out of .100 aluminium and is bolted directly to the radiator, making for a stronger part, says C&R. With this arrangement there is no chance for the fan to move around on the radiator. The fan is also sealed to the core which increases the cooling capability. The new unit comes pre-assembled with the SPAL curved blade puller fan and SPAL 40 amp relay. A C&R Racing developed inlet can also be included. www.crracing.com
Insurance for competitors, competition cars, specialist vehicles and equipment
As motorsport specialists, we understand what our customers need when it comes to insurance. Competition cars intended for road use are sometimes difficult to place in the motor insurance market and therefore, our expertise in this area makes a big difference. Our experienced and friendly team take care to ensure that each policy is tailormade to suit individual circumstances. So, whether it’s to insure you, your competition car (for road or track – or both), your support vehicle, motorhome, trailer or equipment, REIS can get you covered.
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We Know Motorsport.
STOCKCAR - PRODUCTS
Electronics
The Wire: undercover Ron Francis Wiring has launched a clever new form of protection for wiring looms. Its new braided fabric heat shrink wire covering looks and feels like cloth but is actually a heat shrink. It is available in three sizes and is sold in 10ft or 50ft lengths, allowing customisation for
Heat management
a variety of needs, including tight bundles or multiple pathways. The braided heat shrink wire is easy to cut and size, even in situations where wires need to exit in various locations, and it can handle temperatures up to 260degF. www.ronfrancis.com
Pit equipment
Scaling up the race team Intercomp Racing has recently launched this new scale system, called SW656 iRaceWeigh. The system features four wireless billet scale pads plus the newly updated iRaceWeigh Module; a scale system that is said to be a convenient way for scaling your car using a smartphone or tablet. It is claimed to be the first app to control, view, and record live scale data, with fully integrated RFX Wireless Weighing Technology. It also provides complete, secure control over scales and set-up data.
The app to drive the system is available for free on iTunes and Google Play, and can be downloaded to as many devices as desired. As new updates become available the app can be updated from the device, keeping racers armed with the most up-to-date features and functionality. The system includes four 15in x 15in x 2.5in (381 x 381 x 64mm) wireless RFX billet scale pads, an updated iRaceWeigh Module, batteries for the pads, plus a two year warranty. www.intercompracing.com
Drivetrain
Rev for big power QA1 has launched a range of carbon fibre driveshafts for vehicles with up to 2000bhp with a max torque rating of 1500lb.ft. Available for many applications (particularly drag racing), these driveshafts are lighter, stiffer and stronger than aluminium, steel and – its maker claims – other composite driveshafts. The Rev series of driveshafts is currently available
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Design Engineering’s new lightweight Ultra Sheath MA reflects the direct and radiant heat that can damage under-hood components, burn ignition wires and wiring, or excessively heat up brake and fuel lines. Designed as a replacement to aluminium or foil sleeving, and said to be the most advanced protection for cable lines, wire and hose, the product sustains direct heat up to 1100degF and is over 40 per cent lighter than foil covered sleeving. More flexible than standard foil or bonded aluminium products, Ultra Sheath is easy to trim to desired lengths for quick and easy installation. Ultra Sheath MA can be purchased in multiple sizes and lengths. www.designengineering.com
Heat management
The gold standard Reflect Gold Heat Barrier is a metalised polyamide polymer laminated glass cloth with a high temperature pressure sensitive adhesive, designed for use in extreme environments. According to its maker Reflect is extremely lightweight and capable of handling continual operating temperatures of 850degF. Suggested applications are firewalls, fuel cells, engine covers, bulkheads and driver seat bottoms. www.firesleevetec.com
with either 1310 or 1350 series U-joints, with popular conversion joint options also available. While other carbon fibre driveshafts are often made by cutting a pre-made tube to length, QA1’s driveshafts are designed and manufactured in-house, using filament-winding equipment. The part features an exclusive 3M matrix resin that uses spherical nano scale silica,
STOCKCAR ENGINEERING - 2015 - www.racecar-engineering.com
