Mototips

Even before the drivers start the engines of their Corvette racers for the Utah Grand Prix, they will have an edge over other teams. The team will have completed several hundred laps of the track, thanks to computer simualtions, thus giving the race team a head start in terms of setting up the cars.

Snippet: "We start with what we think is a reasonable chassis setup with springs, sway bars, dampers and so on," Cole explained. "Then we run lap simulations on the computer, adjusting the gearing, the weight distribution and other items until we come up with a setup that gives an optimized performance target.

"There are challenges we deal with in this process due to limited information about the new surface, so you have to make some assumptions about the grip," he noted. "Surface friction, bumps, banking and grade are all unknowns at this point for the new Utah track. Beyond this, the track characteristics change over the course of a race weekend as rubber builds up on the racing line, but the simulation program gives us a solid starting point for the setup. We can then refine the setup based on driver feedback and track data."




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