DELTAWING
proposed the DeltaWing Concept for the 2012 IndyCar Series he needed a way to ensure that development and innovation could thrive, while at the same time providing a solid return on investment for all those involved. A lateral and open- minded thinker, he proposed an ‘open source’ policy as a modern solution to these requirements. It is now a matter of history
that IndyCar’s ICONIC committee rejected DeltaWing, although
www.racecar-engineering.com • Le Mans
Open all hours R
Ben Bowlby on how open source could be the answer to keeping motorsport relevant and at the head of the technology race
acecar designer, Ben Bowlby, is a sceptic of spec racing’s value at the higher levels of motorsport. When he
BY IAN WAGSTAFF
Bowlby is intent on ensuring the ideas behind it are far from dead. Open source development and production gives free access to the end product’s source. It has gained momentum with the rise of the internet and is now increasingly being used by industry – so why not motorsport as well, he asks? The new media revolution becomes an ally, transcends just the one design and is a possible means of overcoming the sterile thinking behind many current formulae. In Bowlby’s thinking, the
entire design of the initial version
of the car is published on a dedicated website, which offers unrestricted access and is free to everyone – teams, manufacturers, students, fans – and anyone can submit new designs for approval. Before any parts can be sold, however, the supplier must be licensed by a managing entity, eg DeltaWing, and only approved parts with published designs may be raced, with the maximum price of the parts being limited by the price of the original components. Bowlby admits the idea is
a complex one, as it does not intuitively make sense to anyone who has grown up in racing over the past 30 or 40 years.
Traditionally, he points out, suppliers have made money by having the intellectual property (IP) or a patent and stopping anyone else moving in on the business. The post-silicone chip world is moving fast, though, and the rate of technology growth has become critical for competitiveness. If you cannot improve your technology faster than your rivals, you will be swallowed up. Bowlby’s question then was, how can that pace be maintained in a sustainable way without fi nancial disaster? In the computer world,
open source has evolved out of necessity. Groups of
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