HEEDS Optimization Produces Early Success for Triple Eight Racing Team
EAST LANSING -- Red Cedar Technology and its UK distributor, Zouch Dynamics Ltd., announced that their technology partnership has helped Triple Eight Race Engineering and the MG KX Momentum Racing team achieve a first place race finish during the inaugural weekend of the 2012 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship season.
Zouch Dynamics used VI-Motorsport vehicle simulation software (developed by VI-grade) to create an accurate model of the MG6 BTCC car, which could be used to predict the vehicle dynamics of the actual MG6. This model was then used in conjunction with HEEDS MDO design optimization software to evaluate the performance of the MG6 BTCC car and find the setup that gave the shortest lap time. This setup helped MG KX Momentum driver, Jason Plato, place fourth and third in early races, and then finish first in the final race of the weekend.
About the collaboration, David Ewbank of Zouch Dynamics said, "One of the reasons the car has been so fast, so quickly and with such limited testing -- only five days -- is the setup direction the team received from the HEEDS/VI-Motorsport optimization. The team implemented the optimized setup for the second race, which improved the car's balance considerably, resulting in third place. They were then able to do some fine tuning on other settings and used the HEEDS/VI-Motorsport setup for the final race to achieve the unexpected first place."
Carl Faux, chief designer at Triple Eight Race Engineering, added, "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 Zouch Dynamics and Red Cedar Technology have provided. The first validations we received on Saturday allowed us to make some changes overnight that we had confidence in, and they proved right from the start we were in the game."
Red Cedar Technology helps companies discover better designs, faster. Product teams worldwide use Red Cedar's products and services to design safer cars, engineer life-saving biomedical devices, and develop innovative structures for air travel and space exploration, among other groundbreaking applications. For more information, visit www.redcedartech.com.
