The secrets behind motorsport Vehicle Dynamics
Maintaining grip with the track whilst coping with lateral and longitudinal accelerations of over 5G requires every area of a racecar to be effectively engineered and working in harmony. This is the goal of the vehicle dynamics engineer - and the key to achieving a fast lap time.
However, with over 14,500 parts on a modern Formula 1 car, understanding the interactions between each and the resulting affect on the car's dynamic behaviour is a real challenge.
Tutors and topics for Part 1 - 9 December
Session 1 - The Role of a Vehicle Dynamicist
Delivered by Antonis Palaskas
You will discover the daily tasks of Vehicle dynamics engineers and the important skills and qualities required to be successful at the role.
Session 2 – Tyres
Delivered by Nicholas Cooper
Insight into how a tyre generates grip through the contact patch, the different types of degradation and the effect of track roughness. You will also learn the latest techniques race teams use to set the tyres up and manage temperatures and pressures to maximise grip.
Session 3 – Handling
Delivered by James Knapton
Master the behaviour of understeer and oversteer and the techniques teams use to tune car balance to optimise grip through different phases of the corner.
Session 4 – Ride modelling
Delivered by Geoff Dymott
Discover the ride and handling compromises every motorsport engineer faces. Understand the fundamentals of dampers and how to read the behaviour of different damper types using damper curves. You will also learn how to conduct an accurate ride simulation and K&C test.
*Please note these are the sessions are subject to change
Tyre Science & Vehicle Dynamics Engineer - Williams Racing
Head of Tyre Modelling and Analysis - McLaren F1 Team
Head of Performance Analysis - Andretti Racing
Former Senior Performance Engineer - Williams Racing
Tutors and topics for Part 2 - 20 January
Session 1 – Global racecar performance
Delivered by James Knapton
Find out what areas of a racecar influence lap time the most and how this differs between tracks. Understand the types of corners where the most lap time can be gained and the effect of tyres, aerodynamics and power on car performance.
Session 2 – Simulators
Delivered by Matthew Brown
Learn how race teams use simulators for driver training as well as car set-up and gain exclusive insight into the tricks Race Engineers use when getting driver feedback and analysing data.
Session 3 – Suspension
Delivered by TBC
An explanation of the main components that make up the suspension such as dampers, springs and tyres as well as the pros and cons of the different types of suspension geometries used in motorsport. Camber gain and camber thrust will also be explained along with suspension set-up procedures and the importance of kinematics and compliance.
Session 4 – Aerodynamics
Delivered by TBC
Discover the importance of ride height and how engineers use ride height envelopes and aero maps to optimise car set-up for different circuits.
*Please note these are the sessions are subject to change
Head of Performance Analysis - Andretti Racing
Senior Specialist, Vehicle Dynamics Engineer - McLaren F1 Team
Former Senior Performance Engineer - Williams Racing
Find out more about the tutors:
Nicholas Cooper – Head of Tyre Modelling and Analysis
Nick started his motorsport career as a Tyre Engineer with Honda F1 after earning his PhD in Vehicle Dynamics. He stayed with the Brackley based team through it’s years as Brawn F1 and then Mercedes F1, contributing to multiple world championships. In 2018 he moved to McLaren F1 to lead the tyre group. His focus and interests are in understanding tyre behaviour, how to model tyres and integrate them in to simulation tools and how to optimise vehicle behaviour through all aspect of tyre performance.
Antonis Palaskas – Tyre Science & Vehicle Dynamics Engineer
Antonis Palaskas holds a diploma in Mechanical Engineering from Greece and a Masters in Motorsport Engineering from Oxford Brookes University. Currently, Antonis works as Tyre Science engineer in the Vehicle Dynamics department of Williams Racing F1. In his previous job he was a Tyre Engineer for Jaguar TCS Racing in the Formula E championship.
James Knapton - Head of Performance Analysis - Andretti Racing
Confirmed for Part 1 and 2
James Knapton has enjoyed a rich career in Formula 1, as the Head of Vehicle Science at Force India, Sauber, Manor F1 teams and at Red Bull Advanced Technologies. James then moved to Hitech where he was the Chief Engineer - Performance. He now works as Head of Performance Analysis at Andretti Racing!
Race Engineer
Geoff Dymott - Race Engineer
Confirmed for Part 1 and 2
Geoff worked for Williams Racing for over 20 years as a Vehicle Dynamics, Race/Test Data Engineer and Senior Performance Engineer. Geoff also race engineered in F4 and Porsche Carrera Cup for Richardson Racing.
Matthew Brown - Senior Specialist, Vehicle Dynamics Engineer
Matthew graduated from Imperial College London with an MEng in Aeronautical Engineering in 2014. After graduating, he has worked in Vehicle Dynamics and Simulator groups for Red Bull Racing and Mercedes AMG F1. In 2023 he started at the McLaren F1 team as a Senior Specialist, Vehicle Dynamics Engineer.
On successful completion of the Online Module, graduates are awarded an industry recognised certificate of completion from the MIA. The online modules will take place on 9 December and 20 January, via Zoom and the MIA Campus platform. The cost for this industry recognised learning opportunity is just £295*, per module. This price includes exclusive technical material, the opportunity to put forward questions to the tutors, access to the webinar recording and a certificate of attendance.
*Bundle packages are available if you enroll on multiple modules and there is a special
loyalty offer for MIA Members and past participants. Contact elinor.morris@the-mia.com for more information.
Testimonials
"I thought the module was really well done. James' slides were very informative, clear and useful. Blake’s comments were very valuable."
"Thank you for making this great knowledge available and accessible to everybody with an interest in Motorsport. It is incredible having great professionals from the Motorsport world explaining the theory behind it. Really awesome experience and highly recommend."
"It was very refreshing for me to come back after many years of absence in the racing environment. This course was excellent to update some concepts and more over, how the information has been handled at the current time. Many thanks!"
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