COMPUTER-BASED VIRTUAL ENGINEERING Chas already helped compress vehicle development times and reduce costs. It allows complex engineering solutions to be packaged and tested before a physical prototype has been built, and many car makers now hold highly detailed digital models of their complete cars, and their tyres. Some anticipate that the next step will be to use these models to drive them virtually in a simulator instead of building early, physical engineering prototypes.
That's the view of Horiba MIRA, the research and development business based near Nuneaton in the Midlands, which has just opened a new £4million driving simulator complex. Its centrepiece is a VI-grade DiM250 Dynamic Simulator, pictured here, which is one of the world's most advanced multi-axis simulators.
Building the first physical, driveable prototypes of a brand-new model is both expensive and time-consuming, and the learning that results from driving and testing them is not definitive. This is because they are often hand-built from a combination of design intent and non-intent parts and so can be unrepresentative in significant areas such as structural rigidity. Also, if engine and gearbox development is ongoing, early drivetrains will also be unrepresentative, while chassis components may also be fabricated rather than 'off-tool' and the set-up will be best guess.
Yet despite their lack of maturity, these early prototypes are valuable for confirming proof of concept and may also highlight unforeseen issues. The first drive is a significant milestone in the development cycle of a new model, a real watershed moment, offering the first insight into the dynamic character of the car, how it performs against expectation, what areas are to target or on the right trajectory, and which will need more focus or even a rethink. You need to be able to see beyond the crudeness of the prototype to identify the potential, and that takes skill and experience.
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Denne historien er fra May 2024-utgaven av Evo UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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BEST BUYS BMW M CARS
THE PERFORMANCE CAR LANDSCAPE WOULD HAVE looked very different over the last five decades without BMW. Its M division, founded in 1972, has produced some of the best driver’s cars ever to hit the road, and in the process has provided a stream of benchmark models for its rivals to chase. In recent years, stricter emissions regulations, downsizing and electrification have seen some of those rival cars falter, yet by and large BMW’s M machines have remained strong. In fact, some rank among the greatest the department has made think of the eCoty-winning M2 CS and M5 CS while others are the only options worth recommending in their respective segments. Price tags have risen with performance, however, putting those latest offerings out of reach for many, but the marque’s popularity means there are numerous earlier M models available on the second-hand market for far more attainable figures. Here are four of our favourites.
TYRE 2024 TEST
Want to fit the very best tyres to your performance car? The annual evo Tyre Test identifies the cream of the current crop
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TOY STORY
Where best to store some of Toyota’s most prized and valuable racing superstars? Under the wind tunnel at its Cologne HO, of course...
POWER PLAY
It develops 819bhp. It has no turbochargers, no hybrid assistance. Ferrari describes it as the most complete GT it's ever made. And it’s so proud of its mighty V12 engine it’s named the whole car after it. This is the 12 Cilindri
THE FIRST SAMURAIS
Japan has been responsible for many of our favourite driver's cars of recent decades, but their ancestors are often much less well known. We take a look at where the big manufacturers began their performance car journeys
DEFINITELY. NO MAYBE
Three Japanese performance icons - Lexus LFA, Subaru Impreza 22B and Nissan GT-R. Over three days on some of our favourite roads we explore what makes each uniquely thrilling, but also the car culture that unites them
1V3.0
F1, P1... and now W1. The next chapter in McLaren's Ultimate Series is the British firm's challenger to the forthcoming new Ferrari hypercar and a £2million, 1257bhp, hybrid-powered, technical tour de force
Thornley Kelham European RS
One man’s dream to build the perfect Porsche 911 has resulted inthis aaticMously restored and enhanced classic. We delve into the details and take it for a drive
Bentley Continental GT Speed
The new Continental GT is the most powerful Bentley ever, and the beginning of anew plug-in hybrid era for Crewe. But is it still a benchmark grand tourer?