Sheath executive
which provides improved abrasion resistance and longevity, higher compressive strength and minimal water absorption for increased torque capacity and longevity, we’re told. QA1’s driveshafts are currently offered in a 3.2in and 3.7in diameter with several length, slip yoke and U-joint options. www.qa1.net
Why Guess when you can Measure? In Depth Suspension Analysis with
'53 3UHFLVLRQ ³3XOO 'RZQ´ 6\VWHPV Quickly and Accurately Measure: Static Wheel Positions & Weights Dynamic Wheel Positions & Weights Total Grip, Dynamic Bite & Forward Drive A/B Test Suspension Components Analyze Suspension Movement (Discover Binds) Camber & Caster Curves Bump Steer, Rear Steer, Wheel Base & Contact Patch Alignment Acceleration Curves Sway Bar Timing Bump Stop Loads & Curves Pull Bar/Lift Arm Timing • Test and Verify Set-ups • Predict Suspension Travel • Measure Forward Drive through Acceleration Forces • Easy to Use. No engineering degree required! • 10� Tall Billet Aluminum Scale Stands 4500lb Capacity/Wheel • Electric Chassis Cylinders with Variable Speed Joystick Controls • Completely Portable Design. Stores compactly and transports easily. • Championship Proven Results from Series Nationwide
zŽƾ ĚŽŜ͛ƚ ŚĂǀĞ ƚŽ Ç Ä‚Ĺ?Ćš ƾŜĆ&#x;ĹŻ LJŽƾ Ĺ?Ğƚ ƚŽ ƚŚĞ ĆšĆŒÄ‚Ä?ĹŹ ƚŽ ĎŜĚ Ć‰ĆŒĹ˝Ä?ůĞžĆ?Í˜Í˜Í˜Ĺ˝ĆŒ Ć?ƉĞĞĚ͊ • Increase accuracy and repeatability of your set-ups. • Build set-up “packagesâ€? with accuracy knowing how ĂĚŊƾĆ?ƚžĞŜƚĆ? Ä‚ÄŤÄžÄ?Ćš ƚŚĞ ĞŜĆ&#x;ĆŒÄž Ä?ŚĂĆ?Ć?Ĺ?Ć?͘ • Study your suspension throughout the travel range. • Learn how your suspension works together. Íť /ĚĞŜĆ&#x;ĨLJ Ĺ?Ć?Ć?ƾĞĆ? Ć?ĆľÄ?Ĺš Ä‚Ć? Ĺ˝Ç€ÄžĆŒ ĆšĆŒÄ‚Ç€ÄžĹŻĹ?ĹśĹ?Í• Ä?Ĺ?ŜĚĆ?Í• ůŽĂĚ Ć?ƉĹ?ĹŹÄžĆ?Í• ĞdžÄ?ÄžĆ?Ć?Ĺ?ǀĞ ĆŒÄžÄ‚ĆŒ Ć?ĆšÄžÄžĆŒÍ• ĞƚÄ?͘
New! 2016 DSS-1 Single Speed Drop-In Scale System from $8,900. 2016 DSS-2VS Variable Speed Drop-In Scale Systems from $12,900. 2016 DSS-3VS High Load Integrated Scale Systems (Measures Wheel Load & Chassis Travel) from $20,500. 6\VWHPV IRU $VSKDOW 'LUW /DWH 0RGHOV 0RGLÂżHGV $5&$ . 1 5RDG 5DFH
Rear End Fixtures Data acquisition Spindle fixtures Wheel measurement
set-up tools
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Š 2015 DRP Performance
STOCKCAR - PRODUCTS Sensors
Good sense
Fluid transfer
Flexible flow solutions Specialty Fasteners, in conjunction with technical partner Samco, have released AeroFlo: a brand new integral silicone hose and fluid coupling assembly for water and air transfer which is said to eliminate the need for complex tube bending. The new product features the unique Hydraflow 14J21 coupling with a Samco Xtreme Aramid fibre reinforced silicone hose. This allows for smooth and safe water and air transfer for quick release radiators and intercoolers. The hose removes the need for complex tube bending and allows for greater packaging options. An additional benefit in the cut and thrust of stockcar racing is the greater resistance of hoses or tubes to becoming dislodged in case of an impact. It comes in a range of configurations and sizes (from 32mm up to 63mm, larger or smaller upon request) with specials also available. It is offered in both coupling to coupling and coupling to push fit variants. Extensive prototype testing was undertaken with BTCC team Motorbase Performance, which
said it was impressed with the benefits the new system brings. Oly Collins, team manager at Motorbase, said: ‘We were delighted to work with Specialty Fasteners and Samco on this project. The flexibility it offers is great, and it allows for faster component changing. Add to this the fact that it is a cost effective solution, and it ticks all the boxes.’ Sales manager for Specialty Fasteners, Graham Leo, said of the product: ‘Ever since we started the prototype project we knew this would give great benefits to the teams and our testing has shown this. It is now production ready and when Samco took it to the SEMA show recently it picked up a Global Media Award straight away, so that is very encouraging.’ AeroFlo is available in a variety of configurations, some suitable for stock car racing – including a 2in water hose for high pressure systems. It will be on display at PRI on the US distributor Coast Fabrication’s booth (3706) and Samco Sport’s booth (4524). www.AeroFlo.co.uk
Transmissions
Clearance to fly low Quarter Master’s new LGC (Low Ground Clearance) Bellhousing Kit is designed to maximise downforce and lower the centre of gravity by allowing the nose of a car to be as low to the track as possible. The additional ground clearance is achieved through a smaller ring gear and a flat-bottom bellhousing that makes it flush with the bottom of the tightest-fitting dry-sump oil pans. The bellhousing also features both internal and external
