To Sim, or Not To Sim?

That is the Question.

Delivering race winning
performance with HEEDSMDO
and VI-MotorSport
Ian Harrison Triple Eight Race Engineering
David Ewbank VI-grade Ltd

VI-grade. All rights reserved. 2007-2013

Triple Eight Race Engineering Ltd
Formed in 1997
Racing Series
British Touring Car Championship (MG)
Australian V8 Supercar Series (GM)
British GT Championship (BMW)

Triple Eight have won

22 BTCC Championships
7 Australian V8 Supercar Titles
New challenges in a changing environment

Cost reduction measures feature in racing

programmes worldwide from F1 down
All cars run common components
Engine useage heavily limited
Restrictions limiting on-track testing
All of the above lead to a requirement for
simulation programmes to fill the gap
 Cost Considerations

Approximate cost for one day track testing =

12,000.
Realistically only 400km of track testing per day.
Only allowed 4 test days per season!!
Using simulation software 1200km testing is
possible for each race event.
Rapid response to changing on track conditions
as they are happening at race weekends.
 2012 BTCC Results
10 Events / 30 Races

5 Pole positions (out of possible 10)

6 DNFs (crash/mechanical/electrical failure)
3rd positions = 7
2nd positions = 3
Race wins = 6
Finished 3rd overall in drivers championship
 2013 BTCC Targets
Improve outright laptime performance

Increase performance operating window

Eradicate snap oversteer on corner entry

because!!!!!!
 Introduce David Ewbank
Discussing the technical aspects of how
888, VI-Grade and Red Cedar Technology
approach the problem of full vehicle
simulation.
MG KX Momentum Racing
January 25th 2012 MG Motors Ltd announced it
would compete in 2012 BTCC partnered with
Triple Eight Race Engineering Ltd (888)
64 days until first race weekend!
Going into a program to design and
manufacture a contender for the BTCC
season in the timescales we had was an
unbelievable challenge, at the very least
we would require 6 months design time
and many days circuit testing in normal
circumstances

Carl Faux, Chief Designer at Triple

Eight Race Engineering.
British Touring Car
Championship
Production car based racing series
Currently two categories of car competing:
Super 2000 specification cars
Next Generation Touring Car (NGTC)
Ten race weekends each comprising:
2 x 40 minute free practice sessions on Saturday
30 minute qualifying session for Race 1 on Saturday
3 equal length races on Sunday
NGTC Specifications
Based on current production car chassis
TOCA supplied parts:
Front suspension assembly complete with subframe
Steering system
Rear Suspension assembly complete with subframe
Gearbox with TOCA controlled gear ratio sets
Roll cage

Either
TOCA sealed Engine (2.0L Turbocharged) or
Team designed engine to TOCA specifications
Power controlled through boost control (by TOCA)

Team designed body (wings/bonnet/splitters etc) with nominally

neutral aerodynamic lift
Front Suspension
Double Wishbones
Pushrod/rocker
Longitudinal coil over
shock absorbers
Flexible blade/ARB

Some adjustment
possible
Rear Suspension
Double wishbones
Pushrod/rocker
Transverse coil over
shock absorber
Flexible blade/ARB

Some adjustment
possible
VI-grade and Technology Partner
On 12th March 2012 Zouch Dynamics Ltd
(now VI-grade (UK) Ltd) and its technology
partner Red Cedar Technology agreed to
provide technical sponsorship to 888
throughout 2012 season and beyond
Providing car setup and engineering
support using combination of VI-MotorSport
(powered by VI-CarRealTime) and
HEEDSMDO to predict setup and design
direction
2 weeks to first race!
VI-Motorsport at a glance
Whats possible

Suspension
Analysis

Road definition

Driver set-up

Post-processing Full-vehicle analysis

VI-MotorSport Vehicle model
Vehicle Sprung Mass
WCLR
6 DOF (rigid vehicle body)
12 DOF (two halves rigid elastically
WCRR W0LR
connected)
Independent/Dependent Front/Rear z WCLF
W0RR y
Suspension
x WCRF
Steering W0LF
Brakes
.xml data files W
Powertrain, Gearbox, Differential 0RF

Tires (Pacejika Formulas)

Each Wheel: 2 DOF
z
Each Tire: 2 auxiliary states Direction of suspension travel y
Aerodynamic Forces
Ltk
6 DOFs maps L wb
z
Hrc
Hwc,r x H wc,f

Front view
Side view
The Problem
2 weeks before first race!
Race car build in progress
Completely new base car
Completely new suspension
No relevant prior knowledge in team to guide
setup
No possibility to test (time constraints)
How to setup car for race 1???
The Solution
Apply simulation technology to understand
problems and help to deliver solutions:
1. Create VI-MotorSport model of MG KX
Momentum Race car
2. Create circuit model of Brands Hatch Race
Track using VI-Road
3. Apply HEEDSMDO optimisation methods to
identify car setups that deliver fast lap times
4. Go racing!
Race 1 Brands Hatch
30th March/1st April
Partial VI-MotorSport model
VI-SuspensionGen models of
front and rear
Road model created
Much data missing
Powertrain map
Final drive ratio
Damper performance
Aerodynamic data
No opportunity for correlation
exercise
VI-Road Model

