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Northants engineers revolutionise vehicle aerodynamics
28/07/2008
Former Formula 1 (F1) engineers are using new technology to increase road and racing car performance and increase their own business performance by 50%.
TotalSim Ltd, a Brackley based fluid dynamics consultancy, which offers design and software services to the motorsport and other industries, has received a technology and skills boost from a leading East Midlands funding initiative.
TotalSim was set up in 2007 by engineers, who formerly worked on car simulations of Champ Cars and F1 cars such as Ferrari and Honda. Now its team of 12 engineers specialise in the application of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) for engineering design and the sale and support of engineering simulation software for race vehicles, including Le Mans.
TotalSim’s engineers have also worked for UK Sport for a number of years on a variety of projects from cycling, to sailing and skating, involving aerodynamic design to achieve a performance advantage.
The company has used a £10,000 grant towards new computer equipment to calculate air flow over vehicles from East Midlands New Technology Initiative (NTI), which gives small and medium sized businesses grants to spend on new technology and equipment, and access to training at the regions’ universities and colleges.
Rob Lewis at TotalSim says: “We have just put the new equipment together and expect it to enable us to increase our output by 50%, which means we will be able to carry out projects much more quickly and significantly increase our productivity.”
Two members of staff will also undergo financial management and problem solving training later this year.
NTI High Performance Network project manager, James Powell, said: “Achieving optimum aerodynamics is an important factor in the design of a vehicle, aiding its efficiency and effectiveness in passing through air with minimal drag and contributing to overall vehicle dynamics.
“The calculations involved are complex and require significant computer processing power. Dr Lewis was referred to the High Performance Engineering network seeking support in establishing increased computing power. Following my visit to the company it was evident that with the volume of work being undertaken investment in additional processing power was urgently required. As a result of the grant we are extremely please to have helped the company increase output by 50%”.
Caption: Acknowledgement - Pilbeam Racing