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strengthening ribs to maximize strength and stiffness while reducing parasitic drag. The kit is designed for oval track or road racers using 5.5in clutches and a rear-mount starter. It can be used as a retro-fit option or an entirely new package. Quarter Master LGC Bellhousing Kits featuring either magnesium or aluminium bellhousings are also to be launched soon. www.quartermasterusa.com
STOCKCAR ENGINEERING - 2015 - www.racecar-engineering.com
Kistler has added a new product to its 4080A range of piezoresistive absolute pressure sensors for racing applications – the Type 4080AT combined pressure and temperature sensor. This comes in a compact package with a body length of 24.4mm and it weighs less than 12g. Suitable for universal use, this sensor features a temperature probe and integrated signal conditioning. Specifically designed to cope with harsh ambient conditions in motor racing as well as demanding requirements on the test bench, the new sensor can be installed directly in the vehicle. It supports reliable monitoring of low pressure cooling water, fuel and oil circuits, to enable early detection of problems, optimisation of system design and real-time monitoring of critical operating conditions. The additional integrated PT1000 probe allows dynamic temperature measurements in liquids at up to 200degC. Maximum flexibility for connection to a data acquisition system is ensured by a unique concept that includes integrated signal conditioning and an analogue voltage output from 0.2 to 4.4 VDC (pressure) and 0.5 to 4.5 VDC (temperature). With its 5, 10 and 20bar pressure ranges, the Type 4080AT is suitable for universal use in low pressure applications in cooling water, fuel and oil circuits. The Type 4080AT is FIAhomologated and can be supplied with either a LEMO plug connector or a flylead cable. www.kistler.com
Lubrication
Slick shifting A new transmission fluid from Driven used exclusively in the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, with wins in six races, is now also available for all race teams running on short tracks and road courses. Driven’s 75W-140 Racing Gear Oil is a synthetic blend used by top race teams. Its maker claims that it reduces operating temperatures more effectively than other brands. The oil is also said to reduce friction and it provides shear-stable viscosity for outstanding gear durability. It also eliminates the pitting and scratching of gear sets often seen with lower viscosity oils, and it does not increase drag or reduce horsepower. Even after six hours of driving it maintains its viscosity, and extended change intervals allow it to be used race after race. It is available in quart bottles or cases of 12. www.drivenracingoil.com SE
Y PL W! AP O N
NATIONAL MOTORSPORT ACADEMY
BRITAIN’S FIRST ONLINE MOTORSPORT ENGINEERING DEGREE
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Foundation Degree (FdSc) Motorsport Engineering BSc (Hons) Motorsport Engineering Awarded by Staffordshire University. The National Motorsport Academy, in partnership with Staffordshire University, is pleased to launch Britain’s first online Motorsport Engineering degrees. In this competitive, global industry, Motorsport Engineers must have the broad range of skills demanded by the top teams. Working closely with the industry, we have designed our courses specifically to meet their requirements. Not only will our graduates be qualified Motorsport Engineers with practical experience, they will also be innovative, resourceful and commerciallyfocused. Making them highly sought after graduates.
What you will study • Mathematics for Motorsport • Race Car Design & Preparation • R & D Simulation and Analysis • Fundamentals of Motorsport Technology • Fluid Mechanics & Thermodynamics • Engine Design, Development & Simulation
• Low Tuition Fees £5,500 per year/level • Entry from 100 points • Mature students welcome • EARN while you LEARN • Choose your own start date • Your own personal tutor • Unlimited tutor support, 5 days a week
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How to apply Please register on our website today at http://motorsport.nda.ac.uk/how-to-apply
• Vehicle Dynamics, Physics & Data Acquisition • Work Experience & Research Study • Advanced Engine Development • Aerodynamics • Hybrid & Electric Vehicle • Final Project
New for 2015 Lotus GTE (Le Mans). Over 30 races planned.
http://motorsport.nda.ac.uk
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motorsport@nda.ac.uk
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01159 123456
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