SECRETS OF SIMULATION
In these times of great uncertainty in motorsport, efficiency is king. The swathe of race cancellations means teams don’t have the chance to test new parts on track every other weekend, so all the work to prove new design concepts and test reliability of components will instead be done virtually, through simulation. But we’re not talking about the standard home simulators that drivers may be using to stay sharp while waiting for their next turn in the real thing. Simulators capable of making accurate vehicle-dynamics calculations in real time are precious commodities and, as the Alfa Romeo Formula 1 team has acknowledged by embarking upon a major simulator upgrade at its Hinwil base, imperative for any high-performance automotive or motorsport firm aspiring to be successful in the 2020s. This is an irreversible trend, from which there can be no turning back.
That much is obvious to anybody who has spent more than five minutes in conversation with Kia Cammaerts, who founded his own advanced simulation company, Ansible Motion, in 2009.
Cammaerts began dabbling in simulation while working as the head of aerodynamics at Team Lotus –
