
For example, the refuelling ban implemented in the 2010 Formula One Season, forced teams to run larger fuel tanks, and they also had to take into account the changes on CG height due to fuel burn off. Here, all the regulation changes are reviewed, and their impact on the design is assessed. These steps will normally happen in a non-sequential manner, with some restrictions arising in later steps demanding changes in previous stages.ĭuring this step, the design team will gather information that will serve as a foundation to set the design constraints and goals. The approach is made of six steps, namely, Analyses, Constraints and Goals Specification, Preliminary Design, Detailed design, Testing and Development. The design approach briefly described here is the result of my previous experience in Baja SAE design team, my internship in the engineering design department of a company that builds racing cars to the largest motorsport category and some minor categories in Brazil, and from some excellent books, which I will recommend in the end of the article. With cleverness, one or more resources may be substituted by another.įigure 1. Resources include time, budget, previous experience and resources in the design and building facilities, such as computing power, prototyping and manufacturing machinery, testing equipment, instrumentation, and so on.
#Basics of car body design full
Before the design process begins, one needs to have full knowledge of the resources available, and on the limitations imposed by these resources. The design process of a race car (just as many things in engineering) is not a sequential process, but rather one where there are many “backward steps”, as many iterations and solution refinements are made. The design teams in the many motorsport categories are constantly developing new solutions with one single goal in mind: to make a car that, in combination with the driver, travels the distance of a circuit in an amount of time smaller than any other driver/vehicle combination present in the race venue at the day. Race car design is one of the most fascinating and yet one of the most complex aspects of the racing world.