Track altitude vs. path distance

Defined Process based in
HEEDSMDO HEEDS(R)MDO

Vehicle Design data

Evaluation specific

VI-SuspensionGen
VI-SuspensionGen
Front Suspension/
Rear Suspension
Steering
Fixed Vehicle
data

VI-CarRealTime
Racetrack data
MXP Simulation

Driver path
data
Results data
Evaluation specific

HEEDS(R)MDO
Optimization Variables used for
Brands Hatch Race
Variable Type Number of options

Front Spring Discrete 3

Rear Spring Discrete 3

Front bump stop clearance Continuous 101

Rear bump stop clearance Continuous 101

Front Anti-roll bar Discrete 2

Rear Anti-roll bar Discrete 2

Gear 4 ratio Discrete 1

Gear 5 ratio Discrete 1

Gear 6 ratio Discrete 1

Target = minimise lap time!

Optimisation progress
Starting point was given by 888 Team as its best guess for car setup
Baseline lap time = 57.3 seconds
Final lap time = 52.51 seconds (previous BTCC lap record 48.21s)
Good solution found after only 30 evaluations
Final solution found after 67 evaluations
Minimizing lap time

Iteration evaluation
Brands Hatch Race weekend
Car design finished early on the
Wednesday before the race (no testing!)
Car shipped to Brands Hatch on Thursday
Qualifying P6
Race 1 4th Place
Race 2 3rd Place
Race 3 1st Place
Race 3
Our priorities were reliability and finishing
races; however, the performance we were able
to extract from the car, on what was essentially
day two of testing, was beyond all expectations
and is due in no small part to the effort and
direction that VI-grade and Red Cedar
Technology have provided.

Carl Faux, Chief Designer at Triple Eight Race

Engineering.
Process Development
Fully populated VI-MotorSport model
Correlation
Driver path
Tyres
Brakes
Aerodynamic performance
Focus on significant factors
Driver Path
Significant impact on:
Corner speed
Lap time
Frequently variable
Use of kerbs
How important?

Photos: PSP Images

Other factors
Tyres
Limited to steady state Pacejka model
Budgets/tyres not available for further testing
Temperature/wear effects not considered
Brakes
Brake friction material highly temperature dependent
Aerodynamics performance
Wind tunnel testing/comprehensive CFD too expensive
Basic steady state data available for lift/drag, but not
dependent on ride heights
Correlation
Exact correlation both difficult and time consuming
Is it important?
Comparison of certain (high and low speed) corner
speeds for test and simulation
Comparison of gear shifting points around circuit
Confidence from first (and subsequent) race
weekends that setup guidance does translate into
equivalent performance gains on the track without
a fully correlated model
Silverstone Simulation
Mid Season Race
Races 22/23/24 Rockingham
VI-MotorSport and HEEDSMDO
models developed in complexity
24 variables
6 constraints
Multiple responses:
Lap time
Various drivability metrics
Being used for component
development (e.g. spring/damper
characteristics) as well as race
setup
More comprehensive road model,
considering not only macroscale 3d
centreline, but also some
microscopic features, such as
undulations and roughness
(estimated)
Use of constraints in the
HEEDSMDO to reduce component
failures
HEEDSMDO Optimisation Process

Vehicle setup has evolved to a standard which is

not too dissimilar for different circuits
Use of collaborative optimization, injecting the
best setup from previous race into the
optimization process to accelerate the search for
the new optimal setup.
Quickly evaluating one-off designs to test a
theory
Collaborative Optimisation
User design (UD1)
added at start and
evaluation 17
Optimal lap time found
after 60 evaluations
Overall performance
did show small
additional gains after
evaluation 60
Results to date
2012 Season (10 race weekends / 30 races)
Pole positions = 5 (out of possible 10)
6 dnfs (crash/mechanical/electrical failure)
3rd positions = 7
2nd positions = 3
Race wins = 6
Finished in 3rd overall in drivers championship

2013 Season (1 race weekend complete / 3 races)

Race wins = 2
Leading both drivers (P1 and P3) and manufacturers
championships
Jason Plato on Brands Hatch
2013

I am delighted with the first two wins. Last year

was a sign of what might have come for us at
MG but weve changed the balance
considerably now so its much easier to drive. It
has been a good weekend!

Jason Plato, Driver at MG KX Momentum

Racing.
Conclusions
MG KX Momentum Racing exceeded its ambitions in 2012
Use of VI-MotorSport and HEEDSMDO have played a key
part in this success
Setup guidance provided to team, based on hundreds of
HEEDSMDO and VI-MotorSport simulation evaluations, has
proven to be a valuable replacement for past knowledge
Results from simulation have translated into success on the
track without undertaking expensive correlation exercises
Enabled quick evaluation of development ideas, particularly
those requiring unconventional car setup
Methods used with MG KX Momentum Racing can just as
easily be applied by other teams and different race series and
be equally effective
Plenty of work to do during 2013!
 Thank you

Any questions?