Claude Rouelle
07-31-2012, 02:59 AM
35 years of experience in race car design and on track engineering and still learning...
I was the race engineer of a McLaren GT3 MP4-12C last weed end at the Spa 24 hours. We were 5th catching on 4th (the 4th was the car which won the race...http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif) in heavy rain when we where literally harpooned in the braking zone of the La Source corner by another car (another McLaren!) which had brake fade (or the driver had brain fade, or both). Sad but anyway another wonderful experience.
One very experienced chief mechanic who is also a very skilled at machining race car parts told me something which still resonates in me, very applicable to Formula Student cars design and manufacturing and that I want to share with you:
"When you design a race car part, just think that YOU are that part, YOU ARE that part"
It took me a while to understand what he meant. With my own words this is how I would describe it: put your self in the "personality" of the part. Think that you are the part and wonder "what am I doing here? What am I supposed to accomplish? What are my tasks?
This is the same approach as "form follow function" but with some kind of soul or intelligence giving the material. I bet thinking this way could help you to design stiffer, lighter and cheaper race car and race car parts.
I wish I would have heard that before.
I don't you if this perspective hits you but it did impress me so I wanted to share this with you.
Claude
I was the race engineer of a McLaren GT3 MP4-12C last weed end at the Spa 24 hours. We were 5th catching on 4th (the 4th was the car which won the race...http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif) in heavy rain when we where literally harpooned in the braking zone of the La Source corner by another car (another McLaren!) which had brake fade (or the driver had brain fade, or both). Sad but anyway another wonderful experience.
One very experienced chief mechanic who is also a very skilled at machining race car parts told me something which still resonates in me, very applicable to Formula Student cars design and manufacturing and that I want to share with you:
"When you design a race car part, just think that YOU are that part, YOU ARE that part"
It took me a while to understand what he meant. With my own words this is how I would describe it: put your self in the "personality" of the part. Think that you are the part and wonder "what am I doing here? What am I supposed to accomplish? What are my tasks?
This is the same approach as "form follow function" but with some kind of soul or intelligence giving the material. I bet thinking this way could help you to design stiffer, lighter and cheaper race car and race car parts.
I wish I would have heard that before.
I don't you if this perspective hits you but it did impress me so I wanted to share this with you.
Claude