Software used in Motorsport

Daniel S

Do any of you know what software is used in motorsport, in particular F1. Doing Mech Eng in university currently. I'm 100% set on going into motorsport and I was hoping someone could tell me what programmes I would need to know? I'm very handy at SolidWorks (have a job doing this that pays for college) and I'm still learning MATLAB and Catia V6. Is there any others you can think of? I've heard of something called "Abaqus". Mean anything to anyone?

Thanks in advance!

G-Man

Good on you for being focussed on what you want, but I think knowing the tools will be either a given or not necessarily relevant. You are picking a dream job area for which there are very few places.. I think you could possibly make it, but think just knowing how to use some particular software packages would be enough.

What might be of more interest is that in your course of study you found a project or application that would be useful in motorsport, you pick that for your final year project and work on it... Maybe for some time in advance, so as you are querying racing engineers in the field..

Do you do motorsport in your part time? Build cars etc. Maybe you could design some new component and apply some interesting modification, build method etc and show how it applies to the motor racing business?

Is there some area that perhaps, motorsport is not covering and may become "big", perhaps something coming out of another area of research in mech eng or computer aided design.

I believe this DCU graduate who loved motor bikes picked a final year project on electronically controlled active suspensions, and along with a a lot of other work and dedication ended up as ....

http://www.alvarobautista.co.uk/tag/tom-okane/

Is there a local racing crew, who would appreciate your software knowledge to work on some component or part?

Daniel S

G-Man wrote: »

Good on you for being focussed on what you want, but I think knowing the tools will be either a given or not necessarily relevant. You are picking a dream job area for which there are very few places.. I think you could possibly make it, but think just knowing how to use some particular software packages would be enough.

What might be of more interest is that in your course of study you found a project or application that would be useful in motorsport, you pick that for your final year project and work on it... Maybe for some time in advance, so as you are querying racing engineers in the field..

Do you do motorsport in your part time? Build cars etc. Maybe you could design some new component and apply some interesting modification, build method etc and show how it applies to the motor racing business?

Is there some area that perhaps, motorsport is not covering and may become "big", perhaps something coming out of another area of research in mech eng or computer aided design.

I believe this DCU graduate who loved motor bikes picked a final year project on electronically controlled active suspensions, and along with a a lot of other work and dedication ended up as ....

http://www.alvarobautista.co.uk/tag/tom-okane/

Is there a local racing crew, who would appreciate your software knowledge to work on some component or part?

That's some post!

Doing a project on hydrogen powered cars at the moment and it seems the best way forward. I'd love to combine hydrogen and motorsport if I could, but of course, the biggest problem is... BOOM! :pac:

Yeah, I'm doing Formula Student this year (and will be for the next few years of college). I'm also part of a motorsport club. We were (and still are kind of) considering active suspension in our car, but we're a bit behind so it's unlikely.

I know for certain motorsport is where I'm going and I don't mind if I have to work in GP3/Formula Renault for free for a while.

Do you have any idea what software is used though?

Aln_S

How about taking a look at some of the ads for jobs that are available in the motorsport industry at the moment and seeing what they require?

Most job adverts woud say "knowledge of <drawing Package> esential" or something similar.

Something like this one from Prodrive only they don't mention any particular software.
https://careers.prodrive.com/VacancyDetails.aspx?FromSearch=True&MenuID=6Dqy3cKIDOg=&VacancyID=277

Edit: Actually they do mention a few different packages under Special Aptitudes near the bottom of the page

Daniel S

Aln_S wrote: »

How about taking a look at some of the ads for jobs that are available in the motorsport industry at the moment and seeing what they require?

Most job adverts woud say "knowledge of <drawing Package> esential" or something similar.

Something like this one from Prodrive only they don't mention any particular software.
https://careers.prodrive.com/VacancyDetails.aspx?FromSearch=True&MenuID=6Dqy3cKIDOg=&VacancyID=277

Edit: Actually they do mention a few different packages under Special Aptitudes near the bottom of the page

F1jobs.com seems to have everything I needed. Most just require CATIA V5 (V6 has been out for nearly 4 years though ) and a few others.

DJW11

PM sent

G-Man

Daniel S wrote: »

That's some post!

Doing a project on hydrogen powered cars at the moment and it seems the best way forward. I'd love to combine hydrogen and motorsport if I could, but of course, the biggest problem is... BOOM! :pac:


Do you have any idea what software is used though?

