“we wanted to control every single design aspect”
downforce available. But we are talking about very small amounts in the study we did. You may also have a bit more structure with the closed cars, but we are not struggling for stiffness and the mass of our monocoque may be a bit lower, but there is not much in it. One big thing with the closed cars is visibility. If you get rain and oil on the ’screen you are screwed in a closed car, while on an open car it’s just a visor tear off. Tis is a car for both us and our customers and, with the mandatory air conditioning regulation going away, when it gets really hot you’ll see the drivers outside of a proper works team fitness programme not being able to cope. Doing a closed car also gives you the additional complexities
and cost of designing doors, windscreen, wiper and ventilation systems. If you put all of that effort into another area of the car that makes you go faster, you end up in the same place or better, unless you have infinite resource, and we do not. You have to choose how to spend your time and money.’
Partner companies To maximise resources, Aston Martin Racing partnered with a number of companies, including PTC, who allowed the team
to use its new Creo software package to design the car, despite the fact that it was not even released at the time! ‘It was a bold move, but we were happy to do that. It’s a good partnership on both sides and, to be honest, that hasn’t given us any grief at all, we are really happy with it,’ enthused Chappell. Other partners include TotalSim for CFD and rapid prototyping firm, Stratasys. ‘A technical partnership works on two levels – one is effectively a fast route to some technology that helps you move along and two is the potential cost saving. Some of these things are available, so you could just go out and buy them but, if you can it through a technical partnership, or sponsorship, and get the gain as well, then that’s a saving all around. And it is ultimately the job of a technical director to make the fastest, most reliable car for your budget.’
Nicer solution Overall, the AMR-ONE is a fairly conventional chassis with double wishbone suspension front and rear and most other systems being modified or updated versions of existing technology. ‘All round, the gains to be had in the mechanical design of the car, through
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