OK you are well on the way with your involvement in your part time.

I have no idea of the software, but to a skilled engineer these are just the tools. Its the application you show and how you solved it might be the opener.

I follow motor tech, , and dont take part, but would think that the teams love the things that shave off a few seconds.. Hydrogen is so out of field I would not think they are looking at it,.... but maybe a biofuel mix might give them some green credentials and still able to compete.? Is there such a thing as hybrid racing?

Either of the above might be things that might be worth exploring?

OK here is another thought, are the big lux performance companies, Mercedes, porsche, Audi much different in their research and the skilled engineering jobs for their top of the range cars than that provided in top flight motorsports.

Daniel S

G-Man wrote: »

OK you are well on the way with your involvement in your part time.

I have no idea of the software, but to a skilled engineer these are just the tools. Its the application you show and how you solved it might be the opener.

I follow motor tech, , and dont take part, but would think that the teams love the things that shave off a few seconds.. Hydrogen is so out of field I would not think they are looking at it,.... but maybe a biofuel mix might give them some green credentials and still able to compete.? Is there such a thing as hybrid racing?

Either of the above might be things that might be worth exploring?

OK here is another thought, are the big lux performance companies, Mercedes, porsche, Audi much different in their research and the skilled engineering jobs for their top of the range cars than that provided in top flight motorsports.

Well hydrogen in F1 won't happen until Formula One Management decide they want it as they test all the petrol. Toyota have a LMP (Le Mans Prototype) car that runs on hydrogen, might have another look into that. Looking into Imperial College London and Cranfield as they seem to be the main recruiting places for automotive/motorsport.

ZRelation

Daniel S wrote: »

Do any of you know what software is used in motorsport, in particular F1. Doing Mech Eng in university currently. I'm 100% set on going into motorsport and I was hoping someone could tell me what programmes I would need to know? I'm very handy at SolidWorks (have a job doing this that pays for college) and I'm still learning MATLAB and Catia V6. Is there any others you can think of? I've heard of something called "Abaqus". Mean anything to anyone?

Thanks in advance!

Abaqus is an FEA package so mainly for stress analysis of components. I don't work in the automotive area but I imagine it (or similar software such as Ansys, LS-Dyna) would be used in the design of structural components (esp. composites). Are there any FEA modules on your course coming up?

Another group of software packages I've seen required for many F1 jobs are CFD codes (Ansys-Fluent etc.).

I'd recommend you take a course/at least read-up on basic FEA and CFD before going near either sets of software as they are very much garbage in-garbage out codes.

CatFromHue

Yeah ABAQUS us an FEA code and it's explicit version is ABAQUS/Explicit. I'm not sure if UL run Fluent but they do run a different CFD code.

I'm not sure what year you're in Daniel S but see if you can contact any F1 or motorsport teams about doing a student work placement or if they would have any topics you could use for your FYP.

McClaren offer a 3 month work experience program: http://www.mclaren-jobs.com/workexp.php and they offer a grad training program: http://www.mclaren-jobs.com/graduatetrainee.html. I would imagine most other F1 teams offer similar programs.

Daniel S

CatFromHue wrote: »

I'm not sure what year you're in Daniel S but see if you can contact any F1 or motorsport teams about doing a student work placement or if they would have any topics you could use for your FYP.

McClaren offer a 3 month work experience program: http://www.mclaren-jobs.com/workexp.php and they offer a grad training program: http://www.mclaren-jobs.com/graduatetrainee.html. I would imagine most other F1 teams offer similar programs.

First year in UL Mech Eng.

That looks amazing, although I dispise McLaren (I'd still love to work for them though! :pac:)

CatFromHue

Daniel S wrote: »

First year in UL Mech Eng.

That looks amazing, although I dispise McLaren (I'd still love to work for them though! :pac:)

Ha well they'd be a good place to start.....if you could deal with all the self loathing from working there :pac:

It's a good idea if you have an interest in this area to try and the relevant work placement application details now so that when they do open in the future you'll know all about them. The closing dates for these can be quite early sometimes and there's nothing worse than coming across a great program a week after it's closed.

Also when you're in third year see if you can get an F1 topic for your final year project. You'll more than likely have to come up with it yourself and go to the head of your course to get approval to do it. Contacting an F1 team regarding this could be beneficial too.